Wastewater treatment systems for synthetic fuels plants based on peat and oil shale

This paper briefly describes the wastewater treatment systems being used or proposed for use in synthetic fuel projects which are based on peat and oil shale and which were under consideration by the United States Synthetic Fuels Corporation (SFC) as of January 1984. The spectrum of projects under consideration by the SFC at today's date is, as expected, somewhat different. The wastewater technologies utilized are functions of three major factors: Nature of the fossil fuel raw material; Nature of the fuel conversion process; Site-specific considerations, i.e., zero discharge of wastewater. As a result of the above factors, plus the individual project choices for wastewater technology, one finds little commonality in approach. Source material for this paper, unless otherwise noted, was derived from internal files and from information submitted to the SFC in project proposals. All material was reviewed with sponsors prior to this presentation.