A COST EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR

PREVENTION OF OIL/GREASE T O RECEIVING WAT ER

COLLINE JOHN

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 2000TD

353 C711 2000

A COST EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT SYS'fEM

FOR

PREVENTION OF OIIJGREASE TO RECEIVING WATER

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This report is 'Sti"bmitted in partial fulfillmentofthe requirement for the degree of

Bachelor ofEngineering (Hons.) Civil Engineering

from the Faculty ofEngineering

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

2000

Tellis (ljazu Pertama)

T esis Oikemukakan Kepada Falrulti Kejuruteraan, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Sebagai Memenuhi Sebahagian Daripada Syarat Penganugeraban Sarjana Muda Kejuruteraan Dengan Kepujian (Kejuruteraan Awam) 2000

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BORANG PENYERAHAN TESIS

Judul: A COST EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR PREVENTION OF OIU GREASE TO RECEIVING WATER

SESI PENGAJIAN: 1999/2000

Saya

COLLINE JOHN

mengaku membenarkan tesis ini disimpan di Pusat Khidmat Maldmnat Akademik, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak dengan syarat-syarat l..-egunaan seperti berikut:

1. Hakmilik kertas projek adalah di bawah nama penulis melainkan penulisan sebagai projek bersama dan dibiayai oleh UNlMAS, hakmiliknya adalah kepunyaan UNIMAS.

2. Naskhah salinan di dalam bentuk kertas atau mikro banya boleh dibuat dengan kebenaran bertulis daripada pc11ulis.

3. Pusat Khidmat Maklwnat Akademik, UNIMAS dibenarkan membuat slllinan untuk pcngajian mereka. 4. Kertas projek hanya boleh diterbitkan dengan kebenaran penulis. Bayaran royalti adalah mengikut kadar

yang dipersetujui kelak. 3. • Saya membenarkan/tidak membenarkan Perpustakaan membuat salinan kertas projek ini sebagai bahan

pertukaran di antara institusi pengajian tinggi. 6. •• Sila tandakan ( ./ )

C=:J suur (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdmjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972).

~TERHAD (MengandWlgi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasil

~ TIDAK TERHAD

(TANDATANGAN PENULIS)

A1amat tetap: NO.17.,KAMPUNG DR. LAW PUONG LING

SUDAO, BATU 4 Y2, JALAN KONG Nama P yetia

PHING, 93250 KUCHlNG, SARA W AK

Tarikh: II APRIL 2000 Tarikh:

CATATAN • Poloag yang tldak MrkenUIl.

badan di mana penye\idikan dij -an).

Jlka Kertal Projek lnl SULrr atau TERHAD, sUa lamplrkan IUrat da pada pthak berkuaslll orpDiJui berkenaan dengan menyertakan lekali tcmpob Io:rtas projelL Ini perla dikelaskan sebagwi SULrr abo TERHAD.

__

Approval sheet

This project attached here to, entitle "A COST-EFFECTIVE

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR PREVEN'I'ION OF OIUGREASE TO

RECEIVING WATER" prepared and submitted by Mr. Colline John in partial

fulfillment for the Bachelor Degree of Engineering with Honors (Civil Engineering) is

hereby accepted.

Date:__--+-+_(-+_~ (Dr. Law Puong Ling)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, the author wishes to thanks Dr. Law Puong Ling who has

always been understanding, encouragement, giving invaluable supervision

and advice in leading all the way through this success. In particular, I would

like to thanks those who are in one or another way helping and contribute to

this thesis especially Haji Affendi and Cik Rasyidah for their help in

implementing my experiments.

Thanks are also extended to my beloved father, mother, sisters, and

brothers and not forgetting my friends for their encouragement and support

towards the end of this project.

May God will always blessed those whom the author have mentioned

above.

