Treatment of Oil Bottom Tank Sludge

ABSTRACT

Treatment of crude oil bottom tank sludge was studied. The bottom tank sludge was collected and characterized to determine the primary component of the sludge. The characterized crude oil bottom tank sludge was subjected to chemical treatment for the crude oil recovery using N-butanol and Toluene. Effect of time, dosage and solvent volume on the percentage of oil recovery by the two solvents was studied. The results showed that at higher solvent volume, the efficiency of toluene and n-butanol increased simultaneously with toluene being more efficient. It was also discovered that increase in the dosage will increase the yield of crude oil at 5g and reduced at 10g, before a continuous increase at 15g 20g while n-butanol, it increased simultaneously from 5g to 20g. Further investigation of the effect of time on the recovery of crude oil showed that there was a high recovery from 30mins to 60mins using toluene and slight recovery was recorded from 60mins to 90mins, after which there was a decline in the recovery the crude oil. Whereas using n-butanol showed; a gradual increment from 30mins through 120mins. The equilibrium also was studied. It was discovered that toluene was efficient in crude oil recovery from oil bottom tank sludge.