Computer–Aided Scaleup Process Integration, Economic Feasibility And Uncertainty Evaluation Of Bioclarified Water Recovery From Petroleum Waste Water

ABSTRACT

This study presents ASPEN Base Case Simulation (ABCS), preliminary process design with filtration integration, techno-economics and uncertainty analysis of bioclarified water production from petroleum wastewater. ABCS, scale-up design and economics were performed using inherent design and costing algorithms in ASPEN Batch Process Developer (ABPD) V10. The process profitability indices such as Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Return on Investment (ROI) and Payback Time (PBT) were evaluated in a user-defined developed Microsoft-excel version 2018. Predictive models for predicting and optimizing techno-economic parameters: return on investment (ROI), payback time (PBT) and production rate (PR) were achieved in RSM via Box-Behnken Design (BBD) technique of Design Expert V13. The regression models gave R² values of 0.9984, 0.9920 and 0.8867 for return on investment, payback time and production rate respectively. Monte Carlo Simulation in Crystal Ball Oracle software was used to perform the profitability sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. The annual production target (600,000litres/year) scale-up simulation results gave batch size 406litre/batch, annual number of batches produced 1469batches/year. Base case capacity results showed that the total capital investment, NPV, IRR, ROI and PBT are $631485, $68932.18, 9%, 15.8% and 6.33yrs respectively. Sensitivity analysis shows that selling price has the highest contribution for both the NPV and the IRR respectively. The certainty of the base case model after 30000trials was 99.98% for NPV, 90.89% for IRR and 61.23% for production rate. This study showed that petroleum wastewater BFS scale-up design is feasible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover page

Title page i

Declaration ii

Certification iii

Dedication iv

Acknowledgements v

Table of contents vi

List of tables viii

List of figures ix

Abbreviations/Nomenclature xi

Abstract xiii

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study 1

1.2 Statement of problem 6

1.3 Aim of study 7

1.4 Objectives 7

1.5 Significance of the study 8

1.6 Scope of the study 8

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Petroleum wastewater 9

2.2 Petroleum wastewater characteristics 10

2.3 Petroleum wastewater treatment technologies 11

2.3.1 Physical treatment 12

2.3.2 Membrane 12

2.3.3 Coagulation/flocculation 15

2.3.4. Electro-coagulation 17

2.3.5. Adsorption 18

2.3.6. Physical-chemical treatment 19

2.3.7 Chemical treatment 19

2.3.8 Biological treatment 20

2.3.8.1 Aerobic biological processes 21

2.3.8.2 Anaerobic biological process 21

2.3.9 Aerated lagoons 22

2.3.10 Activated sludge process 22

2.3.11 Biofilm-based reactor 22

2.4 Filtration process integration 23

2.5 Techno-Economic Analysis 24

2.5.1 Techno-economic analysis of bioclarified water production 24

2.5.2 Process modelling and simulation 25

2.5.3 Response Surface Methodology (RSM) 26

2.5.4 Process economics, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses 27

2.6 Review of related works 29

2.7 Research gap 30

CHAPTER 3

MATERIALS AND METHOD

3.1 Aspen batch base case process simulation environment 31

3.2 Simulation procedures using aspen batch process developer 32

3.2.1 Mixing 33

3.2.2 Coagulation stage 33

3.2.3 Flocculation stage 33

3.2.4 Settling stage 34

3.2.5 Filtration stage 34

3.3 Base case process description and scale-up process design 34

3.4 Process economics and profitability evaluation 36

3.5 Techno‑economic modelling and optimization study 38

3.5.1 Optimization study methodology 42

3.6 Monte Carlo simulation uncertainty and sensitivity analyses 42

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Process base case scale-up simulation and annual production design results 44

4.2 Process economics results 48

4.2.1 One-factor at a time (OFAT) profitability sensitivity analysis 50

4.2.2 Effect of discounted rate cumulative cash flow diagram 53

4.3 RSM techno‑economic model fitting 54

4.3.1: Effect of the cost factors on PBT 58

4.3.2: Effect of the cost factors on ROI 62

4.3.3: Effect of the cost factors on production rate 66

4.4: Bioclarified water production optimization studies 70

4.5: Profitability uncertainty and sensitivity results 73

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusion 79

5.2 Research recommendations 80

5.3 Contributions to knowledge 80

REFERENCES 81

APPENDIX 95

LIST OF TABLES

Table Title Page

3.1: Properties of independent variable selected for BBD method 30

3.2: The BBD experimental design 30

4.1: Stream balance of bio-clarified water production from petroleum wastewater46

