干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Petroleum sludge is a complicated complex and a mixture of hydrocarbons, water, metals and suspended fine solids. Kuwait's Petroleum Industries are burdened with the problem of handling large quantities of sludge. The oil sludge is gathered into open pits to separate the components. These oil gathering pits are full of hydrocarbon Waste, which is usually associated with lot of greenhouse gases such as CH(4), CO (2) and N (2) 0 to the open atmosphere. Sludge usually accumulates at the bottom of the pits and it is categorized as hazardous waste. This should be handled with special care to avoid any adverse problems. The paper demonstrates the significant impacts identified from the extensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study undertaken for the project of removal and treatment of oil sludge from oil pit. This study investigates and identifies the environmental impact of oil pit and the significance of recovering the oil from pit, which was collected for several years as part of the oilfield activities. The process of removal and treating the oil and oil sludge from the pit will go through several technical processes.. The major significant environmental issue that is identified, detected and documented in the paper is related to land degradation from oil contamination, air quality deterioration, and impact on desert fauna. There is no indication of ground water or near surface water. The significance of the impact was evaluated based on the categorization of impacts into negative or positive, shorter or long term, reversible or irreversible, life cycle analysis, etc., for bio-physical and socioeconomic conditions.