Treatment of high-concentration wastewater from an oil and gas field via a paired sequencing batch and ceramic membrane reactor

Abstract

A sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and a ceramic membrane bioreactor (CMBR) were used in conjunction (SBR+CMBR) to treat high-concentration oil and gas field wastewater (HCOGW) from the China National Offshore Oil Corporation Zhanjiang Branch (Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China). The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and the oil concentrations in the wastewater were 20,000–76,000 and 600–2200 mg/L, respectively. After the SBR+CMBR process, the effluent COD and oil content values were less than 250 mg/L and 2 mg/L, respectively, which met the third level of the Integrated Wastewater Discharge Standards of China (GB8978-1996). Through microbiological analysis, it was found that the CMBR domesticated a previously unreported functional microorganism (JF922467.1) that successfully formed a new microbial ecosystem suitable for HCOGW treatment. In conjunction with the SBR process, the CMBR process effectively reduced pollutant concentrations in HCOGW. Moreover, economic analyses indicated that the total investment required to implement the proposed infrastructure would be approximately 671,776.61 USD, and the per-unit water treatment cost would be 1.04 USD/m3.