Radioactivity in Oily Sludge and Produced Waste Water from Oil: Environmental Concerns and Potential Remedial Measures

Avin E. Pillay, Fadhil M. Salih and Muthana I. Maleek
Additional contact information
Avin E. Pillay: Chemistry Department, The Petroleum Institute, P.O. Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Fadhil M. Salih: C/o Department of Clinical and Biomedical Physics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 35, Al Khoud, 123, Oman
Muthana I. Maleek: Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Wasit, Kut, Wasit, 4256, Iraq

Sustainability, 2010, vol. 2, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: Produced water separated from oil is usually returned to the environment and could permeate through the water table. If such water is contaminated with radioactive substances, it could create a definite threat to the water supply, especially in arid regions where ground water and overhead streams are sources of potable water. Low-level radioactive contamination of oily sludge is equally hazardous and also leads to detrimental pollution of water resources. We investigated the distribution of 226 Ra, 40 K and 228 Ac in produced waste water and oily sludge and found abnormal levels of radioactivity. A total of 90 ground wastewater samples were collected from different sites for a period of one year. The presence of these radionuclides was identified by their characteristic gamma rays. The detection system consisted of a high-purity germanium detector. Our results show that about 20% of the samples exhibited 20–60 Bq/L radioactivity and ~6% of the samples exceeded 60 Bq/L. Roughly 70% of the experimental samples fell in the range of 2–20 Bq/L, which still exceeded the maximum admissible drinking-water limit 0.2 Bq/L.

Keywords: radioactivity; oil sludge; waste water; gamma rays (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/4/890/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/4/890/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:2:y:2010:i:4:p:890-901:d:7719

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().