University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2012 Oily wastewater treatment: removal of dissolved organic components by forward osmosis Rajab M. Abousnina University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Abousnina, Rajab M., Oily wastewater treatment: removal of dissolved organic components by forward osmosis, Master of Engineering - Research thesis, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, 2012. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/3750 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library:
[email protected] School of Civil, Mining, and Environmental Engineering Oily Wastewater Treatment: Removal of Dissolved Organic Components by Forward Osmosis Rajab M. Abousnina This thesis is presented as part of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Engineering Research University of Wollongong October 2012 Abstract Produced water is water brought to the surface with crude oil or natural gas; it is the largest waste stream by volume associated with the production of oil and gas. Some crude oil and traces of organic compounds, particularly organic acids, are known to occur in produced water. Although the current international standard limits the amount of dissolved oil in produced water to less than 30 mg/L prior to environmental discharge, no regulations exist for other dissolved organic constituents. This is mostly because of the lack of low cost, high efficiency technologies capable of removing dissolved organic constituents from produced water. This work investigated the removal of dissolved organics from produced water by the forward osmosis (FO) process, with a particular focus on Libya.