The effective treatment of oily sludge has been a challenging problem faced by the petroleum industry worldwide. It is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons, water, metallic ions, and suspended fine solids. The recalcitrant nature of oily sludge makes the treatment a difficult and costly task. The objective of this dissertation research was to develop environmentally friendly and economically competitive techniques for oily sludge treatment. Three different approaches were developed: ionic liquid (IL)-enhanced solvent extraction, co-pyrolysis with wood waste, and value-added utilization of oily sludge as sorbent to remove lead (Pb2+) and cadmium (Cd2+) from solution. Firstly, as compared to conventional solvent extraction, the IL-enhanced solvent extraction not only improved oil recovery efficiency but also greatly reduced solvent and energy consumption as well as shortening the treatment duration even at low IL concentration. Secondly, co-pyrolysis of oily waste and hog fuel was conducted in a fixed bed reactor. Three experimental parameters (pyrolysis temperature, reaction time, and hog fuel addition) were explored to optimize both oil recovery and metal ion immobilization. The latter was tested through sequential extraction techniques with high temperature pyrolysis leading to metal ions fixed within the residues. The addition of hog fuel had a significant synergistic effect on the distribution of metal ions in the various extraction fractions resulting in lower risk index (RI) values. Thirdly, the oily sludge-derived char (OS500) obtained at 500 °C could effectively remove Pb2+ from solution with the maximum sorption capacity of 373.2 mg/g (based on a Langmuir model). Sorption of Pb2+ by the OS500 was mainly attributed to its precipitation with carbonate (CO32‒) originating in OS500. The maximum sorption capacity for Cd2+, using a Langmuir model, was 23.19 mg/g. Complexation and metal ion exchange dominated Cd2+ sorption on OS500. The Pb2+ sorption capacity dramatically decreased as the iii pyrolysis temperature increased from 500 to 900 °C due to the decomposition of minerals which could release CO32‒ at high temperature. The activated OS500 showed a higher sorption capacity (90.06 mg/g) for Cd2+ than OS500 (23.95 mg/g) because conversion of barite (BaSO4) to witherite (BaCO3) after chemical activation favored the precipitation of Cd-carbonate.
