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Emission and exposure of hydrogen sulfide in the air from oil refinery: spatiotemporal field monitoring

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Abstract

Little is known regarding the amount of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emitted during refinery process under different management systems. Therefore, two refinery fields were investigated to explain their H2S emission, as they were managed using non-standardized and standardized protocols. In addition, three units of standardized refinery were investigated to correlate the amount of emitted H2S with oil quality. Both of non-standardized and standardized oil refineries emitted H2S, but the former contributed more; in fact, it was orders of magnitude higher. At non-standardized and standardized oil refineries, the highest concentration of H2S measured was 35.6 ± 2.4 and 2.6 ± 0.3 mg/m3, respectively, and the concentrations steadily declined with the distance from the refinery subunits until it was not detected at 550 and 130 m, respectively. In addition, refinery subunits: distillation tower, flare gas, and storage tank, emitted H2S, but the former was the dominant source. The crude oil quality affected H2S concentration in the air, the higher sulfur content the more H2S released. Furthermore, there was diurnal pattern of H2S concentrations, with higher H2S emitted during nighttime than the daytime. This study demonstrates that H2S emitted into atmosphere, and it most likely affects refinery workers health, surrounding area, and this can lead to further environmental consequences.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Balaji Balakrishnan V and Ridvan Alkan for the technical help during this study.

Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genel energy, Shewashok oil field, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

    M. Q. Salih

  2. Department of Geography, Faculty of Education, Koya University, Koya KOY45, Kurdistan Region - F.R., Iraq

    R. R. Hamadamin

  3. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Raparin, Rania, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

    J. R. Hama

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  1. M. Q. Salih
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  2. R. R. Hamadamin
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  3. J. R. Hama
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Mamoon Salih and Rawaz Hamadamin. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Mamoon Salih and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to J. R. Hama.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Editorial responsibility: Samareh Mirkia.

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Salih, M.Q., Hamadamin, R.R. & Hama, J.R. Emission and exposure of hydrogen sulfide in the air from oil refinery: spatiotemporal field monitoring. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 4727–4736 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04309-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04309-2

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