Effluents and solid waste analysis in a petrochemical company - A case study of Eleme Petrochemical Company Ltd, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Effluents and soil samples where sediments from the treated effluents are dumped were analyzed for physicochemical properties, metallic and non-metallic ions. These parameters were compared with established international standard (FEPA). Effluents were classified as process waste water (PWW), clarified water (CW), and final discharge (FD). The petrochemical effluents contained very high concentration of TDS (284.00±014 mg/L) and significant concentrations of TSS (78.89±0.01 mg/L), COD (30.10±0.02 mg/L), DO (13.20±0.01 mg/L), BOD (6.12±0.00 mg/L), PO₄ ^3- (4.34±0.00 mg/L), SO₄^2- (3.59±0.00 mg/L), Cl^- (55.52±0.01 mg/L) and NO ₃^- (8.40±0.01 mg/L). Low concentrations of iron, zinc, copper, cadmium, lead, nickel and cobalt was also observed. Some heavy metals were not detected at all in some of the effluent samples analyzed. Apart from temperature and total dissolved solid TDS, all the other parameters were below FEPA effluent limitations for guidelines for Petroleum Refinery, Fuel/Gasoline oil category in Nigeria.