A method for cleaning tanks from oil product residues based on biotechnology

Abstract

The known methods of cleaning tanks from the remnants of petroleum products using existing means are quite time-consuming, energy-intensive, and insufficiently advanced. In addition, waste cleaning solutions are poorly regenerated and slowly oxidized in the biosphere, and their removal to landfills (or discharge into reservoirs) causes great harm to the environment. Therefore, the search for new methods of cleaning is a very urgent task. This work aims to develop a method for cleaning tanks from the residues of petroleum products based on biotechnology. This article proposes a technological scheme of an experimental installation that simulates a tank for storing petroleum products in agricultural conditions. Studies on the oxidation of petroleum product residues by selected active cultures of microbial strains have been carried out. The modes of biological cleaning of the internal surfaces of tanks for the storage of petroleum products, from their residues, are determined. Strains of oil-oxidizing microorganisms were used as biologics). The biomass of the studied microorganisms was obtained under laboratory conditions by deep cultivation in flasks on a mineral medium. The proposed method of tank cleaning is an environmentally friendly process, during which microorganisms decompose oil pollution at relatively low temperatures (20-40°C) and use hydrocarbons as a source for their growth. As a result of this process, many tons of oil deposits are converted into microbial cells, which in turn become a source of food for other organisms and the plant world.