ABSTRACT

This dissertation investigates an alternative cost-effective method to

remove oil/grease from the receiving water. The objective and the methodology

are divided into two phases where;

Phase 1. is to design, develop and to fabricate a novel cost effective

technology for removing oill grease! solids from the wastewater. Thus a general

idea of the parallel plate separator and a few principal factors as well as the

design information was applied.

Phase 2 is to evaluate the performance and the effectiveness of the

removal system in generating an effluent of acceptable and an experiment was

done and an analysis of 'Characteristic Wet Analysis' was conducted to analyze

the oil/grease content ..

From the experiment, the average influent concentration of oil/grease is

38,325 mglL. While the average effluent concentration of oil/grease is 49.125

mglL and hence, the concentration level of oillgrease is 0.13%.

This shown that the removal efficiency of oil/grease is 99.87% which is

within the acceptable quality of an effluents.

11

,.......

ABSTRAK

Buku ini mengkaji kaedah baru yang ekonomi untuk mengasingkan

minyaklgris daripada air buanganlkumbahan. Ojektif dan kedahnya terbahagi

kepada dua fasa dimana;

Fasa 1 merekabentuk dan menghasilkan satu teknologi baru yang

ekonomi untuk mengasingkan minyaklgris daripada air buangan. Untuk itu

gambaran umum tentang tanki pengasingan minyak dan beberapa faktor dan

juga maklumat tentang rekabentuk tanki pengasingan minyak/gris dijadikan

sebagai panduan.

Fasa 2 pula adalah untuk mengira pencapaian dan keberkesanan sistem I

pengasingan tersebut dalam menghasilkan kandungan pengasingan yang

diiktiraf. Untuk ini, satu eksperimen dijalankan dan analisis 'Characterisric

Wet Analasis' dilakukan untuk mengaji kandungan minyak/gris yang

dihasilkan.

Daripada eksperimen, didapati purata kepekatan minyak/gris yang

masuk adalah bersamaan dengan 38,325 mglL. Manakala purata kepekatan

minyaklgris yang keluar adalah bersamaan dengan 48.125 mglL. Oleh itu,

tahap kepekatan minyak yang terakhir adalah bersamaan dengan 0.13%.

lni menunjukkan bahawa keberkesanan pengasingan minyak/gris lID

adalah bersamaan dengan 99.87%, dimana ia masih lagi dalam piwaian

pengasingan minyak/gris yang dibenarkan.

111

CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..................................................... ........... i ~~~C1r••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••~ ii CO.NTENTS........... 'a ................................................. • " •••• • '... ....... iv INDEX OF FIGURES .......................................'................... vi INDEX OF TABLES....... ................ ............... ........... ...... .... xiii ~O~~C~1rU~............................................................. ix

CHAPTER l-INTRODUcrION.......................................... 1

1.1 General Introduction... . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 1 1.2 Backgroound....................................... , . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 2 1.3 Objective..... . . . ... . . . . .. . . . . . . ... ..... . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . .. . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . .. 3

C~PTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW......................................... 4

2.1 Introduction ......................................~ .... ' .................................. ,.... 4 2.2 Principle ofOil/Grease Separation. . . . . . ... . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . ...... 4

2.2.1 General Def'mition ofOil and Grease............................ 4 2.2.2 Definition of Waste Oill Grease........... ..................... ..... 5

2.2.2.1 Free oil.................. ...................... .................... 5 2.2.2.2 Emulsions....................................................... 6

2.3 Sources ofwaste OiVGrease and Their Related Activities.......... 7 2.4 Characteristic of Waste Oil/Grease.............................................. 9

2.4.1 Polynuclear Aromatics...... ........ .............................. ....... 9 2.4.2 Halogenated Organics ...............................................~.... 10 2.4.3 Trace Metals................................................................... 10

2.5 Properties and Chemistry of Waste OiVGrease........................... 12 2.6 Impacts ofthe Oil Contamination......... .......... ............................. 15 2.7 Common Current Practices ofOil/Grease Removal...... .............. 17

2.7.1 Gravity Separation............ ... ..... . ...... .. .................. 18 2.7.2 Air Flotation................................................................... 19

tV

,.....

