2022 Survey of Effluent Quality and Water Use at European Refineries
Report no. 4/25: Since 1969, Concawe has been gathering and compiling data on aqueous effluents from European oil refinery installations. Surveys have been completed at 3-5 yearly intervals. Since 2010, the data collection also focused on water uses within the installations. This report presents the findings of the survey for the 2022 reporting year of European refinery effluent quality and water use.
A total of 48 refineries participated in the survey from the EU-27 countries, Norway, and United Kingdom. A statistical assessment of site water use is presented, including aggregated data on intake and effluent volumes, water consumption and water treatment processes. In addition, annual average concentration and discharge mass for a number of substances and parameters regulated at EU level are compared with survey data from previous years. The data returned from the surveys provides perspective on historic trends in refinery water use and effluent discharge and insights into the recent refinery sector performance.
A total of 1.5 billion m3 of water was withdrawn in 2022 by the 48 refineries that returned data on site water intakes. Approximately 1.143 billion m3, or 75% of the total water intake, was brackish or saline and used mostly for once-through cooling. The total freshwater intake was 366 million m3 (average 7.6 million m3 per refinery), with 336 million m3 (average 7 million m3 per refinery) used for purposes other than once-through cooling. A total of 1.34 billion m3 of effluent was discharged to the environment in 2022, including once-through cooling water. This equates to a relative discharge of 4.37 m3/ton of throughput, down from 5.03 m3/ton and 4.51 m3/ton in 2016 and 2019 respectively. Some 200 million m3 of effluent were treated in 2022, equivalent to 0.65 m3/ton of throughput. In 2022, 48 refineries consumed a total of 197 million m3 of fresh water. The average relative freshwater consumption in 2022 was 0.64 m3/ton of throughput, lower than in 2019 when it was 0.67 m3/ton, reported for 61 refineries.
With regard to effluent quality, the results of the 2022 survey continue to show a decrease in the discharge of Oil in Water (OiW) consistent with the long-term trend towards reduced discharge of OiW or Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH). Relative TPH loads in 2022 were much lower than in 2019 and 2016. Similar decreasing trends are observed for Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), total phosphorous and total nitrogen, BTEX and phenols and for some heavy metals.