A European research project has succeeded in developing a system for cleaning water for reservoirs contaminated with industrial fuels at one-tenth the cost of other existing commercial systems, while obtaining water that is clean enough to be safely returned to the sea without endangering the flora or fauna in it.
A European research project has succeeded in developing a system for cleaning water for reservoirs contaminated with industrial fuels at one-tenth the cost of other existing commercial systems, while obtaining water that is clean enough to be safely returned to the sea without endangering the flora or fauna in it.
Waste water from ships, refineries and other petrochemical industries is contaminated with a considerable amount of toxic compounds. If these substances remain as they are, they pose a health hazard to our lives and our beaches and are fatal to all aquatic life forms after we release them into the various water reservoirs.
The most complete method for treating waste water contaminated with petrochemical substances is through a series of three steps that include physico-chemical and biological processes. This is the third and last stage of the treatment that determines if the water is clean enough to be discharged into the sea. The process is complex and requires a combination of bioreactor, chemical coagulation, granulated activated carbon or sorption technologies.
This third step is the most expensive part of the entire process. It can also cause decay, as a result of the development of unwanted bacteria and problems with the waste disposal of toxic sediments formed during treatment, if it is not properly monitored.
"The cost of the third stage is a big problem," says Professor Viktoras Racys from the University of Lithuania - the main partner of this European project. "Water contaminated with petrochemicals can be treated - but it costs a lot. We wanted to find a stable process that would be both cheap and practical.
The research group in the environmental engineering department of the university has already developed and tested a new model for waste water treatment on a laboratory scale. "In order to implement our new method on an industrial scale, we needed financial assistance from external sources. This European project helped us with that," says the researcher.
Together with three partners, the project team developed a highly efficient combination for an industrial scale. "We developed the new treatment through three processes that all take place in one vessel, backed up," explains the researcher. "We used sepia, biological decomposition and filtration. The pollutants are broken down by microorganisms that form inside the scrub," he explains.
The partners in the project, all well-known experts in their field, came from Lithuania and Sweden. The Department of Environmental Chemistry at Umeaa University in Sweden specializes in the study of environmental problems caused by organic pollutants. The department, equipped with an advanced research laboratory, provided the examination and identification of the organic compounds found in the waste water contaminated with petrochemical products using the most advanced scientific technologies available. The department also developed procedures to assess the nature of these compounds and their decomposition products, and to examine the toxicity of the precipitates obtained at the end of the process.
The Swedish researchers developed a tool for sampling and internal monitoring of the system to measure its effectiveness in treating the toxic compounds. They performed a complete examination of the operation of the system and confirmed the reliability of the methods used in it, while establishing standards for orderly operating procedures. The design, production and installation of the scrubber was carried out by a Lithuanian researcher, who specializes in waste water treatment plants and technologies. He was also responsible for operating the system from the moment it became active.
The system is already operating and treating waste water contaminated with petrochemicals at a Lithuanian fuel plant called Nasta. "It works superbly," says Professor Racys. "We couldn't believe the results the first time. The system has a high capacity - processing an amount of 160 liters in one hour. The cost is one euro for every 3.5 liters. In practical terms, it is between ten and twenty times better than other existing systems.” But this is not the end. The level of cleanliness of the water has been significantly improved. "The water before the treatment is extremely polluted, and contains about one gram of pollutants in every one liter. After treatment, they contain only about 0.1 grams of pollutants per liter. This value exceeds the standards of the European Union so that the treated water can be directly returned to the sea," says Professor Racys.
After two years of operation, the system proved itself to be reliable and stable and gave rise to several academic publications. The system is ready for operation in sensitive areas for the treatment of waste water from refineries and fuel plants, standing water, the drainage water from parking lots and car wash facilities and all other waste water contaminated with petrochemicals.
The main researcher believes that the system can be further improved and is interested in advancing its application to the industrial level. "I am very involved in this matter - as is the case with most scientists, my work is like another child of mine," he says. He is looking for new partners from the industry, however, although the results obtained have already been proven to be good and reliable, it is difficult to get them.
9 תגובות
How can you clean a small amount of water?
If blue surfaces work I don't see a budgetary problem to have a team of several
People who regularly cross the rivers in the country... it's not like there is a huge selection
I am shocked by the prices
Thank you very much for the encouragement Noam.
As someone who has to make a living and manage my day-to-day life, I'm afraid that such an operation requires little more than simply sending an email to the Ministry of the Environment. I guess you were right, but the motivation of a single researcher vis-a-vis law enforcement is low and inversely proportional to the amount of investment that must be invested in launching such a project. How simple and cheap, how complicated - when there is no system that supports you.
You got a free idea. If someone succeeds in cleaning our rivers and in the world like this, I would love to hear and I would be happy that the idea was successful. I hereby declare in black and white that the idea is free to all and I have no desire or need to receive any dividend on it in the past, present and future.
Greetings friends,
Ami Bachar
PhD
Ami,
If you really want to test the solution, try to "raise the gauntlet" - I assume that there are bodies that will support you (municipalities, the Ministry of Environmental Quality) - try to contact them.
To Noam,
The first reason is motivation
The second stems from the first and is a budget (in fact, money is not really needed to implement the matter, you just need to hire the operation that will run it - manpower)
The third reason is a lack of experts in the field.
The fourth reason - after all, it's an original idea. I thought about it quite a lot during my PhD on blue surfaces. The potential in MICROBIAL MATS (the foreign name for blue surfaces) is tremendous for a thousand different reasons
A question for Ami:
How do you explain that the blue solution was not implemented in Israel, for example in Kirkon or Kishon?
It is possible that it could be of great benefit to the refineries and industries in Haifa Bay...
Fishy…
A. From the article it is not possible to understand what the method is and what it is based on.
B. If the industry is not willing to cooperate even though it yields a much smaller cost - the matter should be looked into. It is hard to believe that the industry is not interested in making money.
third. From one gram per liter to a tenth of a gram is the improvement? This means that instead of one liter killing what it kills today, then ten liters will do the same job. It's beautiful. But it's still not good. The industry uses millions of cubic meters of water and the reduction of 90% of the pollution still sounds rude and not good enough to me.
d. Finally, the Swedes...everywhere there are different standards regarding what is polluting and what is polluting. When I did my doctorate in Germany, as well as my master's here in Israel, we were very careful that radioactive materials would be captured very well and disposed of in special places - which cost and still cost a great deal of money. When I went to study in Denmark, I was surprised to find out that at the university there they pour the radioactive material into an ordinary sink. There is so much It's a lot of water that's being drained. Fix it. And I'm not sure that Denmark is less "green" than Germany and certainly not less green than polluting Israel. There is no comprehensive and worldwide regulation regarding the concept of "polluted" and of course there is not the same attitude when it comes to bodies of water.
And here is a free idea, for anyone who wants to clean the polluted streams in our country: blue-green surfaces. In a certain section of the stream, they made sure that there would be no one to eat the algae and bacteria that grow on the bottom and you got a biological filter that does not require treatment. Once every two or three years, take out the blueberry patches, collect them and feed them to ornamental animals. Blue surfaces are very effective in filtering and absorbing waste materials from the water body. They are created naturally and grow in any situation, be it the most extreme on the planet.
Greetings friends,
Ami Bachar