Get the Most Out of API Separators: The keys to maximizing performance include a realistic, educated awareness of the separator’s capabilities, an understanding of how the device functions, and an appreciation of what it should have in the way of support equipment.

Onsite Hypochlorite Generation - Solving Oil & Gas Industry Biofouling Issues: Producers of the second largest oil field off Canada’s North Atlantic Coast, the Terra Nova field, turned to USFilter, part of Siemens Water Technologies, for an onsite chlorine generation system to reduce fouling of water used in process cooling systems of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

Reduce Point Source Pollution of Oils and Hydrocarbons in Refining and Petrochemical Operations: The traditional approach to wastewater treatment in refineries and petrochemical plants is to discharge wastewaters from almost all sources into a common sewer system. The blended wastewater is then treated at a central wastewater treatment plant (CWWTP). While this has been a satisfactory approach in the past, a modern plant must use a different approach to most economically achieve the current Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) standards, wastewater discharge criteria, and water recycle objectives.

Reverse Osmosis Treatment of CBM Produced Water Continues to Evolve:
A comparison of two treatment plant designs shows the evolution of the reverse osmosis process for treating produced water from Powder River basin coalbed methane wells.

Separating Fact From Fiction with Oil/Water Separators: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Emission Standards for Hazardous Pollutants (NESHAP) for benzene (EPA 40CFR61, March 1990), petroleum refineries must enclose their oil/water separators with a floating cover system or a fixed cover with a closed-vent system followed by an emission control device.

Spent Caustic Treatment: Better Operating Practices and Prevention Methods Reduce Problems in Handling "Red Oil": Caustic towers at ethylene plants remove acid gases, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide from ethylene gas.  The spent caustic from these towers contains mercaptans and sulfides, which are reactive and odorous.  Accordingly, the spent caustic requires special handling and treatment before being discharged to a conventional wastewater treatment plant.  Often the spent caustic is most commonly treated in an oxidation reactor.  Also known as wet air oxidation (WAO), this process converts the sulfides into oxidation products such as sulfate ions.

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