1st Edition

Treatment of Petroleum Refinery Wastewater with Constructed Wetlands

By Hassana Mustapha Copyright 2018

    Pollution of waterbodies and the environment by petroleum industry is of particular concern in Nigeria. This problem can be addressed by the application of constructed wetlands (CWs) which is a nature-based system that is simple to construct, have low operational and maintenance costs in terms of supply of energy and its periodic maintenance.

    The application of CWs in Nigeria for polishing of petroleum refinery wastewater is an unprecedented research. This PhD thesis focused on some specific objectives which were characterization of treated secondary refinery wastewater, design, construction, operation and monitoring of planted (T. latifolia, C. alternifolius and C. dactylon) and unplanted vertical subsurface flow, horizontal subsurface flow and hybrid CWs for the removal of suspended solids, nutrients, heavy metals, organic matter and organic pollutants. The CWs effectively treated the petroleum contaminated wastewater to effluent compliance limits.

    In this study, T. latifolia planted CWs had consistently higher removal efficiencies for all the measured parameters than C. alternifolius and C. dactylon planted CW systems. Therefore, in order to improve the wastewater quality discharged by Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) Nigeria, meet stringent guidelines and protect the recipient streams, installation of CWs at the effluent discharge point of KRPC is strongly recommended.

    Ch. 1. General Introduction
    Ch. 2. Constructed wetlands to treat wastewater generated in conventional petroleum refining industry: a review
    Ch. 3. Characterization of secondary treated refinery effluent
    Ch. 4. Vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands for polishing secondary Kaduna refinery wastewater in Nigeria
    Ch. 5. Optimization of petroleum refinery wastewater treatment by vertical flow constructed wetlands under tropical conditions: plant species selection and polishing by a horizontal flow constructed wetlands
    Ch. 6. Fate of heavy metals in vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands treating secondary treated petroleum refinery wastewater in Kaduna, Nigeria
    Ch. 7. Vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands for the removal of petroleum contaminants from secondary refinery effluent at the Kaduna refining and petrochemical company (Kaduna, Nigeria)
    Ch. 8. Performance evaluation of duplex constructed wetlands for the treatment of diesel contaminated wastewater 
    Ch. 9. General discussion and outlook
    Appendix

    Biography

    Hassana Ibrahim Mustapha was born in Lokoja, Nigeria in 1974. Her first and second degrees were obtained at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria in Agricultural Engineering (B.Eng.) and Soil and Water Conservation Engineering (M. Eng.) in year 2000 and 2005, respectively. Hassana joined the UNESCO-IHE, Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands in 2011 as a PhD Research Fellow. Her research work focused on the treatment of petroleum refining wastewater. Her PhD was supervised by Professor dr. ir. Piet N. L. Lens (Professor of Environmental Biotechnology). She has co-authored 12 papers on constructed wetlands for petroleum refining wastewater treatment, including 6 conference papers. Her research interests are in constructed wetlands, phytoremediation and treatment of wastewater. This book is a PhD dissertation and six of its chapters have been published separately in reputable journals.