A comparison of oil and grease removal from automobile workshop stormwater runoff using gravel, granular activated carbon, rice husk and conventional oil and grease (O&G) trap

Authors

  • Clement Oguche Ataguba Department of Civil Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa
  • Isobel Brink Department of Civil Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/wsa/2022.v48.i1.3926

Keywords:

automobile workshop, effluent concentration, low-cost treatment technology, oil and grease removal efficiency, stormwater treatment

Abstract

Oil and grease (O&G) removal efficiencies using 4 automobile stormwater treatment systems were investigated and compared. The treatment systems used were: low-cost granular activated carbon–rice husk (GAC–RH) filter system, river gravel–granular activated carbon (GR–GAC) filter system, rice husk only (RH) filter system and the conventional PVC O&G trap (COT). Sampling of automobile stormwater from the five selected automobile workshops was carried out using the manual grab sampling methods. The treatment involved filtration using the low-cost technologies and O&G separation from stormwater. GAC–RH exhibited the highest O&G removal with an average removal efficiency of 43.2% from all the automobile workshops, followed by RH with an average removal efficiency of 31%. O&G removal using GR–GAC and COT resulted in average removal efficiencies of 28.6% and 26.8%, respectively. Further studies need to be carried out to optimize the GAC and RH low-cost filter materials for the purpose of achieving the USEPA and Nigerian effluent standards of 0.1 mg/L, since all the treatment systems produced effluents with minimum concentrations ranging between 0.8 mg/L and 3.6 mg/L.

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Published

2022-01-26

Issue

Vol. 48 No. 1 January (2022): Water SA

Section

Research paper

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Clement Oguche Ataguba, Isobel Brink

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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How to Cite

Clement Oguche Ataguba and Isobel Brink (2022) “A comparison of oil and grease removal from automobile workshop stormwater runoff using gravel, granular activated carbon, rice husk and conventional oil and grease (O&G) trap”, Water SA, 48(1 January). doi:10.17159/wsa/2022.v48.i1.3926.