Avoidance of environmental regulatory penalties through engineered wastewater cooling solution
- The Challenge
Risks of environmental regulatory violations due to high wastewater temperature
- The Solution
Swift turnkey solution to reduce and maintain wastewater temperature amid mounting pressure and urgency
- The Impact
Consistent cooled wastewater temperature through summer that safeguards refinery from regulatory penalties and reputational loss
Client:Oil refining major
Location:Japan
Sectors:Petrochemical and refining
The Challenge
Risks of environmental regulatory violations due to high wastewater temperature
Summers in Japan can be extremely hot with temperatures rising up to 38 ℃. A large refinery faces a recurring problem every summer – high wastewater treatment plant inlet temperature.
Effluent water from crude desalters typically gets cooled by cooling water to circa 30 ℃ before being sent to the wastewater treatment plant. However, cooling water temperature soars during summer, which inevitably causes a chain effect where wastewater temperature goes up to as high as 50 ℃.
This has a detrimental impact on the performance of the wastewater treatment plant, which functions optimally in the range of 20 – 40 ℃. The consequences could be far-reaching; beyond heavy economic losses through fines or forced shutdowns, the refinery could also be subject to scrutiny from environmental watch groups and its reputation could take a hit.