Upgrading Iranian petroleum sludge using polymers

Abstract One of the most valuable wastes of the oil industry is oil sludge, found at oil wells, oil pipelines and refineries, and stored in storage units. Oil sludge has many similarities with heavy oil components. This study evaluates the use of oil sludge from the Iranian Oil Pipelines and Telecommunication Company for the manufacture of asphalt. The approximate structure of the oil sludge was analyzed and compared with the structure of conventional bitumen for road construction. Marshall asphalt samples were analyzed according to the American Society for Testing and Materials D1559 0–5–7.5–10–12.5 standard using 15% oil sludge with bitumen and aggregate. To study the physical characteristics of samples of Marshall asphalt, two important tests were performed (1) to determine the pressure resistance, and (2) the relative deformation of examples of all samples. The results showed that asphalt resistance is increased using 25–50% sulfur and 2–7% butadiene styrene polymer. Therefore, Marshall asphalt samples with 30% sulfur were prepared with bitumen and oil sludge. Fifty percent oil sludge in bitumen and a 2% polymer and 15% oil sludge mix with bitumen gave the best results. These mixtures are economically viable.