26    LAND TREATMENT OF PETROLEUM WASTE IN REGINA
AREA, SASKATCHEWAN
T. Viraraghavan, Professor
T. F. Robbins, Student
Faculty of Engineering, University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
INTRODUCTION
Over the past half century, petroleum wastes in Saskatchewan have either been sent for disposal in
Alberta, or have been stockpiled, incinerated or land filled in this province. Due to new and restrictive
regulations in Alberta for the disposal and inter-provincial transport of hazardous wastes, the transport of wastes to the Swan Hills waste disposal site in Alberta has become restricted. The regulations
in Saskatchewan have also become increasingly restrictive, sharply curtailing the use of traditional
methods of treatment and disposal within this province. A number of alternate technologies are
available for the treatment and disposal of petroleum wastes, however a majority of these methods
usually involve large capital expenditures and complex process streams. Land treatment of various
wastes has been used in a number of industries for many years. Land treatment of municipal sludges
has become increasingly widespread in the past decade. Because of the low cost of land treatment and
its relatively low environmental impact, at least with municipal waste disposal, the petroleum industry
has been investigating the potential of similar methods for the disposal of its waste.
While a number of different treatment and disposal processes involve the use of hydrocarbon
reducing microorganisms in soil, this paper will narrow the definition to one specific method of
treatment. For the purpose of this paper, land treatment can be defined as a managed treatment and
ultimate disposal technology that involves the controlled application of a residue or waste onto or into
the soil followed by continued monitoring and management; the wastes are applied to the surface of
the soil or incorporated in the surface soils by direct injection or by ploughing or tilling.1 This paper
will restrict its scope to land treatment methods which do not require engineered structures of any
kind. This eliminates the use of prepared clay liners, dikes and other drainage or containment
structures. Land treatment methods which require engineered liners or other structures will be
referred to as prepared bed reactors. Enhancement measures and biological stimulants are allowed
under this proposed definition. Possible enhancement measures include varying tillage cycles, application rates and irrigation. Biological stimulants include all types of fertilizers and the possible addition
of excess nitrogen and oxygen.
The objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using a land farm operation to dispose
of various types of petroleum waste products in the Regina area.
BACKGROUND
Waste Products
While petroleum wastes from other sources such as production wells and hydrocarbon spill sites can
be treated in a similar manner, specific consideration is not given to such products. Petroleum
processing facilities of varying sizes and designs produce wastes of unique chemical characteristics,
but retain much of the same basic composition. However, trace constituents of primary concern to the
Canadian prairie region will be given special consideration. A refinery or heavy oil upgrader can
produce a wide range of waste products from a number of different process operations. The process
operations include the following: the storage of crude oil and final products; fractionation including
distillative separation and vacuum fractionation; decomposition including thermal cracking, catalytic
cracking and hydrocracking; hydrocarbon rebuilding including polymerization, alkylation, reforming
and isomerization; extraction operations; and product finishing such as lube oil finishing, blending
and packaging. A heavy oil upgrader involves a number of additional processes which involve the
49th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1994 Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, Michigan 48118. Printed in
U.S.A.
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