Effects of temperature on oil refinery waste toxicity.

Abstract

The combination of thermal and toxic waste discharges is a problem cur rently facing many sections of the U. S. Toxic wastes have been discharged by municipalities and industrial complexes for many decades. Thermal discharges or thermal pollution is of a more recent era, however. Thus, it is not uncommon to find thermal and toxic wastes being dis charged adjacent to each other on a single receiving stream. In addition, many in dustries, such as pulp and paper mills, tanneries, and oil refineries, discharge wastes into receiving streams at extremely high temperatures (20? to 40?C). These high temperatures significantly affect the toxicity of a given waste. Therefore, it is essential that the exact effects of tempera ture on the toxicity of various wastes be evaluated and that mathematical relation ships be developed to describe and predict these effects.