Challenges and future outlooks towards mitigating water pollution from crude oil refinery plant

As part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2020 emphasising the need for clean water and sanitation, it is imperative that all wastewater from a refinery plant should be adequately treated to safeguard our environment from toxic pollutants. Globally, the volume of petroleum refinery wastewater (PRWW) usually generated is approximately 1.6 times the crude oil volume processed in a refinery. This paper critically reviews the existing treatment methodologies and their fundamental challenges. In addition, it highlights the future prospects of zero liquid discharge (ZLD) reverse osmosis systems powered by renewable energy. The adopted methodology involves searching online for relevant keywords on water pollution from a crude oil refinery plant in scientific databases. About 347 articles were downloaded, out of which 122 were utilised for the review exercise. The possibility of achieving a 5.8% reduction in energy consumption on a global basis while processing 2000 l of PRWW per day using 5.04 kW of solar energy for 10 h with the aid of ZLD-reverse osmosis is presented. Also, energy and treatment costs can be reduced by 58%–75% and 48%–67%, respectively. By adopting sustainable and innovative approaches, crude oil refineries can significantly reduce their environmental footprint, align with global sustainability goals, and ensure compliance with regulatory standards.