Assessment of organic pollutants in petroleum refinery wastewater by LC-MS analyzer

Abstract

The release of toxic and hazardous effluents from petroleum refining companies seriously threatens the poisoning of water bodies. Thus, it is necessary to determine an accurate treatment process by understanding the nature of wastewater. This work uses Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (LCMS), including LC-Tandem MS (LCMS/MS), ion trap (IT), and quadrupole-time-of-flight (Q-TOF) to comprehend the composition of petroleum refinery effluent. Many polar metabolites available, even as a trace fraction, can be found using advanced LCMS with defined molecular structure, which may or may not be itemized in CAS. Based on the number of carbon atoms (C1-C48), chemical reactivity (saturated, unsaturated, and aromatics), and functional group (hydrocarbons containing oxygen only and other minerals along with oxygen), substances are identified. Using LCMS/MS, 170 organic components, 77.10% negative and 22.90% positive metabolites, are quantified. A range of carbon between C8 and C48 is identified as having 6.50% C8-C12, 30% C13-C17, and 63.50% C18-C48. Higher molecular mass hydrocarbons from C22-C48 are less soluble in water and are more positively polarized, while C8-C21 hydrocarbons are more soluble under negative polarity. The principal ingredient is documented as consisting primarily of aromatic chemicals (72.30%), the majority of which are found as harmful metabolites. Further, 83% of the hydrocarbons are acknowledged to contain solely oxygen compared to other minerals in petroleum effluents. Overall, it was concluded that the direct discharge of petroleum refinery effluents without treatment may cause various health and environmental issues.