Assessment of oil shale retort wastewater treatment and control technology: phases I and II. Final report, May 1979-March 1980

Oil shale retorting is a synthetic fuel production technology on the verge of commercialization in the United States. In order to ensure that the emerging oil shale industry will have minimal adverse effects upon surface and/or groundwater where recoverable reserves of oil shale are found, demonstrated technologies to upgrade oil shale wastewaters must be available to developers. To this end, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has contracted with Monsanto Research Corporation to conduct a three-year, five-phase study to: (1) summarize known information concerning oil shale retort wastewater sources and characteristics; (2) identify potentially applicable control technologies capable of treating the identified wastewater streams; and (3) design, construct, and operate pilot-plant facilities to evaluate the selected technologies. This report presents results of Phases I and II, in which literature and other information sources were surveyed to obtain relevant data about oil shale retorting technologies, wastewater sources and characteristics, potential wastewater uses, and potentially applicable treatment technologies. As a result of the study, data gaps were identified, and recommendations for bench-scale treatability studies were made.