Spent Caustic Treatment

Eliminate the need for expensive offsite treatment by handling spent caustic directly at your refinery.

Spent caustic is a byproduct of using sodium hydroxide in refining processes to remove sulfur and other compounds from oil. This waste stream is rich in hydrogen sulfide, phenols, and complex organic compounds, which can disrupt your wastewater treatment systems. Without proper management, it can inhibit or even halt the biological processes essential for compliance with effluent regulations.

USP Technologies can chemically oxidize the spent caustic using hydrogen peroxide alone or in combination with an iron catalyst, to dramatically improve the “treatability” of this waste stream.

A spent caustic chemical oxidation program allows for more economical onsite treatment without harming or overloading the microorganisms. For reduced sulfur compounds, which exert a substantial oxygen demand in the bioreactor, hydrogen peroxide can be dosed to balance oxygen supply with oxygen demand, enhancing nitrification by assuring sufficient dissolved oxygen concentrations throughout the bioreactor. To improve the bioavailability of spent caustic, hydrogen peroxide can be combined with an iron catalyst to break complex organic compounds into smaller fractions that can then be utilized by the microorganisms.