| Popis: |
During the exploration, production, and refining of crude oil, as well as the effluent treatment facilities of refineries, the petroleum sector produces a substantial quantity of sludge. This review offers in-depth insights into the methods used to treat and dispose of petroleum sludge today. It also explores the possibility of valorizing such waste while converting it to a sustainable energy source using anaerobic digestion technology. Aside from health concerns, the random disposal of untreated petroleum sludge causes land pollution, water pollution, and ecosystem devastation. Consequently, the adequate treatment and disposal of this sludge provide a substantial challenge to the oil and gas sector, which has become a worldwide concern. Various methods used, such as incineration, oxidation, ultrasounds, stabilization, and landfarming will be presented. On another note, this review imparts a new insight into the possibility of generating biomethane from petroleum sludge. It also investigates its anaerobic co-digestion with food waste and other byproducts, promoting the transition toward a circular bioeconomy. Most conventional sludge treatment methods are unstainable and insufficient to deal with a large amount of generated sludge. Ultrasonic treatment, solvent extraction, and incineration are all expensive processes. Moreover, incineration contributes to air pollution, whereas landfarming and degradation are inefficient and contribute to heavy metals leaching. Considering those disadvantages, creating a greener and more cost-effective approach to securely disposing of these hazardous materials is vital. The bacterial degradation of any substrate without oxygen is known as anaerobic digestion (AD). It is one of the highly efficient systems for recovering bioenergy from small to large sizes. Sludge treatment in anaerobic digesters yields biomethane, a substitute for natural gas, recovered while microorganisms reduce the organic matter in the sludges. However, the sludges have poor anaerobic degradability, and the presence of heavy metals might interfere with anaerobic microorganisms' ability to function. Suitable pretreatment of sludge and its co-digestion with organic wastes such as food waste can be an option to solve the above problems, tackling at the same time the food waste management issues alongside petroleum sludge management. |
