Installation of filter cartridges has begun at the Gazprom Neft Moscow Refinery’s innovative “Biosfera” water treatment facility
Work has begun on the installation of a carbon-filter unit at the Gazprom Neft Moscow Refinery’s “Biosfera” water treatment facility. The pre-fabricated unit is designed to remove organic compounds and oil products from production wastewater. The unit comprises 18 individual components, each of a height of five metres. A total 385 cubic metres of activated carbon is used as the filtration component, through which wastewater will be passed, under pressure. The unit has been designed and manufactured by Russian company Biotechprogress, St Petersburg.
The commissioning of the Biosfera in 2017 will allow the plant to increase its decontamination efficiency to a level of up to 99 percent, exceeding the performance of Europe’s best refineries. Thanks to this cutting-edge water treatment system the Moscow Refinery will reduce its consumption of river-sourced water by a factor of 2.5. Up to 75 percent of water utilised will be returned to the production cycle, reducing the burden on the local Mosvodokanal treatment system and significantly reducing the refinery’s impact on the environment. Investment in construction of the Biosfera stands at more than RUB8 billion.
Construction of this most advanced treatment system is a key project in the second stage of the thoroughgoing modernisation of the Moscow Refinery currently being undertaken by Gazprom Neft. The basic design of the Biosphere facility, developed by NPK Mediana-Filter, envisages the use of a multi-stage biological purification system unique to Russia’s refining sector. In addition to the carbon filtration unit, the facility will include a reverse-osmosis unit, a two-stage filtration system, and a membrane bioreactor.
As part of the first stage of modernisation at the plant the obsolete treatment system has been removed and a new mechanical closed mechanical facility — with decontamination efficiency of up to 95 percent — installed. Construction of a treatment facility for sulphur-alkaline waste and process condensate has been ongoing at the plant since 2015. Together these facilities comprise the most cutting-edge treatment facilities at the Moscow Refinery.
