scope:

C. SCOPE

Demonstration-scale treatment systems of SBR and RBC were designed and constructed at the Texaco Research & Development laboratory in Port Arthur, Texas (R&D-PA). Both treatment systems were designed based on weekly operation for side-by-side comparison and treating of 500 gallons per week of feed waste water each.

Operations were divided into two phases. In the first operation phase, the treatment systems were shipped to and operated at a petroleum product terminal in Houston, Texas. This operating phase of the project comprised five periods and lasted about five months. In the first four periods, operation was done by R&D and terminal personnel: (1) acclimation to wastewater "A", (2) running and data collection on wastewater "A", (3) acclimation to wastewater "B", and (4) running and data collection on wastewater "B". Due to significant changes in wastewater "A", the first acclimation period was extended to eight weeks. The other four operating periods were four weeks each. In the fifth period of running on wastewater "B", operation was done solely by terminal personnel to establish stand-alone operability, and R&D personnel only took samples and made observations.

In the second operation phase, the treatment systems were disassembled, shipped back to, and reassembled at the R&D facility. Feed wastewaters from two petroleum product terminals were shipped, and stored in two rented 10,000-gal tanks for treatment. This operating phase comprised four periods and lasted about four months. Unit operations were done by R&D personnel:(1) acclimation to wastewater "C", (2) running and data collection on wastewater "C", (3) acclimation to wastewater "D", and (4) running and data collection on wastewater "D".

The treatment systems were sampled weekly and samples sent out to independent laboratories for analyses. Besides the on-site analyses, additional analyses and air emissions analyses were performed by R&D personnel. Bioassay tests were also conducted by an independent laboratory on the feeds and treated effluents to determine their toxicity.