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Conventional and Emerging Contaminants in Oily Sludge: Sources, Environmental Behavior, and Treatment Technologies
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Oily sludge from oil production contains not just oil and heavy metals, but also microplastics and "forever chemicals" (PFAS), both linked to health concerns. This review of existing research finds that current cleanup methods mostly just move these harmful substances around rather than truly destroying them, meaning contamination risks may persist even after treatment.
Oily sludge is a hazardous waste generated during petroleum extraction, transportation, refining, storage, and wastewater treatment. It contains conventional contaminants, including petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals (HMs), and salts, as well as emerging contaminants such as microplastics (MPs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Petroleum hydrocarbons mainly comprise saturated hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, resins, asphaltenes, and BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes), and are commonly quantified as total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs), although polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemically a subset of petroleum hydrocarbons, they are discussed separately in this review because of their persistence, toxicity, and distinct environmental behavior. Salt-related contaminants are primarily derived from highly mineralized formation water and include chloride-, sulfate-, carbonate-, and bicarbonate-containing salts. Although numerous studies have investigated oily sludge treatment technologies, most have focused on the removal of conventional contaminants such as PAHs and HMs. In contrast, the removal of emerging contaminants, particularly MPs and PFAS, has received much less attention. This review summarizes the sources, environmental behavior, and risk assessment of these contaminants and critically evaluates physical, chemical, biological, thermal, and integrated treatment technologies according to their application scale, removal mechanisms, and limitations. Physical methods mainly achieve phase separation and concentration; chemical and thermal methods can degrade or destroy persistent organics; and biological methods are suitable for biodegradable hydrocarbons but remain limited for microplastics and PFAS. Across all categories, most processes transfer or concentrate emerging contaminants rather than fully eliminating them, and few have been validated at pilot or full scale under realistic sludge conditions. Finally, future directions for low-carbon, risk-based, and resource-efficient oily sludge management are highlighted.
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This review summarizes data on PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as 'forever chemicals') found in sewage sludge, which is commonly spread on farmland. Current biological and thermal treatment methods struggle to fully remove these persistent chemicals from sludge. While focused on PFAS rather than microplastics, the findings are relevant because both contaminants accumulate in sludge and enter the food chain when that sludge is applied to agricultural soil.
Emerging contaminants in biosolids: Presence, fate and analytical techniques
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Researchers reviewed how "emerging contaminants" — including pharmaceuticals, PFAS (forever chemicals), flame retardants, and microplastics — behave in sewage sludge (biosolids) and wastewater treatment plants, and how they can transform into potentially more toxic breakdown products. The review evaluated detection methods and called for better regulation and advanced analytical tools to track these pollutants as they move through water treatment systems and into the environment.
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This review covers four major types of soil and groundwater contaminants, including microplastics and PFAS (forever chemicals), examining how they move through the environment and what cleanup methods exist. Understanding how microplastics migrate through soil and water is important because these pathways determine how contamination eventually reaches drinking water sources and affects human health.
Integrated Monitoring, Remediation and Management of Soil Pollution: A Comprehensive Review
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This research review summarizes the latest methods for finding, cleaning up, and managing polluted soil that can harm human health through contaminated food and water. The study highlights that newer pollutants like microplastics and "forever chemicals" (PFAS) are especially hard to remove from soil using traditional cleanup methods. The authors argue that we need better, combined approaches to monitor and clean up soil pollution to protect our food supply and health.
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Researchers discovered that microplastics in wastewater treatment plants act as carriers for PFAS (forever chemicals), absorbing them from the water and potentially releasing them back into the environment. Commercial plastics were found to leach even more PFAS than environmental samples, with some chemicals releasing more than was originally absorbed. This dual role of microplastics as both carriers and sources of forever chemicals means they could significantly increase human exposure to these persistent, harmful substances.
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