ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Treating Produced Water Using Induced Air
Flotation: The Effect of Ethanol on Conditioning
and Flotation of PAHs in the Presence
of Tween 80
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1
Materials Technology and Process Engineering Laboratory, University of Bejaia, Bejaia, Algeria
2
Applied Hydraulic and Environment Research Laboratory, University of Bejaia, Bejaia, Algeria
3
Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Department of Environmental Engineering,
Technical University, Zvolen, Slovakia
Submission date: 2018-02-22
Final revision date: 2018-04-10
Acceptance date: 2018-04-16
Online publication date: 2019-01-23
Publication date: 2019-03-01
Corresponding author
Marián Schwarz
Technical University in Zvolen, T. G. Masaryka 24, 96053 Zvolen, Slovak Republic
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(4):2079-2087
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ABSTRACT
Induced air flotation (IAF) was used to recover the total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHtot) from produced water (PW), a real oilfield effluent sampled from the hydrocarbon storage
tanks at SONATRACH of Bejaia. Tween 80 was used as a collector at a test concentration of 0.5%
(V/V%) and ethanol was used as a frother at a test dosage of 0.5 mL/1000 mL of PW. The natural
presence of NaCl at greater concentrations may improve the removal efficiency of PAHtot from PW
by IAF. We found that the conditioning step before initiating the flotation process is important
for PAHtot recovery. A PAHtot recovery of 93.67% was achieved at 30 min of conditioning and 20 min
of flotation. We also found that in the presence of Tween 80 during the conditioning step, PAHtot have
a tendency to reach the water-air surface. It was disclosed that the addition of ethanol in PW during
the conditioning has reduced both the conditioning time from 30 min to 10 min and the flotation time
from 20 min to 12 min, which is beneficial from an economic standpoint. The effect of ethanol on
the flotation kinetics of PAHtot was explained well by the Higuchi model.