Turning Trash into Treasure: How Oil Refineries Can Clean Up and Power Up

Oil refineries have a problem: they produce a lot of waste. But what if this waste could be turned into something useful? Researchers have been looking into this idea. They took two types of waste: oily sludge (OS) from refineries and algal biomass (AB) from wastewater treatment. The goal was to see if these wastes could be turned into a better solid biofuel. First, they mixed the wastes. The best mix was found to be 75% OS and 25% AB. Before using this mix, they dried it to remove moisture. Then, they heated it to different temperatures (350, 450, and 550°C) in a process called pyrolysis. They found that 450°C was the best temperature for producing the most char, which is a solid fuel. But they didn't stop there. They also tested different heating times at 450°C. They found that 75 minutes gave the best quality char. When they tested this char, they found some impressive results. The heating value of the char increased by about 63. 92%, from 4. 85 MJ/kg to 7. 95 MJ/kg. This means the char produced from the waste mix had more energy. The researchers also found that the char from the waste mix was better than char from single feedstocks. This means that combining the wastes gave better results than using them separately. The char had more fixed carbon, which makes it more stable and better for burning. So, what does this mean? It means that oil refineries could turn their waste into a valuable resource. They could clean up the environment and produce renewable energy at the same time. This is a win-win situation. But, it's important to note that this is just one study. More research is needed to see if this process can be used on a large scale.