CB.AFfER 3 - METHODOLOGy........................................................ 26

3.1 Introduction ................... " .. . ... ... .. . . .. . .. . .. .. . .................... 26 3.2 Phase 1......................................................................................... 26

3.2.1 Work Plan ........ . .................. ........................... 27 3.2.1 .1 Parallel Plate Separator...................... ..... ...... 29 3.2.1.2 Parallel Coalescing plate......... __ __~...~.__.......... 33

3.3 Phase 2.......................... , ... .. . ... ... ... ... ... ......................... 36 3.3.1 Method ofExperiment. ... .......... . ...................... ..... .... 37

CHAPTER 4 - RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.......................... 39

4. 1 Introduction............. ............. , .... ... ............. , ........ .......... 39 4.2 Details of Parallel Plate Separator Design.. ......... .. ..................... 39 4.3 Design of Parallel Plate Separator .............................................. 40 4.4 Results of the Experiment- ._. ......................... ................... ........... 41 4.5 Discussion.............. ............ ........... .......... ..................................... 44

CHAFfER 5 - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMENDATION. ••...• 48

5.1 Conclusions......... . ................. . ..... , '" ., .... . ...... ,. '" ... ... 48 5.2 Recommendation........ . ... '" ...... '" ... .. . ... ... .. . ... .. . . .. ....... 49

BIBLI(X;RA.PHY.",,"""•••••• ,,"" ••• ,,""""" .••"•••• "••• """""",, .••. ,,"""""" •.• "",, •• ,," a."" •• "" ••_ 51

APPENDIXES•• """"""""""""""""""",, .. ,,""""""""""""""" """"""""" •• """" •• """""",, •• ,,",, .... ,,"""""" 54

v

l

INDEX OF FIGURES

Figure Page

2.1 American Petroleum Institute Separator... '" ........................... 19

2.2 Induced Air Flotation......... ' " ...... '" '" ........................... ... '" .. 21

2.3 Dissolved Air Flotation........ , ........................... '" .. , ... ... ... ... . . . 21

3.1 General Idea of The Parallel Plate Separator... '" .. , .................. 27

3.2 Specific Gravity of Clean Water.............................................. 31

3.3 Absolute Viscosity of Clean Water..... . ..... . .............................. 31

3.4 Drag Coefficient versus Reynolds Number (NRe)......... '" ..... , ... ... 32

3.5 Side View of Parallel Coalescing Plate 0 34.. .. 0 .................... , ... ... ....

3.6 Parallel frustum of Cones Coalescing Plates Mechanism... ...... ... 35

3.7 Schematic Diagram Showing the Different Ionised Layer

Around An. Oil Droplets.. ... . ........ , ... ... ... .. . ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. . 36

3.8 The Parallel Plate Separator Assembling ................................. 38

4.1 Design of Parallel Plate Separator... .. . ...... ...... ......... .. ............. 40

4.2a Chart Showing a Different Values of Concentration Level of

Oil/Grease .................. '" .. , .. , ' " ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... .. . ...... ... ... .... 44

Al Physical Characteristic and Chemical Properties of

Several Crude Oils... ..................... ... '" ... . , . .................. '" ... .... 54

VI

RI Shows the Orientation of Surfactant Molecule at

the oil-water interface .. . ................................. '" ......... ...... ...... 55

C.l Shows how the Parallel Plate Works to Removed the Oil

IGrease from the Oil-Water Mixture ......................................... 56

C.2 The Samples of the Influent of Oil/Grease Taken at the

Experiment...... ...... ... ...... ... ......... ... ... .. . ... ... ... .... .. ... ......... ..... 57

C.3 Samples of the Effiuent of Oil/Grease Taken at the

Experiment .......... ,.................. . ........................." .... ,. ... ... ... ... 58

Vll

,L) ..

