Petroleum coke adsorption as a water management option for oil sands process-affected water

Water is integral to both operational and environmental aspects of the oil sands industry. A water treatment option based on the use of petroleum coke (PC), a by-product of bitumen upgrading, was examined as an opportunity to reduce site oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) inventories and net raw water demand. Changes in OSPW quality when treated with PC included increments in pH levels and concentrations of vanadium, molybdenum, and sulphate. Constituents that decreased in concentration after PC adsorption included total acid-extractable organics (TAO), bicarbonate, calcium, barium, magnesium, and strontium. Changes in naphthenic acids (NAs) speciation were observed after PC adsorption. A battery of bioassays was used to measure the OSPW toxicity. The results indicated that untreated OSPW was toxic towards Vibrio fischeri and rainbow trout. However, OSPW treated with PC at appropriate dosages was not acutely toxic towards these test organisms. Removal of TAO was found to be an adsorption process, fitting the Langmuir and Langmuir–Freundlich isotherm models. For TAO concentrations of 60 mg/L, adsorption capacities ranged between 0.1 and 0.46 mg/g. This study demonstrates that freshly produced PC from fluid cokers provides an effective treatment of OSPW in terms of key constituents' removal and toxicity reduction.

► Treatment of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) using petroleum coke (PC) adsorption was investigated.
► PC was effective at adsorbing naphthenic acids with higher cyclicity.
► OSPW treated with PC at appropriate dosages was not toxic towards Vibrio fisheri and rainbow trout.
► The adsorption of organic acids fitted the Langmuir and Langmuir–Freundlich isotherm models.
► PC has the potential to be an effective adsorbent to treat OSPW either directly or as a pretreatment step.