Page 69 - FINAL Phillips 66 50 Year Book

It was a case of more bugs, not less, in the system at the refinery in the
spring of 1995. At the heart of its upgraded waste effluent treatment
system was a new biological treatment plant known as an Activated
Sludge Unit (ASU). It was designed to produce a population explosion
among the bacteria which clean up the oily process waters by ‘eating’
the contaminants. It was one of many ancillary modifications being
phased in prior to the start-up of a Biotreatment plant the following year.

The various types of bugs doing all the hard work live in the activated
sludge, which is constantly recycled and prompts the bugs to multiply.
The new system allowed for several forms of aquatic life to live in
the water after it left the refinery via the Killingholme Ditch drainage
channel and into the Humber Estuary – an improvement on top of its
already super-stringent standards. As part of this, it became the first
UK refinery to install a system using pure oxygen, as opposed to air, to
support the microbiological activity.

As spring warmed up to summer, the focus shifted from one type of
water to another, albeit for the same aim – safety. Fire experts from
several countries visited the Humber Refinery’s tank farm to watch a
demonstration of new firefighting artillery: a giant gun that could throw
six thousand gallons of water and foam a minute over distances in
excess of 100 metres.

‘The best protective clothing in the world is distance,’ explained
demonstrator Dwight Williams. ‘What puts the fire out today is what put
fire out when we were living in caves – water. Foam is just what makes

Left: Waste water plant.