Society of Petroleum Engineers

SPE 27316

Effluent Water Quality Improvement

Shahul Hamid* and W.N. Yeo, Sarawak Shell Berhad/Sabah Shell Petroleum Co. Ltd.
'SPE Member

Copyright 1994, Society o)f Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Second International Conference on Health, Safety & Environment in Oil & Gas Exploration & Production held in Jakarta, Indonesia,
25-27 January 1994.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper,
as presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect
any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society
of Petroleum Engineers. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment
of where and by whom the paper is presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O. Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A. Telex, 163245 SPEUT.

INTRODUCTION
The Labuan Crude Oil Terminal LCOT is the receiving plant
for all crude production from 5 major oil fields offshore state
of Sabah in Malaysia. Two pipelines, one in the north and
another from the south deliver crude to the Terminal. The
wet crude of water content of 5 to 40 percent arrives fully
stabilized. The Terminal stores and prepares the crude for
ex-port via Single Buoy Mooring system line.
The primary facilities of the Terminal an::
• 4 Crude Oil Storage Tanks totaling 1.64 million barrels
storage capacity,
• 4 Free Water Knock-Dut Vessels (FWKO)
• An Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP)
• An Emulsion and Wax Treatment Plant (EWTP) and
• Export Pumps and Custody Transfer Meters.
.drains to a holding basin before being discharged via an
Figure 1 schematically represents the primary facilities in the
Terminal.
LCOT has been experiencing wide fluctuations in its water
treatment performance. In order to meet legislated average
effluent discharge quality limit of 100 mgll and the
company's target of average 40 mgll in 1993 reducing to
10 mgll by 1995, several initiatives have been instituted.
This paper presents an overview of the efforts to date.
THE EFFLUENT TREATMENT PLANT
Oily water from FWKO vessels, oil storage tanks, EWTP,
closed and open drains flows directly to the ETP (see figure
1). The treated water is sent directly to an API Separator
and flows by gravity to the Corrugated Plate
Interceptor(CPI). Water from the CPI is pumped to the
effluent buffer tanks for feed into an induced air flotation
unit (WEMCO). Water stream from the flotation uriit
ocean outfall line, some 100 metres from shore. Oil scum
is skimmed from the API, CPI and holding basin and
pumped to EWTP for further treatment.

I
- --
noWSO'EMATlCDIACRAM ,
fig.... , With the effluent discharge quality above 100 mgll and
increased volume of produced water arriving at the
Terminal, the remedial efforts taken involved the
following:

a) Search for suitable treatment chemicals in terms of

effectiveness and cost,
b) Modification of2 units of the FWKO vessels
c) Hydrocyclone trials
d) Induced Gas flotation trials
e) Centrifuge and Decanter trials
f) Performance Review of FWKO and ETP
g) Operator Awareness

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Page 2 EFFLUENT WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
CHEMICAL TRIALS
Both demulsifier and deoiler chemical trials were conducted.
Following laboratory tests,. 3 demulsifiers and 4 deoiler
chemicals were selected for field trials. The results of the
field trials were used to select appropriate chemicals for
usage. So far, chemicals selected have performed effectively.
MODIFICATION OF FWKO VESSELS
The FWKO vessels are about 60 feet long and 13 feet internal
diameter equipped with inlet distributor and two diffuser
plates in series to distribute the flow. Sand build up and
wax deposits bridged the holes of diffuser plates thus
increasing turbulence in the vessels, short circuiting the flow
and reducing residence time. Installation of sand sparging
facilities and relocation of level displacer to increase
residence time of the water phase significantly improved the
effluent quality from a range of 600 - 3800 mg/l to an average
of 80 mg/l (based on infra red spectrometer measurement).
HYDROCYCLONE TRIALS
Tests using hydrocyclones to clean the water routed from the
FWKO vessels were conducted. Results indicated that with
100 to 400 mg/l influent, the hydrocyclone would effectively
treat water and produce effluent water within the 100 mg/l
limit. However, it was found difficult to be within the 40
mg/llimit without the use of demulsifier chemicals.
INDUCED GAS FLOTATION QGF) TRIALS
Induced gas/air flotation method was next selected for trials.
To determine its effectiveness, two trials using two different
makes of equipment, were conducted. On both occasions,
the IGFs were found not effectively treating the effluent water
or no better than the existing facilities.
CENTRIFUGE AND DECANTER TRIALS
With the disappointing results of the Hydrocyclone and IGF
trials, the use of centrifuges and decanters to treat the
minority contaminated water stream from emulsion storage
tank, EWTP, was recommended. Initial trials indicated that
effluent water quality could be improved. Following the first
testing, the company decided to conduct further testing to
assess the efficiency/effectiveness of the centrifuges in
improving the overall Terminal effluent discharge quality.
The results indicated an average efficiency of61 to 83 percent
and limited to handling capacity of 10 cubic metres per hour
which is only 6 percent of the Terminal total treated effluent
volume. It was concluded that improvement to the effluent
discharge quality was insignificant. The decanter trialed had
many mechanical problems resulting in discontinuation of
trial.
PERFORMANCE REVIEW OF FWKO AND ETP
With unsuccessful trials using technology to improve the .
effluent discharge quality to the desired level, we
commenced reviewing the performance of the FWKO and
ETP.
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SPE 027316
FWKO
It was found that the vessel efficiencies depended on the
vessel pressure and on the water: drain LICV opening.
Against this are the environmental and process constraints
of limiting the oil-in water content of the discharged water.
The optimum operating mode was a normal operating
pressure of 45 psig , with LICV at 35 percent open and at
interface level at as close to 0.7 of the internal diameter as
operationally possible.
ETP
API SEPARATOR
Results indicated that the oil removal efficiency of the Wax
Trap is low. The variance of residence times between
actual and theoretical is slightly over 20 percent indicating
short circuiting and turbulence, made worse by the
splashing at the inlet. .
CORRUGATED PLATE INCEPTOR (CPD
Monitoring of the CPI showed that the overall system
efficiency was low - (11.7 %) with an average flow rate of
50.000 bpd. Residence time was estimated at 10 minutes.
With higher flow rate , the oil-in-water content of the
effluent was noted higher than the influent, suggesting that
oil is trapped/recirculating in some stagnant space and is
partially flushed out. Clogged corrugated plates accounted
for some stagnant space. Regular cleaning programme was
instituted.
INDUCED AIR FLOTATION UNIT
The original specification of the induced air flotation unit
required it to discharge process water into the Holding
Basin with oil-in-water content of less than 10 mgll.
Review of results showed that such a high efficiency cannot
be achieved. Nevertheless, this unit, as an integral part of
ETP, has the highest oil removal efficiency compared to the
Wax Trap or the CPr. The Induced Air Flotation Unit is
not performing to its maximum efficiency partly because
more than 70% of the oil droplets in the influent water
consist of droplets whose sizes are 15 microns or less and
partly wide fluctuations in the effluent water quality due to
fluctuation inflow rates and 'dirty' influent from minority
streams.
OPERATOR AWARENESS
Operators at LCOT were made aware of the need to
progressively reduce the oil-in-water effluent. The
awareness drive was done through regular meetings,
reviews and seminars.
CONCLUSION
Hydrocyclones, IGF and Centrifuges were found ineffective.
With modifications to the FWKO, chemicals and actions
taken under the performance review of both FWKO and
ETP, we have managed to reduce our oil in water discharge
to within 23 mgll.