I >

INDEXS OF TABLE

Table Page

2.1 Sources of Waste Oil or Grease and Their Related Activities... ... . 8 ·

2.2 Contaminants of Potential Concern in Waste Oil... ... ... .. . ... ... .. . ... 11

2.3 Oil Type and their Physical! Chemical Properties .. . ........ . ..... , .... 14

2.1 Types of Oil Contamination and the Impact ...... ... ........ .... ........ . 15

2.2 Process Comparison for Oil/Grease Removal.. ... . .. . ................. .... 22

Vlll

NOMENCLATURE

A A area of the surface, cm2

B Width, em

d Depth, em

d., Oil particle diameter, em

g Acceleration due to gravity (9.81 kg/m3)

NRe Reynolds Number

P.. Density of water, kg/em3

Po Density of oil, kg/m3

Jl Viscosity of water

Vh Horizontal velocity, cm/s

Vr Rise velocity ofoil droplets, cmJs

> More than

< Less than

ABBREVIATION

RM Ringgit Malaysia

IX

,...

CHAPTER 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Waste oill grease refers to the lubricating oils that have gone through

their intended use cycle. Thus this waste oill grease must be either burned as

fuels, or are recycled or disposed as waste. Generally, the term embraces

spent automotive lubricating oils and spent industrial oils including those

used for lubrication, refrigeration, and process application. The collection,

recycling, treatment and disposal of waste oil are complicated by the fact that

it came from numerous small generators through the disposal of spent

automotive lubricating oil. Thus making it impossible to regulate- tho waste­

stream at its sources.

Oil and grease must be removed from wastewater smce- these

materials can damage the instruments and equipment, interfere with other

Processes (particularly gravity settling), and may accumulate in unwanted

area of the treatment system causing a hazard or performance problem.

Furthermore, oill grease has the potential to be contaminated either during

use or from external sources, which can be the result from physical or

mical changes of constituents, or from blending with hazardous waste

CHAPTER I lNTRODUCUON

during transport or storage.

In some cases, after removal of fats, oil, and grease and suspended solids from

waste water streams, there needs to be a further clarification of the water. In this case,

reverse osmosis is proving useful. Without removal of fats, oil, and grease a reverse

osmosis (RO) system would not be able to operate. For example, at an olive processor in

California, a 700 gpm waste water treatment system is presently bemg installed which

includes removal of free oil by gravity separation, followed by a spiral wound ultra

filtration (UF) system to remove the emulsified oil, and fmishing with a spiral reverse

osmosis system to remove dissolved solids.

1.2 BACKGROUND

Oil contamination in major streams and rivers of Malaysia mainly

results from domestic and small/ medium. size industrial activities. Some of

the main sources of oil contamination of rivers include oily wastewater

produced in petroleum production, refining, and storage, petrochemical

complexes, and cooking oil produced from households, cafeteria! canteen, food

stall, coffee shops, and restaurants. Oil contaminated wastewater is

discharged to perimeter drain and finally ends up in nearby stream and river.

Thus, activities from motorcycle or motor vehicle repair, air conditioner

servicing, and engine rebuilding also contribute a tremendous amount of

engine oil and hydraulic oil in nearby water receiving bodies such as streams

drivers.

2

CHAPTER J lNTRODUCrrON

Additionally, the baking, dairy, oil extraction (e.g. olive, soybean,

cottonseed oil), fish processing and meat and poultry industries as well as

manufacturers of oil-containing foods (e.g. margarine and salad dressing) face

the problem of reducing the oil contaminant load to downstream waste water

systems. The recovery of valuable by-products, such as proteins and milk fat

in the dairy industry, while at the same time reducing the biochemical

oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS) charges from the

publicly owned treatment works (POTW) make systems that can remove fat,

oil, and grease (FOG) increasingly economical.

