Table Of ContentTREATMENT OF PETROLEUM REFINERY
WASTEWATER WITH CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS
Hassana Ibrahim Mustapha
Thesis committee
Promotor
Prof. Dr P.N.L. Lens
Professor of Environmental Biotechnology
IHE Delft, Institute for Water Education, the Netherlands
Co-promotor
Dr J.J.A. van Bruggen
Senior Lecturer (Microbiology)
IHE Delft, Institute for Water Education, the Netherlands
Other members
Prof. Dr Karel J. Keesman, Wageningen University & Research
Prof. Dr Jos T.A.Verhoeven, Utrecht University
Dr Diederik P.L. Rousseau, Ghent University, Belgium
Dr Natalie Fonder, University ofNamur, Belgium
This research was conducted under the auspices of the SENSE Research School for
Socio-Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment
Treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater with
constructed wetlands
Thesis
submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of
the Academic Board ofWageningen University and
the Academic Board of the IHE Delft, Institute for Water Education
for the degree of doctor
to be defended in public
on Friday 29, June 2018 at 4 p.m.
in Delft, the Netherlands
by
Hassana Ibrahim Mustapha
Born in Lokoja, Nigeria
CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018, Hassana Ibrahim Mustapha
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information herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers, the author nor !HE
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ISBN: 978-1-138-32439-8
ISBN: 978-94-6343-844-5
DOl: https:// doi.org/1 0.18174/444370
Dedication
To the two most precious gems in my life: Raliya Abubakar and Hauwa Kulu, I am what I am
with your support and unconditional love.
To my husband, Mustapha, your unwavering support made this possible.
vii
Acknowledgement
Firstly, I wish to express my gratitude to my promotor, Prof. Piet N. L. Lens for his guidance,
patience, constructive criticisms, advice, unrelenting effort and in-depth supervision
throughout the period of my PhD programme. I am truly honoured to have worked with him.
I also thank my mentor, Dr. J. J. A van Bruggen for his thorough review, comments and
critical supervision that has contributed greatly to the success of the programme. And my
profound gratitude goes to Prof. Diederik Rousseau for providing insight into the research.
My appreciation goes to the management of KRPC, Kaduna (Nigeria) for providing the
experimental site which contributed greatly to the outcome of the research and the staffs
especially Dr. Ibrahim El-Idris and Hajia Aisha Bashir of the Water Quality Unit for their
assistance.
And to the staffs of IHE DELFT including Jolanda (for logistics), the laboratory for their
assistance, training and insight into the research, departmental secretaries (EEWT and WSE),
members of Pollution Prevention and Resource Recovery core group (especially Dr. Eldon
Raj for coordinating the scientific meetings), Anique (Beadle) and Paula, social cultural
office (accommodation matters and other issues), library, ICT desk (computer issues) and
finances. I am also grateful to my IHE family (Eman Sheikh, Zahra Mus a, Khaphilat, Y etty,
Pedi, AbdulHafiz, Ishaq Bello, Adebayo, Kemi and others not mentioned here) that I have
really grown fond of, thank you for making my stay in the Netherlands worthwhile.
I specially acknowledge the assistance rendered by Dr. Johnson Ayayi (Mann-Kendall test)
through Dr. Segun Adebayo, my dear brother Mikhail (editing and typesetting of the thesis)
and my precious students now my colleagues: Felix (computer), Shaba (Math lab),
AbdulHakeem and AbdulWa hab (SPSS) as well as AbdulHakeem Ango, Beida, Abdullahi
and Nafiz (fieldwork). I am greatly indebted to you all for contributing to the success of this
research.
Also, to my numerous colleagues for their support, advice, assistance, quick responses to my
many requests and demands, materials and encouragement throughout the period. I am truly
indebted to you and may God reward you abundantly.
viii
Likewise, my friends for being there through thin and thick; loving and understanding me in
spite of my short comings. I extend my profound gratitude to your husbands for their
relentless support and contributions.
And finally to my family; firstly, in the loving memory of my late father, Alhaji Muhammad
Inuwa Ibrahim, jazakumullahu khayrah. My appreciation goes to my papa, the Ona of Abaji,
for his enormous support, prayers, encouragement and firm believe in me. Also in loving
memory of my Ba'aba, jazakumullahu khayrah. And to Hajia Hauwa kulu, I do not have the
right words that can express my sincere gratitude but thank you mama dear for inevitably
being there. To all my older and younger sisters and brothers; aunties and uncles; cousins;
nephews; nieces and grandparents; I feel I am the luckiest person on earth to have you as
family. I could not have done it without your immense efforts towards the success of this
programme.
Furthermore, to my in-laws: father, mother, sisters, brothers and the entire extended family;
sincerely this PhD programme would have not taken place without your permission,
continuous support and contributions. Thank you so much. To my dear children, thank you
for your patience, love, encouragement and inspiration.
And finally to my husband; how could I have achieved this without your unwavering support.
There are no words that can describe my heartfelt appreciation, however, thanks for your
physical, intellectual, inspirational, emotional and spiritual contributions. I love you.
All praises and gratitude is to Allah! The All-Knowing! The All-seeing and the All-Hearing!
ix
Summary
The use of constructed wetlands (CWs) for polishing of petroleum refinery wastewater in
Nigeria was evaluated. Secondary treated petroleum refmery wastewater from a refinery
(Kaduna, Nigeria) was characterized with different types of organic and inorganic pollutants
(Chapter 3). Vertical subsurface flow (VSSF) CWs planted with locally available
macrophytes ( Cyperus alternifolius and Cynodon dactylon) were designed and built for
polishing of secondary treated refinery wastewater in terms of organic matter, nutrients and
suspended solids removal (Chapter 4). The tertiary treated refinery wastewater did, however,
not meet effiuent discharged compliance limits in terms of total suspended solids (fSS),
biochemical oxygen demand (BODs), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonium-N
(NH.4 +- N) removal.
Typha latifolia planted-VSSF CWs could, however, treat TSS, BODs, COD and NTh+-N in
the petroleum refinery wastewater to below World Health Organization and Federal
Environmental Protection Agency (Nigeria) effluent discharge limits of 30 mg/L for TSS, 10
mg/L for BODs, 40 mg/L for COD and 0.2 mg/L for NTh+ -N (Chapter 5). T. latifolia-planted
VSSF CW achieved higher removal efficiencies for all parameters measured in comparison to
C. alternifolius and C. dactylon planted-VSSF CWs. In addition, the T. latifolia-planted
VSSF CW had the best heavy metal removal performance, followed by the C. alternifolius
planted VSSF CW and then the C. dactylon-planted VSSF CW (Chapter 6). The
accumulation of the heavy metals in the plants accounted for only a rather small fraction
(0.09 - 16 %) of the overall heavy metal removal by the wetlands. Coupling a horizontal
subsurface flow (HSSF) CW to the VSSF CW (hybrid CW) further improved effluent quality
with an overall BODs and Poi--P removal efficiency of, respectively, 94% and 78%
(Chapter 5).
Diesel contaminated wastewater was treated in the hybrid CWs spiked with three different
nutrient concentrations. Numerical experiments were performed to investigate the
biodegradation of the diesel compounds in the synthetic contaminated wastewater by the
duplex-CWs using constructed wetland 2D. The VF CWs had a higher removal efficiency
than the HFF CWs and the hybrid CW showed higher removal efficiencies in the days with
nutrient application than the days without nutrient application (Chapter 8).
