Disposal piles sizing

Disposal pile sizing. Produced water entering the pile has already been treated in vessels capable of separating smaller droplets than those predicted to settle out in the relatively slender disposal pile. Small amounts of separation will occur in the disposal pile due to coalescence in the inlet piping and in the pile itself. However, no significant treating of produced water can be expected. 

The determination of skim pile length is the same as for other disposal piles. Because of the complex flow regime, a suitable equation has yet to be developed to size skim piles for Hrrk drainage However, field exjv-rienee ha indicated that acceptable effluent is obtained with a 20-min retention time in the baffled section. 

Long-standing refinery practice is to size drain water treating equipment to remove oil droplets 150 microns in diameter or larger. If no other data are available, it is recommended that this be used in sizing sumps and disposal piles... 

It is desirable to bring information included in earlier installments of this series into a format that can be used in selecting and sizing individual pieces of equipment needed for a complete water treating system. Federal regulations require that produced water from the free water knockout receive at least some form of primary treatment before being sent to a disposal or skim pile. Deck drainage may be routed to a properly sized disposal pile that will remove free oil. 

A recent U.S. Army study (performed by Battelle) identified, described, and evaluated technologies to facilitate remediation of oversize ex-plosives-contaminated debris. During composting of explosives-contaminated soil at military installations, such debris interferes with the operation of the flail-type windrow equipment used to turn and aerate the composting soil. The study examined size reduction and return of the crushed debris to the compost pile and removal of the contaminants from the debris followed by disposal of the cleaned debris. If the debris is to be returned to the compost pile, the particle size must be less than V2-inch diameter. For removal, the explosives contaminants level must be reduced to below 30 mg/kg. 

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