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Refining Expertise
Winner of the 2015 Rachel Carson Prize presented by the Society for Social Studies of Science
Residents of a small Louisiana town were sure that the oil refinery next door was making them sick. As part of a campaign demanding relocation away from the refinery, they collected scientific data to prove it. Their campaign ended with a settlement agreement that addressed many of their grievances-but not concerns about their health. Yet, instead of continuing to collect data, residents began to let refinery scientists' assertions that their operations did not harm them stand without challenge. What makes a community move so suddenly from actively challenging to apparently accepting experts' authority?
Refining Expertiseargues that the answer lies in the way that refinery scientists and engineers defined themselves as experts. Rather than claiming to be infallible, they began to portray themselves asresponsible-committed to operating safely and to contributing to the well-being of the community. The volume shows that by grounding their claims to responsibility in influential ideas from the larger culture about what makes good citizens, nice communities, and moral companies, refinery scientists made it much harder for residents to challenge their expertise and thus re-established their authority over scientific questions related to the refinery's health and environmental effects.
Gwen Ottinger here shows how industrial facilities' current approaches to dealing with concerned communities-approaches which leave much room for negotiation while shielding industry's environmental and health claims from critique-effectively undermine not only individual grassroots campaigns but also environmental justice activismandfar-reaching efforts to democratize science. This work drives home the need for both activists and politically engaged scholars to reconfigure their own activities in response, in order to advance community health and robust scientific knowledge about it.
eBook
Biodegradation of petroleum refining industry oil sludge by microbial-assisted biocarrier matrix: process optimization using response surface methodology
Safe disposal of petroleum oil sludge generated from crude oil storage tank bottom is a major challenge for petroleum refineries across the globe. The presence of long chain hydrocarbons in petroleum oil sludge are known to have effects on the environment through bioaccumulation or biosorption. The present study was focused to develop a modified bioremediation process using hydrocarbonoclastic microbial-assisted biocarrier matrix (MABC) mediated through biosurfactants and biocatalysts for the efficient treatment of petroleum industrial oily sludge. The development of hydrocarbonoclastic microbial-assisted biocarrier matrix was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy analysis. The biocatalysts such as lipase, laccase, esterase and biosurfactant produced by MABC system were found to be 40 U/mg, 18 U/mg, 36 U/mg and 220 mg/g of oil sludge respectively using one variable at a time approach. Further, the response surface methodology was used to determine the optimum treatment conditions (Time, pH, Mass of biocarrier matrix and Amount of oil sludge) for the enhanced removal of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) present in the oil sludge and TPH was degraded by 88.78% at Hydraulic Retention Time of 7 days. The biodegradation of oil sludge was confirmed using Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry analysis.
Journal Article
Residential exposure to petroleum refining and stroke in the southern United States
The southern United States (US) sustains a disproportionate burden of incident stroke and associated mortality, compared to other parts of the US. A large proportion of this risk remains unexplained. Petroleum production and refining (PPR) is concentrated within this region and emits multiple pollutants implicated in stroke pathogenesis. The relationship between residential PPR exposure and stroke has not been studied. We aimed to investigate the census tract-level association between residential PPR exposure and stroke prevalence for adults (⩾18 years) in seven southern US states in 2018. We conducted spatial distance- and generalized propensity score-matched analysis that adjusts for sociodemographic factors, health behavioral factors, and unmeasured spatial confounding. PPR was measured as inverse-distance weighted averages of petroleum production within 2.5 km or 5 km from refineries, which was strongly correlated with measured levels of sulfur dioxide, a byproduct of PPR. The prevalence of self-reported stroke ranged from 0.4% to 12.7% for all the census tracts of the seven states. People with low socioeconomic status and of Hispanic ethnicity resided closer to petroleum refineries. The non-Hispanic Black population was exposed to higher PPR, while the non-Hispanic White population was exposed to lower PPR. Residential PPR exposure was significantly associated with stroke prevalence. One standard deviation increase in PPR within 5 km from refineries was associated with 0.22 (95% confidence interval: 0.09, 0.34) percentage point increase in stroke prevalence. PPR explained 5.6% (2.4, 8.9) of stroke prevalence in the exposed areas. These values differed by states: 1.1% (0.5, 1.7) in Alabama to 11.7% (4.9, 18.6) in Mississippi, and by census tract-level: 0.08% (0.03, 0.13) to 25.3% (10.6, 40.0). PPR is associated with self-reported stroke prevalence, suggesting possible links between pollutants emitted from refineries and stroke. The increased prevalence due to PPR may differ by sociodemographic factors.
