Model 2 : Disposal of Stabilized Oil Sludge
/The Scenario
Let us imagine that we have 50 000 tonnes of liquid oil sludge in a storage somewhere and we must move this sludge about 600 km to the nearest disposal site that is willing to accept it. However, the disposal site will only accept it if it is a solid waste not as a liquid waste. There are several ways to proceed from here, but what is becoming increasingly relevant in today's world now is how much carbon footprint our treatment process incurs.
The Treatment Method
A method that is used to turn liquid sludge into a solid waste so that it is safer for disposal and accepted in more disposal sites is by stabilizing or fixing the waste. This is usually done by adding a stabilizing agent to the waste. The stabilizing agent obviously must be taken to the waste; it must be mixed at the site. The stabilizing agent is usually a clay or perhaps sawdust, depending on the site location. This process increases the waste volume, but it does turn into a solid. Once solid, with no free liquid visible, the waste will have increased the total volume by a factor of three or four. This quantity then must be transported by truck to the disposal site, 600 km away, where it is safely and securely stored for eternity.
The SAS MIST Process
This is one way of doing it, but obviously, we are increasing the waste volume by a factor of three or four. It seems contra intuitive to create more waste just to treat the waste. Alternatively, what we can do is add a little bit of our SAS chemistry and put it through our SAS MIST process. What happens then is rather than adding stabilizers to the waste to turn it into a solid material, we actually remove the water and the oil, leaving only dry solids. The oil is recovered, and the water will be reused. We are left only with the dry solids that we then transport to the disposal site.
The Advantage
That is a huge saving, rather than increasing the waste volume by 300% or 400 %. we are actually reducing the volume of the waste by about 90 % here, so the carbon footprint is going to be substantially smaller. In the case of this particular example, you're looking at over 20 000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions for stabilizing the waste and transporting it or you're looking at about 1400 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions for the SAS MIST process and only transporting a much smaller fraction of the waste. The impact on the carbon footprint by actually treating at the site of storage or generation is absolutely massive.
Your Benefit
How will this help you? By decreasing treatment costs, reducing long-term exposure, making your processes more efficient and staying ahead of your competition by being part of a progressive and sustainable route to Zero Carbon.