scholarly journals Optimisation of Radium Removal from Saline Produced Waters during Oil and Gas Extraction

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 278
Author(s):  
Joel Garner ◽  
David Read
Keyword(s):  
Solid Waste ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Barium Sulphate ◽  
Radioactive Waste Disposal ◽  
Radium Isotopes ◽  
Produced Waters ◽  
Co Precipitation

Unconventional shale gas exploitation presents complex problems in terms of radioactive waste disposal. Large volumes of saline produced water resulting from hydraulic fracturing are typically enriched in radium isotopes, up to several hundred Bq/dm3, orders of magnitude above national discharge limits. There is a need, therefore, to decontaminate the fluid prior to discharge, preferably by creating a less problematic radium-containing, solid waste form. Barite (barium sulphate) co-precipitation is a cost-effective method for achieving these objectives, provided the process can be controlled. In this work, radium recovery of ~90% has been achieved for simulant produced waters containing 100 Bq/dm3, using a single, optimised co-precipitation step. However, salinity has a significant effect on the efficiency of the process; higher salinity solutions requiring substantially more reagent to achieve the same recovery. If >90% radium removal is sought, multiple co-precipitation steps provide a much faster alternative than post-precipitation recrystallization of the barite solid phase, albeit at higher cost. The resulting solid waste has a relatively high specific radium activity but a much smaller volume, which presents a less intractable disposal problem for site operators than large volumes of radium-contaminated fluid.

Water treatment technology for produced water

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 2372-2380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angéla Szép ◽  
Robert Kohlheb
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Filtration ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Mobile Station ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Treatment Technology ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Produced Waters ◽  
Physical And Chemical

Large amounts of produced water are generated during oil and gas production. Produced water, as it is known in the oil industry, is briny fluid trapped in the rock of oil reservoirs. The objective of this study was to test produced waters from a Montana USA oilfield using a mobile station to design a plant to cost efficiently treat the produced water for agricultural irrigation. We used combined physical and chemical treatment of produced water in order to comply with reuse and discharge limits. This mobile station consists of three stages: pretreatments, membrane filtration and post treatment. Two spiral-wound membrane units were employed and the rejections of various constituents were examined. The performance of two membranes, 20 kDa weight cut-off (MWCO) ultrafiltration and a polyamide-composite reverse osmosis membrane was investigated. The mobile station effectively decreased conductivity by 98%, COD by 100% and the SAR by 2.15 mgeqv0.5 in the produced water tested in this study. Cost analysis showed that the treatment cost of produced water is less expensive than to dispose of it by injection and this treated water may be of great value in water-poor regions. We can conclude that the mobile station provided a viable and cost-effective result to beneficial use of produced water.

Biotreatment of Hydrate-Inhibitor-Containing Produced Waters at Low pH

SPE Journal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (06) ◽  
pp. 1254-1260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold Janson ◽  
Ana Santos ◽  
Altaf Hussain ◽  
Simon Judd ◽  
Ana Soares ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Ph Control ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Successful Operation ◽  
Gas Field

Summary With proper treatment to remove organics and inorganics, one can use the produced water (PW) generated during oil-and-gas extraction as process water. Biotreatment is generally regarded as the most cost-effective method for organics removal, and although widely used in industrial wastewater treatment, PW biotreatment installations are limited. This paper follows up to an earlier paper published in the SPE Journal (Janson et al. 2014). Although the earlier paper assessed the biotreatability of PW from a Qatari gas field from the summer season, this paper focuses on assessing the biotreatability of PW during the winter season [i.e., containing the thermodynamic hydrate inhibitor monoethylene glycol (MEG) and a kinetic hydrate inhibitor (KHI)]. Tests were conducted in batch and continuous reactors under aerobic mixed-culture conditions without pH control during 31 weeks. The results indicated that one could remove >80% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) through biological treatment of PW with 1.5% MEG added. In contrast, biotreatment can remove only ≈43% of COD and TOC present in PW when 1.5% KHI was added as a hydrate inhibitor; 2-butoxyethanol, a solvent in KHI, is extremely biodegradable; it was reduced in concentration from >5000 to <10 mg/L by biotreatment; the KHI polymer though was only partially biodegradable. Cloudpoint tests conducted on PW with 1.5% KHI added showed only an 8°C increase in cloudpoint temperature (from 35 to 43°C). The target cloudpoint temperature of >60°C was not achieved. Although the feed to the reactors (PW with either KHI or MEG) was at pH 4.5, the reactors stabilized at a pH of 2.6, considered extremely acidic for aerobic bioactivity. The successful operation of an aerobic biological process for an extended period of time at a pH of 2.6 was unexpected, and published reports of bioactivity at that pH are limited. After extensive analytical tests, it was concluded that the pH decrease was caused by the production of an inorganic acid. A mechanism by which hydrochloric acid could be produced biologically was proposed; however, further research in this area by the academic community is recommended.

