Question

Explain the reason why refineries are considered a major source of pollutant?

Answer 1

Answer- Due to petroleum refineries there are hazards present in water, air and soil. So we can explain how all three natural or environmental constraints are affected due to refineries.

Water pollution hazards- Refineries use water sources for operations due to which water gets contaminated. Some refineries used to dispose waste water inside the ground means they dispose contaminated water inside plants and use deep-injection wells. The contamination in water takes place due to different uses in refineries like cooling tower, desalination of crude, distillation column or cracking etc. These operations add different chemical components due to which contamination takes place. Leakage of below mentioned chemicals from pipes and valves join both water and air in different operations results in pollution.

Air pollution hazards- Refineries are responsible for hazardous chemicals like toluene, benzene, xylene and ethylbenzene. These chemicals are also responsible for particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide. These Refineries also releases methane gas into the environment. As we know refineries deals with volatile components so due to evaporation of these components air pollution also increases. In refineries combustion process is used for different operations due to which pounds of air pollutants join the air every year.

Soil pollution hazards- soil contamination is small problem as compared to air and water contamination. Soil pollution takes place due to some leakage and disposal of waste on the ground. These waste contains hazardous chemicals which can contaminate the soil.

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