Waste Management
ARBOK-GUDRON treats acid tar lakes — the legacy of old sulfuric-acid (H₂SO₄/oleum) refining of hydrocarbons (BTX purification, white-oil production, oil re-refining) — dumped into ponds for decades as aggressive, multilayered acid-tar emulsion.
Technology brief
ARBOK-GUDRON treats acid tar lakes — the legacy of old sulfuric-acid (H₂SO₄/oleum) refining of hydrocarbons (BTX purification, white-oil production, oil re-refining) — dumped into ponds for decades as aggressive, multilayered acid-tar emulsion.
The challenge
Primary use cases: remediation and valorization of historical acid-tar lagoons; refinery acid-sludge streams.
Outputs/uses: liquid hydrocarbons (motor fuels, not just wax/coke), gas, heavy phase, solid residue, recovered water, concentrated H₂SO₄.
Industries and users: refineries, remediation authorities, lagoon owners (off-take buyers).
Affected geographies: Slovakia (Predajná/Dubová), Latvia (Inčukalns), UK (dozens of lagoons), Romania, Poland, USA (Superfund, NJ/Raritan), Turkey.
ARBOK solution
ARBOK-GUDRON treats acid tar lakes — the legacy of old sulfuric-acid (H₂SO₄/oleum) refining of hydrocarbons (BTX purification, white-oil production, oil re-refining) — dumped into ponds for decades as aggressive, multilayered acid-tar emulsion. Instead of lime neutralization (which makes gypsum, CO₂, and saline leachate) or incineration (€200–800/m³), ARBOK uses Arbok Cold Cracking to separate the mass into marketable products: motor-grade liquid hydrocarbons, gas, heavy phase, solid residue, plus recovered water and concentrated acid — self-funded under an off-take (PPA-like) model.
Acid tar (residual H₂SO₄ + water + heavy petroleum/resins + sulfonated organics) is separated by Arbok Cold Cracking — gentle vacuum degradation of heavy resins with phase separation — into gas, liquid hydrocarbons, heavy phase, and solid residue, while water and concentrated acid are recovered separately. Composition varies widely (water 5–30 %, free H₂SO₄ 5–25 %, petroleum organics/asphalt 50–90 %; some samples ~23.7–24.2 % H₂SO₄), so reagent/corrosion/hazard handling is engineered per site.
Limitations: aggressive, corrosive, heterogeneous feed; site-specific composition; acid handling.
Market and application
EU law bans burying liquid/corrosive waste, and incineration is permit-heavy (€200–800/m³), so legacy acid-tar lagoons across Slovakia, Latvia, UK, Romania, Poland, USA, and Turkey are a large, unresolved, regulated liability — addressable at profit via product off-take.
Conventional benchmark: Predajná €66 million for 225 000 m³ (~€293/m³; site reclamation only ~10–20 % of that, the rest is hazardous-mass handling, water, logistics, thermal chain, monitoring). ARBOK: revenue from recovered hydrocarbons, acid, and water under off-take, self-funded — turning the cost into a product stream. (Per-lagoon economics by composition and volume.)
Use cases
Primary use cases: remediation and valorization of historical acid-tar lagoons; refinery acid-sludge streams.
Outputs/uses: liquid hydrocarbons (motor fuels, not just wax/coke), gas, heavy phase, solid residue, recovered water, concentrated H₂SO₄.
Industries and users: refineries, remediation authorities, lagoon owners (off-take buyers).
Affected geographies: Slovakia (Predajná/Dubová), Latvia (Inčukalns), UK (dozens of lagoons), Romania, Poland, USA (Superfund, NJ/Raritan), Turkey.
Steps: lagoon assay (layered composition) → unit sizing → on-site install → commissioning. Off-take (procurement of recovered products) instead of remediation tender. (Site reclamation itself is a separate, simpler stage, not ARBOK's specialization.)
Off-take agreements with lagoon owners; pairs with ARBOK sulfur and oil-recovery units; product streams to fuel/chemical buyers.
ARBOK-GUDRON treats acid tar lakes — the legacy of old sulfuric-acid (H₂SO₄/oleum) refining of hydrocarbons (BTX purification, white-oil production, oil re-refining) — dumped into ponds for decades as aggressive, multilayered acid-tar emulsion. Instead of lime neutralization (which makes gypsum, CO₂, and saline leachate) or incineration (€200–800/m³), ARBOK uses Arbok Cold Cracking to separate the mass into marketable products: motor-grade liquid hydrocarbons, gas, heavy phase, solid residue, plus recovered water and concentrated acid — self-funded under an off-take (PPA-like) model.
