| The effectiveness of treatment techniques to remove organic compounds and trace elements from oil shale wastewater was investigated. Emphasis was placed on the removal of nitrogen-containing organic compounds and arsenic. Reductions in contaminants following treatment by steam stripping, sorption on spent shale, ozonation, ultraviolet irradiation, wet air oxidation, and biological degradation were studied.; The organic content of the wastewaters was characterized by class fractionation and by separation and identification with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The reaction products of the wet air oxidation of individual organic compounds were determined by performing the oxidations in small, sealed glass capillary tubes.; Laboratory studies revealed that finely powdered Paraho spent shale ((DBLTURN)60 mesh) quantitatively sorbed arsenic from an oil shale waste-water.; Steam stripping treatment of a gas condensate wastewater was found to decrease the hydrophobic base solutes by more than 60%, and of these solutes, alkylpyridines were more easily steam stripped than aniline and quinoline compounds. Treatment with activated sludge/powdered activated carbon reduced the hydrophobic organic compounds by 77%. Combined ozonation with ultraviolet irradiation treatment degraded nitrogenous bases in oil shale wastewater, while individual treatments with UV-irradiation or with ozonation did not destroy the nitrogen-containing compounds.; Wet air oxidation treatment eliminated 56% of the dissolved organic carbon from a gas condensate wastewater; however, some of this decrease was attributed to volatilization of organic compounds with high vapor pressures. The sealed capillary oxidations of individual compounds revealed that phenol was easily oxidized at 300(DEGREES)C to acetic acid, acetone, and acetaldehyde. Pyrrole was degraded by wet air oxidation (300(DEGREES)C) to acetaldehyde, acetone, and ammonia. Pyridine could not be destroyed by wet air oxidation treatment at 300(DEGREES)C for 3 hours. Aniline was resistant to degradation by wet air oxidation, but formed a small amount of azobenzene in the presence of oxygen. Hydrogen peroxide-catalyzed wet air oxidation of aniline produced small amounts of azobenzene and nitrobenzene. |
