13-06-2019

Omsk refinery continues construction of its “Biosphere” wastewater treatment facility

Installation of a tank block at the Gazprom Neft Omsk Refinery’s “Biosphere” wastewater treatment facility — one of the key projects in the second phase of refinery modernisation being implemented by Gazprom Neft since 2008 — is coming to an end. The Biosphere will increase efficiency in wastewater treatment, which is now expected to reach 99.9 percent, delivering almost complete “closed-cycle” water usage and reducing the burden on municipal wastewater treatment plants. Investment in the Biosphere facility stands at RUB19 billion and represents one of Gazprom Neft’s most important projects in the Omsk region. Construction is expected to be complete by 2021.

Twelve 20–100,000 m3-capacity tanks are designed for preliminary wastewater treatment. These have been designed and produced by Russian manufacturers in line with international environmental safety standards. The unique Biosphere complex itself is an automated multistage system, combining several stages of purification. All industrial effluents and storm-drainage are collected in the tank block before being sent for mechanical purification, where all impurities and oil products are removed. At the next — physical-chemical — stage the water is then cleaned using chemical reagents. In the central part of the facility — the bioreactor — the water is mixed with special microbial sludge containing micro-organisms that absorb oil residues before passing through carbon filters for disinfection using ultra-violet light. The new completely clean water is then returned to the production cycle and the filtered petroleum products recycled.

Construction of the Biosphere was started in November 2017, with Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov, Governor of the Omsk Oblast Alexander Burkov and CEO of the Gazprom Neft Omsk Refinery Oleg Belyavsky taking part in the official ground-breaking ceremony. The Biosphere forms part of the comprehensive action plan under the federal “Clean Air” project, itself part of the national “Ecology” project.