Primary use cases: remediation and valorization of historical acid-tar lagoons; refinery acid-sludge streams.
Outputs/uses: liquid hydrocarbons (motor fuels, not just wax/coke), gas, heavy phase, solid residue, recovered water, concentrated H₂SO₄.
Industries and users: refineries, remediation authorities, lagoon owners (off-take buyers).
Affected geographies: Slovakia (Predajná/Dubová), Latvia (Inčukalns), UK (dozens of lagoons), Romania, Poland, USA (Superfund, NJ/Raritan), Turkey.
Acid tar (residual H₂SO₄ + water + heavy petroleum/resins + sulfonated organics) is separated by Arbok Cold Cracking — gentle vacuum degradation of heavy resins with phase separation — into gas, liquid hydrocarbons, heavy phase, and solid residue, while water and concentrated acid are recovered separately. Composition varies widely (water 5–30 %, free H₂SO₄ 5–25 %, petroleum organics/asphalt 50–90 %; some samples ~23.7–24.2 % H₂SO₄), so reagent/corrosion/hazard handling is engineered per site.
Limitations: aggressive, corrosive, heterogeneous feed; site-specific composition; acid handling.
Representative large-scale mass balance (on the order of 100 000 t of acid tar): Arbok Cold Cracking converts the organic fraction predominantly into saleable liquid hydrocarbons, with smaller gas, heavy-phase and solid-residue fractions, alongside substantial recovered volumes of water and concentrated acid.
Tar-lake layers (density / heating value / water / sulfur): oil phase 850–950 kg/m³, 39 000–41 000 kJ/m³, 0.2–0.5 %, 0.2–2.0 %; neutral emulsion 950–1 050, 1 500–15 000, 30–80 %, 0.5–3.0 %; acidic asphaltic 1 050–1 200, 1 500–25 000, 10–30 %, ~5 %; organo-inorganic sediment ~2 000, low, 10–30 %, 0.5–5.0 %.
Feed intake/handling (corrosion-resistant); Arbok Cold Cracking vacuum unit; phase separation (gas / liquid HC / heavy / solid); water and acid recovery; product storage; control and safety systems. Modular.
Technical: separates an "untreatable" acid-tar cocktail into clean fractions; no lime/incineration.
Economic: converts a €200–800/m³ disposal liability into saleable hydrocarbons + acid + water; BOOM/off-take (PPA-like), no tenders, no government budget.
Environmental: removes groundwater threat (sulfates, organics, As/Sb plumes); no new gypsum/CO₂ from neutralization.
Strategic: closes decades-old contamination at profit; independent of corrupt tender chains.
Off-take agreements with lagoon owners; pairs with ARBOK sulfur and oil-recovery units; product streams to fuel/chemical buyers.
Steps: lagoon assay (layered composition) → unit sizing → on-site install → commissioning. Off-take (procurement of recovered products) instead of remediation tender. (Site reclamation itself is a separate, simpler stage, not ARBOK's specialization.)
TRL 8 (confirmed by Michael). System complete and qualified on the Arbok Cold Cracking / vacuum platform; acid-tar mass balance and off-take model defined. Remaining to 9: sustained operation on a reference lagoon.
EU law bans burying liquid/corrosive waste, and incineration is permit-heavy (€200–800/m³), so legacy acid-tar lagoons across Slovakia, Latvia, UK, Romania, Poland, USA, and Turkey are a large, unresolved, regulated liability — addressable at profit via product off-take.
Conventional benchmark: Predajná €66 million for 225 000 m³ (~€293/m³; site reclamation only ~10–20 % of that, the rest is hazardous-mass handling, water, logistics, thermal chain, monitoring). ARBOK: revenue from recovered hydrocarbons, acid, and water under off-take, self-funded — turning the cost into a product stream. (Per-lagoon economics by composition and volume.)
Corrosive/heterogeneous feed handling; acid and product offtake/qualification; site-specific composition variance; permitting; field reference on a real lagoon needed.
ARBOK-SULPHUR · ARBOK-VC (Vacuum Cracking) · ARBOK-CHLORIDE · ARBOK-ORR (Oil Regeneration & Recover)
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Partnership pathway