Adsorption of the Petrochemical Pollutants Released at the Small Vehicle-Service Facilities on the Coal Refinery Sludge/Pyrocarbon Compositions

Abstract

It has been proven that the use of coal-like adsorbents with the mosaic and hydrophobic surface structure is efficient in cleaning the
wastewater from a wide range of pollutants under the condition of their uncontrolled release from various small enterprises. This
range includes such environmentally dangerous agents as petrochemicals and other pollutants formed at car filling, carwash stations
or other similar facilities. Technical pyrocarbon and the coal refinery sludges are readily available waste materials with high porosity,
which exhibit some adsorption activity and can be utilized in water/wastewater treatment solutions. Then the adsorbents can be either
disposed of at the landfill areas or incinerated as components of some secondary fuels. The highest adsorption performance is achieved
for the sorbent mixture of the refinery sludges and technical pyrocarbon with the ratio of the components 4:1.
If the wastewater is flowing through this composition, the degree of petrochemicals removal reaches 75-80% for the mixture sludge/
technical pyrocarbon, while the pure pyrocarbon ensures the removal degree of 15-20% only. Though adsorption efficiency under stationary conditions (keeping the adsorbent and the wastewater in contact inside some decontamination pond/vessel for at least 24 h) is
higher, this option is hard-to-realize for a small car service/wash station. As an alternative, comparatively small wastewater cleaning
cartridges filled with the 4:1 mixture of coal sludge and technical pyrocarbon can be recommended for preliminary decontamination
of the wastewater formed at such enterprises before their discharge to the local municipal sewerage lines.