Journal Article
Waste Management in the Chemical and Petroleum Industries (2nd Edition)
This new edition unravels essential requirements for the process design and engineering of the equipment and facilities pertaining to waste management for gas refineries, chemical plants, oil terminals, and petrochemical plants. Updated throughout, this book offers chapters on wastewater treatment; physical unit operations; chemical treatment; biological treatment; and wastewater treatment in unconventional oil and gas industries. It also covers wastewater sewer systems; sewage treatment; and solid waste treatment and disposal. New topics include: water pollution terminals; the design procedure for effluent water pollution control; spill prevention and control; groundwater pollution control; wastewater pollution control in crude oil terminals; Information on the source of polymeric plants; examination of water and wastewater radioactivity; soil pollution; pipeline leak consequence evaluation. This book is an ideal text for researchers and advanced students in chemical, petroleum, and environmental fields, as well as for those in civil engineering.
eBook
Distribution, source, and health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the soils from a typical petroleum refinery area in south China
The ubiquity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils in petroleum refining areas is an important problem affecting human and ecological safety. In this study, 103 topsoil (0–0.50 m) samples were collected from a retired petroleum refinery area in Guangdong province, south China. The PAHs concentrations were determined by ultrasonic extraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry detection methods. Twelve PAHs controlled priority listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) were investigated. The results revealed that the concentration of Ʃ
12
PAHs ranged from 2100 to 5200 µg kg
−1
, with a mean value of 3741.66 µg kg
−1
. The site was dominated by high rings PAHs (4-, 5-, and 6-ring), contributing 81.96% to Ʃ
12
PAHs. The concentrations of 9 kinds of PAHs exceeded the Dutch soil quality standard. Besides, the PAHs were primarily distributed in the storage tank area and with high levels of contamination. The results of hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that coal combustion was the source of PAHs in topsoil, followed by petroleum dripping and traffic emissions. The incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) modeling illustrated that soil ingestion was the major pathway of PAH exposure for both adults and children. Notably, the total noncarcinogenic human health risk due to PAHs was within the limit of 1, while the carcinogenic risks alone caused by benzo(a)pyrene via soil ingestion to adults and children were obviously beyond the USEPA limit (1.00E −06). Therefore, PAHs in the petroleum refinery areas have potential carcinogenic hazards to human health, the area should be remediated before reuse.
Journal Article
Application of neural network approach for modelling COD reduction from real refinery effluent by electrocoagulation
The present study aims to investigate the feasibility of implementing the electrocoagulation (EC) process to treat Algiers refinery effluent. The electrocoagulation was performed by using scrap aluminum plate electrodes in monopolar-parallel mode. Several parameters, namely current density, reaction time, the electrolyte dose, and the initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration were studied. The maximum removal of COD achieved was found to be 78.55%. Operating conditions at which maximum COD removal efficiencies were achieved at current density 8 mA/cm2, electrolyte dose 1 g/L, with 360 mg/L of initial COD concentration at working time of 40 min. An artificial neural network (ANN) was also utilized to determine predicted responses using neural networks for the 4-10-1 arrangement. The responses predicted by ANN were in alignment with the experimental results. The values of the determination coefficient (R2 = 0.978) and the root mean square error (RMSE = 21.28) showed good prediction results between the model and experimental data. Hence, the ANN model as a predictive tool has a great capacity to estimate the effect of operational parameters on the electrocoagulation process.
Journal Article
Recent Advancements in the Treatment of Petroleum Refinery Wastewater
The treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater (PRWW) is of great interest in industrial wastewater management. This wastewater contains a diverse concentration of contaminants such as oil and grease, petroleum hydrocarbons, phenols, ammonia, and sulfides, as well as other organic and inorganic composites. Refinery wastewater treatment has been attempted through various processes, including physical, biological, chemical, and hybrid methods, which combine two or more techniques. This review aims to summarize current research studies involved in the treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater using conventional, advanced, and integrated treatment techniques. Furthermore, it critically highlights the efficiencies and major limitations of each technique and the prospects for improvements. Several conventional treatment techniques (basically, the physicochemical and biological processes) are discussed. In this context, advanced oxidation processes (AoPs), especially electrochemical oxidation and photocatalysis, as well as integrated/hybrid processes are found to be effective in removing the recalcitrant fraction of organic pollutants through their various inherent mechanisms. These techniques could effectively remove COD and phenol concentrations with an average removal efficiency exceeding 90%. Hence, the review also presents an elaborate discussion of the photocatalytic process as one of the advanced techniques and highlights some basic concepts to optimize the degradation efficiency of photocatalysts. Finally, a brief recommendation for research prospects is also presented.
Journal Article