scholarly journals Characterization and Treatment Technologies Applied for Produced Water in Qatar

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 3573
Author(s):  
Hana D. Dawoud ◽  
Haleema Saleem ◽  
Nasser Abdullah Alnuaimi ◽  
Syed Javaid Zaidi
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Treatment Techniques ◽  
Treatment Technologies ◽  
Oil Gas

Qatar is one of the major natural gas (NG) producing countries, which has the world’s third-largest NG reserves besides the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Since the produced water (PW) generated in the oil and gas industry is considered as the largest waste stream, cost-effective PW management becomes fundamentally essential. The oil/gas industries in Qatar produce large amounts of PW daily, hence the key challenges facing these industries reducing the volume of PW injected in disposal wells by a level of 50% for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the reservoir. Moreover, it is important to study the characteristics of PW to determine the appropriate method to treat it and then use it for various applications such as irrigation, or dispose of it without harming the environment. This review paper targets to highlight the generation of PW in Qatar, as well as discuss the characteristics of chemical, physical, and biological treatment techniques in detail. These processes and methods discussed are not only applied by Qatari companies, but also by other companies associated or in collaboration with those in Qatar. Finally, case studies from different companies in Qatar and the challenges of treating the PW are discussed. From the different studies analyzed, various techniques as well as sequencing of different techniques were noted to be employed for the effective treatment of PW.

scholarly journals Evaluation of a Minimum Liquid Discharge (MLD) Desalination Approach for Management of Unconventional Oil and Gas Produced Waters with a Focus on Waste Minimization

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 2912
Author(s):  
Ganesh L. Ghurye
Keyword(s):  
Solid Waste ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Liquid Waste ◽  
Delaware Basin ◽  
Liquid Discharge ◽  
Thermal Desalination ◽  
Unconventional Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Waters ◽  
Insoluble Compounds ◽  
The Cost

The objective of this research study was to evaluate the feasibility of using a minimum liquid discharge (MLD) desalination approach as an alternate management option for unconventional produced waters (PWs) with a focus on minimizing the generation of solid waste. The feasibility of MLD was evaluated using OLI, a water chemistry software, to model thermal desalination of unconventional PWs from the Delaware Basin in New Mexico (NM). Desalination was theoretically terminated at an evaporation point before halite (NaCl) saturation in the residual brine. Results of this study showed that selectively targeting a subset of higher flow rate and lower TDS wells/centralized tank batteries (CTBs) could yield up to 76% recovery of distillate while generating minimal solid waste. Using a selective MLD approach did reduce the quantity of distillate recovered when compared with ZLD, and left a reduced volume of residual brine which has to be managed as a liquid waste. However, selective MLD also greatly reduced the amount of solid waste. The use of a ZLD approach yielded incrementally greater quantities of distillate but at the cost of large quantities of difficult-to-manage highly soluble waste. Simulation results showed that waste generated before NaCl precipitation was primarily composed of insoluble compounds such as calcite, barite and celestite, which can be disposed in conventional landfills. This study also found a simple empirical linear relationship between TDS and distillate recovery, thus allowing a non-expert to rapidly estimate potential distillate recovery for a given starting PW quality.