4.2: Batch process design throughput parameters of bio-clarified water production47

4.3: Process base-case economic parameters of bioclarified water production

from PPW 50

4.4: The BBD experimental design matrix 56

4.5: Fit summary for the production of bioclarified water from petroleum

wastewater 57

4.6: ANOVA Results for PBT 60

4.7: ANOVA Results for ROI 64

4.8: ANOVA Results for Production rate 68

4.9: Optimization criteria for bioclarified water production 71

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Title Page

3.1: Process flowsheet for bio-clarified water reclamation from PPW 26

4.1: Distribution of ASPEN-installed cost factors for total capital investment 49

4.2a: variation of the project total capital investment with profitability indices 52

4.2b: variation of the project annual production cost with profitability indices 52

4.2c: Effect of discount rate on PBT, NPV, ROI and IRR 53

4.3: Profitability evaluation of bio-clarified water production using cumulative cash

flow diagram 54

4.4: Design expert plot, predicted vs. actual plot for (a) PBT (b) ROI

4.5: Design expert plot; response surface 3D plot for PBT with: (a) AB (b) AC

4.6: Design expert plot; response surface 3D plot for ROI with: (a) AB (b) AC

4.7: Design expert plot; response surface 3D plot for Production rate with: (a) AB

(b) AC (c) AD (d) AE (e) BC (f) BD (g) BE (h) CD (i) CE (j) DE 70

4.8: Optimization results ramp for bioclarified water production. 72

4.9a: Contribution of input variable variation on NPV 74

4.9b: Contribution of input variable variation on IRR 74

4.9c: Contribution of input variable variation on production rate 75

4.10a: Uncertainty level (NPV) for bioclarified water production from PPW 77

4.10b: Uncertainty level (IRR) for bioclarified water production from PPW 78

4.10c: Uncertainty level (production rate) for bioclarified water production from PPW 78

NOMENCLATURE OF ABBREVIATIONS

ABPD - Aspen Batch Process Developer

ASDM - activated sludge digestion model

BAF - biological aerated filter

BBD - Box-Behnken Design

BFS - Biocoagulation-Flocculation-Sedimentation

BOD - Biochemical oxygen demand

BTEX - chemicals (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene)

CAPD - Computer-Aided Process Design

CCFD - Cumulative Cash Flow Diagram

CF - Coagulation-Flocculation

CF–MBR - cross-flow membrane bioreactor

CFS - Coagulation-Flocculation-Sedimentation

COD - Carbon Oxygen Demand

COD - Chemical Oxygen Demand

DPC - Direct Production Cost

FCI - Fixed Capital Investment

HF-MBR - hollow-fiber membrane bioreactor

HRT - hydraulic retention times

IPC - Indirect Production Cost

IRR - Internal Rate of Return

IRR - internal rates of return

MAD - Mean Absolute Deviation

MAPE - Mean Absolute Percentage Error

MBR - membrane bioreactor

MF - microfiltration

MSE - Mean Square Error

NA - naphthenic acids

NF - Nanofiltration

NPV - Net Present Value

NPV - net present values

NTU - Nephelometric Turbidity unit

OCB - Oracle Crystal Ball

PAH - Poly-Aromatic, Phenol and Hydrocarbons

PBT - Payback Time

PBT - payback time

PC - Production Cost,

PPW - Petroleum Produced Water

PW - Produced Water

RMSE - Root Mean Square Error

RO - Reverse Osmosis

ROI - return on investment

RSM - Response Surface Methodology

SS - Suspended Solids

TCI - Total Capital Investment

TDP - Total Dissolved particles

TEA - Techno-economic analysis

TMP - Trans-membrane pressure

TPDC - Total Plant Direct Cost

TPIC - Total Plant Indirect Cost

TSS - Total Suspended Solids

UF - Ultrafiltration

WC - Working Capital

LIST OF APPENDIX

APPENDIX I: Optimization solutions for bioclarified water production

APPENDIX II: Definition of terms

Computer–Aided Scaleup Process Integration, Economic Feasibility And Uncertainty Evaluation Of Bioclarified Water Recovery From Petroleum Waste Water

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