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ABSTRACT
The effect of ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE) process on oil recovery from refinery oily sludge was examined in this study. Two types of UAE treatment including UAE probe (UAEP) system and UAE bath (UAEB) system were investigated. Their oil recovery efficiencies were compared to that of mechanical shaking extraction (MSE). Three solvents including cyclohexane (CHX), ethyl acetate (EA), and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) were examined as the extraction solvents. The influence of experimental factors on oil and solvent recovery was investigated using an orthogonal experimental design. Results indicated that solvent type, solvent-to-sludge (S/S) ratio, and treatment duration could have significant effects on oil recovery in UAE treatment. Under the optimum conditions, UAEP treatment can obtain an oil recovery of 68.8% within 20 s, which was higher than that (i.e., 62.0%) by MSE treatment after 60 min’ extraction. UAEB treatment can also obtain a promising oil recovery within shorter extraction duration (i.e., 15 min) than MSE. UAE was thus illustrated as an effective and improved approach for oily sludge recycling.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Quanji Wu in the Central Equipment Laboratory at the University of Northern British Columbia for his help in the analysis of samples. The authors are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions that helped in improving the manuscript.
Funding
This study was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC Research Project Award).