Waste Water
Treatment
BP Refinery
Kwinana, Western Australia
Waste Water Treatment
BP Refinery Kwinana, Western Australia
The Kwinana Refinery has one of the best performing Waste Water Treatment Plants in all
of BPs global operations, and the Refinery openly shares its successes with its peers
BPs Kwinana Refinery uses water at every stage of the refining
Additionally, the Refinery has a cooling water system that uses
process. The most common water use is for cooling hydrocarbons,
salt water from Cockburn Sound to maintain hydrocarbons at
however water is also used for cleaning and other purposes. Water
steady temperatures as they travel through the refining units. The
is classified as waste water if it could have come in contact with
salt water is pumped through pipelines that wrap around tubes of
hydrocarbons or other contaminants.
hydrocarbons. Under normal circumstances the salt water does not
come into contact with any contaminants however a process is in
The Refinery operates two systems for cleaning water prior, one of
place to ensure the quality of cooling water.
which is a multi-stage Waste Water Treatment Plant.
What is in Waste Water?
How is Waste Water produced at the Refinery?
Waste water streams from the Refinery can contain a number of
Waste water is generated across the Refinery in the following ways:
chemicals which originate from crude oil. Typical contaminants include:
The Refinerys main input, crude oil, contains water from the
petroleum hydrocarbons
oil drilling process. This water must be removed before the
heavy metals
crude oil can be fed to the refining units.
phenolic compounds
sulfides
ammonia
Water is used to wash the holds of the ships that deliver
crude oil to the Refinery, so the ship can be loaded with its
next cargo.
Water is used within some refining processes, and some
of this water comes into direct contact with crude oil,
producing contaminated wastewater.
The Refinery has many sealed surfaces that will collect storm
water during a rainfall event; this water has the potential to be
contaminated so is also captured for treatment.
Waste Water Treatment
BP Refinery Kwinana, Western Australia
Waste Water Treatment Facilities at the Refinery
Waste Water Emissions - OIL
The Refinery has advanced systems in place to treat contaminated
waste water to standards set by the Department of Environment.
The salt cooling water is treated differently to other waste water
from the Refinery.
kg/day
1200
1000
1000
800
The Refinerys Waste Water Treatment Plant was commissioned in
600
1994, and was built in a dual train configuration, ensuring that the
400
Plant can operate effectively at all times, even during maintenance.
200
The first stage of the treatment process is the API separator, which
is named after the American Institute of Petroleum. As its name
A continually moving scraper system pushes oil to one end and the
solids to the other. Both are removed and the recovered oil is sent
37 17 11
1996
1 1 8 6
2 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 2
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
Waste Water Emissions - NITROGEN
from the water. Gravity allows any oil in the water to rise to the
surface of the separator and any solid particles to sink to the bottom.
81
Cockburn 1993
Sound
Study
1978
suggests, the separator physically separates the free oil and solids
276
kg/day
400
350
300
300
back to the Refinery for reprocessing.
200
In the second stage, small suspended oil particles are removed
in the Dissolved Air Flotation unit. A polyelectrolyte chemical is
added to the waste water to help bind the small oil droplets into
larger ones, which will float. Air is also injected to lift the amassed
particles to the surface where they can be skimmed off.
100
0
57 41 38
Cockburn 1993
Sound
Study
1978
1996
22 33
1998
45
21 22 33 18 23 22 24 18 21 18 18
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
Both the API separator and the Dissolved Air Flotation Unit are
Performance and Control
covered processes, which prevents oil from evaporating and being
Each step of the waste water treatment process is monitored and
released into the atmosphere. In this way, the refinery has greatly
data recorded optimise the treatment process. Samples of the
reduced its emissions of volatile organic compounds.
treated waste water, taken by automatic samplers, are analysed for:
- hydrocarbons
- phenolics
The third treatment step is the removal of dissolved organic
- sulfides
- nitrogen
contaminants and nutrients in the Activated Sludge Units (ASUs).
- heavy metals
- pH
In this process, naturally occurring microorganisms feed on the
- temperature
- biological oxygen demand
dissolved organics in the waste water, and convert them to water,
- chemical oxygen demand - total suspended solids
carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas, which can be safely released into
the atmosphere.
Results are recorded and reported to the Department of
Environment and Conservation, who are the regulating body for the
In the final stage, waste water enters the clarifying tanks, where the
Refinerys environmental license.
microorganisms settle to the bottom while the treated waste water
flows away. An optional treatment step is to conduct further settling
Continuous Improvement
in the polishing ponds, or the water can be pumped back to the
The Refinery has worked hard to improve the quality of its treated
Activated Sludge Unit for retreatment.
waste water and the figures above show a steady improvement in
the average daily loads for oil and Nitrogen in waste water since the
Once water is cleaned to the appropriate standard it is discharged
late 1970s. The Kwinana Refinery has one of the best performing
directly to the Sepia Depression Ocean Outfall Line (SDOOL) which
Waste Water Treatment Plants in all of BPs global operations, and
is owned and managed by the Water Corporation.
the Refinery openly shares its successes with its peers.
Salt water used as cooling water is not contaminated under normal
The link to Cockburn Sound
circumstances, so is subject to a different treatment process. The
Since linking in with the Water Corporations Kwinana Water
heated water passes through three separators during which time it
Recycling Plant in 2009, BP no longer discharges any treated
cools down prior to discharge to Cockburn Sound. If oil is visible in
processed waste water into Cockburn Sound. Despite years of
any cooling water, actions are taken to isolate the source of the leak.
ongoing improvements in the quality of waste water, this is a
significant step forward for the Sound.