1.3 OBJECTIVE

The objective of this final year project is to propose a novel cost­

effective management system for prevention of oil/ grease to the receiving

water. Thus the aim of the project is to develop and study the feasibility of

the proposed technology with special focus on the oil! grease gravity phase

separation system. While the specific aims are to:

a. Develop / design and to fabricate a novel oil/grease gravity phase

separation system,

b. Evaluate the effectiveness of the removal system in generating an

effiuents of acceptable quality.

3

CHAPTER 2

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter looks into the previous research and analysis that has been

done by other researchers. The main topics that will be stated are the

principles of oil/grease separation, the sources of waste oil/grease and their

related activities, characteristic of waste oils/grease, properties and

chemistry of waste oil/grease, the impacts of the oil contamination and lastly

the common current practices of oil/grease removal.

2.2 PRINCIPLES OF OIUGREASE SEPARATION

2.2.1 GENERAL DEFINITION OF OIL AND GREASE

The term oil when applied to oil-water separation is used to refer to an

extremely wide range of material but is generally used to describe a fluid of

low relative density, only slight solubility in water and processing some

lubricating properties. The term is also applied to the component fractions of

naturally occurring oil; for example 'mineral oils include not only the many

di1ferent crude oils but also refined products ranging from gasoline to

residual fuel oil.

4

CH!.PTER. 2 UTERAWRE REVIEW

While the term grease (lipid) commonly refers to triglycerides

composed of a single glycerol molecule with three usually different fatty acid

molecules attached via an ester bond. Grease is hydrophobic, which means

it is water hating. This means grease is attracted to itself and other non­

water materials much more strongly than it is to water. Grease, being lighter

than water, usually floats and in its quest to get away from water will adhere

so tightly to surfaces that it may remain attached to those surfaces even if

they become submerged.

2.2.2 DEFINITION OF WASTE OIL I GREASE

Waste oill grease refers to lubricating oils that have gone through

their intended used cycled and must be either treated or disposed of and re­

used. Oil or grease can be present in the wastewater in the form of;

2.2.2.1 FREE OIL

Oil and grease present in wastewater as a droplet with little or no

water associated with it is referred to as free oil. Free oil will float to the

surface due to its low specific gravity. The three main force acting on a

discrete oil droplet are buoyancy, drag, and gravity. The buoyancy of an oil

droplet is proportional to its volume and the drag is proportional to the

projected area of the droplet. As the diameter of an oil droplet decrease, the

ratio of its volume to surface area also decreases. Because of this droplet size

tionship, larger droplets tend to rise while smaller droplets remain

5

CHAPTER 2 liTERATURE REVIEW

suspended. This relationship is defined by Stokes law. The concept assumes

that the terminal velocity of a rising droplet is: (1) proportional to the specific

gravity difference between the oil and water; (2) proportional to the square of

the oil droplet diameters; and (3) inversely proportional to the viscosity of the

water.

1.1.1.2 EMULSIONS

Oil may also be present in wastewater in the form of an emulsion.

This is where the oil is actually dispersed in the water in the stable fashion.

Two types of emulsions are discussed: mechanical emulsions and chemical

emulsions. Mechanical emulsions are created through the process of pumping

and otherwise mixing the oil-water solution. Chemical emulsions are

generally intentionally formed using chemicals to stabilize the emulsion for

an industrial process need or other use. Both types of emulsions can be

present in a wastewater at the same and also along with free oil. Careful

sampling, experimental work, and analysis are necessary to differentiate

between the various types. The objective in treatment of wastewater

containing emulsified oils is to destabilize the emulsion so that the oil or

grease will separate by gravity or flotation. Once the emulsion is broken, the

same removal techniques applicable to free oil can be utilized.

Destabilization of a mechanical emulsion can be accomplished by

tIIIlMIi'ques such as coalescence, chemical coagulation, or agglomeration.

6

CHI.PTER2 UTERA1VRE REVIEW

Essentially what is done to promote interdroplet contact with the purpose of

developing larges droplets that will be much easier to removed. These larger

droplets will have a lower specific gravity and therefore separable by use of

the techniques previously described.

