Removal of Oil and Heavy Metals from Oily Sludge using Esterquat Surfactant via Surfactant-Enhanced Oil Recovery (SEOR)

Abstract

Oily sludge is one of the most significant solid waste materials generated by petroleum refinery plant. Due to high concentration of petroleum hydrocarbon (PHCs) that is considered as harmful and hazardous waste to human beings and environmental, the initiative was developed to minimize this issue by performing investigation on cationic plant-based esterquat surfactant for oil recovery and heavy metal removal from oily sludge via Surfactant-enhanced Oil Recovery (SEOR). Based on the research finding, oily sludge has significant amount of volatile matters (32.22 wt%) which consists of hazardous PAHs that needs to be removed from oily sludge. Cationic esterquat surfactant has been introduced in removal of heavy metal and oil from oily sludge. Result shows the CMCs of cationic esterquat surfactant obtained was about 125mg/L via conductivity method and spectrophotometric method. The percentage of oil recovery obtained was 74.62% at esterquat concentration of 125 mg/L with significant removal on chromium (Cr) and lead (Pb). This finding shows the potential of cationic esterquat surfactant in enhancing the oil and metal removal from oily sludge