Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

A significant amount of petroleum sludge is generated by the oil & gas industry during its crude oil exploration, production, transportation, storage, and refining processes. Due to its hazardous nature and the increasing quantity being generated around the world, the effective treatment of petroleum sludge has attracted widespread attention. Most conventional technologies are associated with low efficiency, long treatment time, possible secondary pollution, and high cost. Furthermore, they are inadequate to meet stringent environmental regulations. As a result, there is a pressing need from industry and government for the development of improved approaches to effectively deal with petroleum sludge waste. This research program is designed to investigate improved treatment and value-added utilization approaches for petroleum sludge management. It consists of three main research tasks: (a) to advance the research and development of improved oil recovery from petroleum sludge using a combined approach based on ultrasonic irradiation, freeze/thaw treatment, solvent extraction, and ionic liquid extraction; (b) to develop bio-surfactant enhanced remediation of petroleum sludge by screening and identifying microbial strains with high petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) degradation and bio-surfactant production ability, and (c) to develop a co-pyrolysis based approach for oil recovery and petroleum sludge based adsorbents for the environmental removal of heavy metals. Hazardous petroleum sludge waste is regarded as a useful resource in this research, and it will be utilized for both oil recovery and the development of new adsorbent material for environmental remediation. A number of environmentally friendly approaches will be developed to improve the current costly and inefficient petroleum waste management practices in Canada, and will greatly contribute to improved health in those communities that are impacted by petroleum sludge disposal. This research will also help to attract and train a number of talented students, who will be capable of addressing Canada's future environmental challenges.