Technology for solubilizing crude in water
A major problem connected with crude oil extraction and refining is environmental damage following oil spills. Today’s technologies work on different operating principles, in the effort of solving as soon and effectively as possible problems arising from the spill. Against marine pollution, common practice is dispersants usage, while solvents have been abandoned; the tendency is utilization of physical barriers to surround the spill and then recover the oil. For soil pollution, chemical means are not used (solvents would be costly and environmentally unacceptable), so the choice is either soil substitution (with a virgin one, followed by disposal of the polluted one) or submitting the soil to micro-organisms attack. The last choice has been receiving increasing attention, but has two main pitfalls: a) bacteria action is time-consuming; b) bacteria life by-products can be unacceptable from an environmental standpoint.
ITW has developed a novel technology which conjugates the need for a rapid and efficient action with the need of not introducing new pollution sources.
Hydrocarbons solubilization in water
1. the core of ITW process are highly effective chemicals which are able to temporarily solubilize the hydrocarbons in water in order to remove them from soil and metal surfaces
2. the chemical can be added in the steam phase or by means of a water circulation
3. the chemical is not an emulsifier
4. the chemical is > 95% biogradable and therefore does not create any problems for waste water treatment plants (COD 2 PPM - pH neutral)
Chemical does not kill micro-organism i.e. soil is alive and reusable