The treatment of chemical emulsions can be considerably more

difficult due to the characteristics of the waste, but several tried and proven

techniques are available for investigation. These involve the use of coagulant,

pH adjustment, and heat. Acid cracking with or without heat is the most

common approach used and is generally done on a batch basis. Sulfuric or

hydrochloric acid is added to a pH of 1 and 2 along with a coagulant and

• heating to 100 to 1500 F ( 38 to 660 C) is used to break the emulsion. This

results in the oil being free from the water and therefore separable by the

other means. Emulsion breaking is highly specific to the particular

wastewater and should be carefully tested in the laboratory prior to system

design.

I.a SOURCES OF WASTE OIUGREASE AND THEIR RELATED

ACTIVITIES

Waste oil is generated from widely dispersed sources. Thus all the

sources of the waste oil and their related activities are listed in Table. 2.1.

7

CJWY/'ER2 UTERA1URE REVIEW

Tnmp Oil and

Hydraulic Oil

Grease and Hydraulic

Sources Activity

Cooking Oil

Oil type

Households, canteen, Washing and cleaning

cafeteria, coffee shops,

restaurants, food stalls, etc.

Engine oil and Motorcycle/ vehicle Maintenance,

Hydraulic Oil servicing, andworkshops,

1 Engine and air conditioner rebuilding

repair/ rebuilding facilities,

Boiler repair/ maintenance

sites

Metalworking facilities Metal - cutting and

milling operations

Engine and air conditioner Parts degreasing by

servicing/ rebuilding immersion washing or

facilities cleaning I

1.1 Sources ofWaste Oil or Grease and Their Related Activities

8

CllAPTER2

1.4

lubrication base

I"

lJTERA.1UREREVIEW

CHARACTERISTIC OF WASTE OILS/GREASE

An industrial oils are composed of an organic base stock and additive

packages which have been developed for specific lubricating applications in

Older to significantly increase the performance and life of the oils. The

stock can be compromised of hundreds of thousands of

oqanic constituents, the majority of which are polynuclear aromatics (PNAs).

The additives, which may comprise up to 25% of the oil by volume, typically

contain inorganic constituent such as sulfur, nitrogen and trace metals. And

in the recent years, some additional compound such as chlorinated solvents

found in the sample of waste oil. Below are the detailed information

about some of the potentially hazardous contaminants.

POLYNUCLEARAROMATICS

Polynuclear aromatics hydrocarbons are present in the petroleum base

and can be produced during the use of the oil and others are generated

the pyrolysis during the exposure of the oil to high temperatures.

uclear aromatics hydrocarbon consisting of two ring structure are

blOWn as naphthalene and consisting of four-, five-and six ring structures

known as carcinogens and mutagens. Benzo(a]pyrene , B[a]P is a prime

pies of a PNA which exhibit carcinogenic effect.

9

CHAPTER]

U

CJClea

cpttpmin8nts

U

"leDt from

(O.lg1gal).

liTERA lURE REVIEW

HALOGENATED ORGANICS

Halogenated hydrocarbons may be produced in oil during normal use

by the reaction of base-stock hydrocarbons and halogenated

compounds, typically inorganic chlorides, from the additives package. These

are generally associated with degreasing solvents such as

trichloroethane, trichloroethylene, and perchloroethylene.

TRACE METALS

Trace metals are the predominant contaminant of waste oil that is of

coacern. Aluminium, chromium, and iron may get into the oil from external

8OUl'C8S such as the wear of metal parts. While barium and zinc are often

oil additive package. Lead, which is present in the most

aipificant concentration is generated from the use of leaded gasoline in

alODllOU·'ve engines. In 1986, the EPA promulgated standards regulation of

concentration that the average concentration of lead is 0.03 gIL

Some compounds of potential concerns and potential concentrations

._ofthese constituents are listed in Table. 2.2.

IO