Comprehensive chemical characterization of dissolved organic matter in typical point-source refinery wastewaters

Yuguo Li; Baichun Wu; Chen He; Fan Nie; Quan Shi

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131617

Comprehensive chemical characterization of dissolved organic matter in typical point-source refinery wastewaters

Chemosphere. 2022 Jan;286(Pt 1):131617. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131617. Epub 2021 Jul 20.

Authors

Yuguo Li¹, Baichun Wu², Chen He³, Fan Nie⁴, Quan Shi⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China; State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control, CNPC Research Institute of Safety and Environmental Technology, Beijing, 102249, China. Electronic address: yugoli@cup.edu.cn.
² State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China; State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control, CNPC Research Institute of Safety and Environmental Technology, Beijing, 102249, China. Electronic address: wbc199@126.com.
³ State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China. Electronic address: hechen@cup.edu.cn.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control, CNPC Research Institute of Safety and Environmental Technology, Beijing, 102249, China. Electronic address: niefan0123@126.com.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China. Electronic address: sq@cup.edu.cn.

PMID: 34303906
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131617

Abstract

In petroleum refineries, the electric desalting, distillation, and stripping processes could generate large amounts of wastewaters that contain toxic substances. In this study, eight wastewater samples were collected from the three typical refining processes for comprehensive chemical characterization of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) using excitation emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). Results showed that protein-like components and benzene were ubiquitous in all these wastewaters. Oxygen-containing volatile organic compounds had higher contents in crude distillation and stripping wastewater than those in electric desalting wastewater. Among the three refinery processes, molecular composition of DOM in the stripping wastewater had the highest complexity. The O_x and O_xS_y class species assigned from the negative-ion electrospray ionization FT-ICR MS were dominant in all wastewaters. The O_xS₂ class species which were effectively removed during stripping treatment had highest relative abundance in stripping influent. These results are instructive to guide the development of "divide and conquer" and would improve the treatment and management of refinery wastewater streams.

Keywords: Chemical composition; Dissolved organic matter; EEM; FT-ICR MS; GC-MS; Point-source wastewater.

MeSH terms

Mass Spectrometry
Petroleum*
Spectrometry, Fluorescence
Wastewater* / analysis

Substances

Petroleum
Waste Water