search this site
A Major Southern California Refinery
A major refinery in southern California needed some temporary filtration equipment to treat their auxiliary wastewater stream before discharging into the adjacent open waterway. Spikes of hydrocarbon material were passing through their existing treatment system, and they needed to polish the waste-water until improvements to the system were completed.
Clear Creek Systems, Inc. recommended a temporary treatment system to process 2,000 to 4,000 gallons per minute for six to eighteen months. The water analysis reports indicated hydrocarbon contamination levels below the maximum discharge limit of 10 ppm. However, in response to local regulatory agency requirements, the client needed to eliminate spikes or upsets to the system from reaching the discharge point.
PROJECT DESIGN GOALS
2,000 gallons per minute rate of flow.
Influent Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) levels of 10 parts per million with occasional spikes of higher than 10 ppm.
Effluent TPH levels below 5 parts per million. (Prevent spikes of higher than the 10 PPM acceptable discharge limits)
Clear Creek Systems, Inc. relied primarily on EC100 media filtration with string wound polypropylene pre-filters to remove particulate and extend the bed life of the EC100. A 5 gpm on site pilot test was conducted to determine that effluent water quality met the discharge limits.
Equipment and Material
Two 720 cubic foot carbon steel pressure media vessels
74,000 pounds of EC100 granular media
Two PF 1000 particulate filters with 1 micron cartridges
Valves, pipes, hoses, sample ports, pressure gages and couplings
Mobilization
System training
Demobilization
Almost immediately after the client accepted the proposal, they experienced another upset. They contacted Clear Creek Systems and requested a rush installation. Within 7 days the system was installed and operating. Immediately, the string wound filters began to load up and the PF1000 particulate filter units required daily change-out. The client realized their existing treatment system failed more frequently than they originally thought or their discharge lines were contaminated. Fortunately, the filtration system installed by CCS captured the excess hydrocarbons and prevented the client from being fined or shut down due to these failures.
Clear Creek Systems began working with the client to reduce the number of filter changeouts. Two more PF 1000 particulate filters were placed in front of the existing units. These units held 25-micron cartridges to catch the larger particulate. This failed to reduce the loading on the string wound filters. Inspection of the filters indicated that the polymer being used in the client’s existing wastewater treatment system might be blinding off the cartridges due to overdosing.
Through out the entire process the temporary filtration system using string wound pre-filters and EC100 media prevented unacceptable levels of hydrocarbon contamination from reaching the open waterway, and CCS worked with the client to improve the upstream treatment system and reduce filter change-outs.
