Case Study: Louisiana Refinery recovers 31,000 barrels of oil annually and reduces hazardous waste with Veolia North America

Recycling Process Provides Sustainable Solution for Refinery

Louisiana Refinery, one of the largest refineries in the United States and an award-winning environmental performer, faced the ongoing challenge of managing oil-bearing secondary materials that consume storage, can interfere with operations, and otherwise must be disposed of as costly hazardous waste. To address this, Veolia North America deployed an oily residual management solution centered on a patented three‑phase centrifuge process paired with a thermal desorption system.

Veolia North America’s two‑stage recycling operation conditions and centrifuges the material, then thermally desorbs remaining hydrocarbons, processing more than 500,000 barrels of oil‑bearing secondary material per year and recovering an estimated 31,000 barrels of oil annually (about 2,600 barrels per month). The treated solids meet EPA land‑disposal restriction standards and received conditional delisting authorization, enabling non‑hazardous landfill disposal, reducing hazardous‑waste costs and liabilities, and delivering measurable environmental and financial benefits.