scholarly journals Desalination of Produced Water by Membrane Distillation: Effect of the Feed Components and of a Pre-treatment by Fenton Oxidation

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Ricceri ◽  
Mattia Giagnorio ◽  
Giulio Farinelli ◽  
Giulia Blandini ◽  
Marco Minella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Fenton Oxidation ◽  
Produced Waters ◽  
Pre Treatment ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Membrane Wetting ◽  
By Products

Abstract The treatment of produced waters (by-products of oil and gas extraction) with the innovative process of membrane distillation is challenging, because these highly saline streams contain high concentrations of organic compounds and hydrocarbons that cause membrane wetting and impairment of performance. To design the most compact treatment scheme and with the aim of obtaining an easier management of produced water for reuse purposes, Fenton oxidation is here investigated as a feed pre-treatment that may produce an effluent easily handled by membrane distillation. In high-recovery membrane distillation tests, we systematically investigate the detrimental effects of individual contaminants in a synthetic produced water mimicking the composition of a real sample. The recovery rate depends strongly on the initial salinity, which eventually causes scaling and pore blocking. Surfactants are found to be mainly responsible for membrane wetting, but volatile and hydrophobic organics also spoil the quality of the product water. A Fenton oxidation pre-treatment is thus performed to degrade the target organics, with the aim of enhancing the effectiveness of the following membrane distillation and to improve the quality of the final product. The combined oxidation-membrane distillation scheme has both advantages and limitations, which need to be carefully evaluated and further investigated.

scholarly journals Novel Photocatalytic Reactor Development for Removal of Hydrocarbons from Water

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan Adams ◽  
Ian Campbell ◽  
Peter K. J. Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Rotating Drum ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Photocatalytic Reactor ◽  
Hydrocarbon Content ◽  
Produced Waters ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil

Hydrocarbons contamination of the marine environment generated by the offshore oil and gas industry is generated from a number of sources including oil contaminated drill cuttings and produced waters. The removal of hydrocarbons from both these sources is one of the most significant challenges facing this sector as it moves towards zero emissions. The application of a number of techniques which have been used to successfully destroy hydrocarbons in produced water and waste water effluents has previously been reported. This paper reports the application of semiconductor photocatalysis as a final polishing step for the removal of hydrocarbons from two waste effluent sources. Two reactor concepts were considered: a simple flat plate immobilised film unit, and a new rotating drum photocatalytic reactor. Both units proved to be effective in removing residual hydrocarbons from the effluent with the drum reactor reducing the hydrocarbon content by 90% under 10 minutes.

RADIOECOLOGICAL IMPACT AND THE ASSOCIATED HAZARDS DUE TO NORM FROM OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION FACILITY IN THE WESTERN DESERT OF EGYPT

2020 ◽  
Vol 190 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-175
Author(s):  
Yasser Y Ebaid ◽  
Yasser Hassan ◽  
Wael M Elshemey
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Production Facility ◽  
Energy Agency ◽  
Radium Isotopes ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
The World ◽  
Effective Doses

Abstract An oil and gas production facility in the western desert of Egypt was investigated for possible radiation risks due to the routine operation. Radium-226, Radium-228 and Potassium-40 were assessed in the soil samples collected from the adjacent soakaway pond. The average 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K activity concentrations were 881.0 ± 42.0, 966.0 ± 43.0 and 143.0 ± 8.0 Bq kg−1, respectively. Both 226Ra and 228Ra were above the world ranges, while 40K was within the world range. Water samples from the facilities effluent’s produced water showed elevated levels of both radium isotopes. The effective doses at three different points on the separator outer surfaces over the period between 1995 and 2014 were assessed. The maximum reading was 5.4 μSv h−1 on 2014. The time has significantly contributed to the enhancement of the effective dose readings. However, they are still within the expected range encountered in similar studies reported by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

scholarly journals Oilfield Produced Water Management: Treatment, Reuse and Disposal

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baghdad Science Journal
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Oxygen Depletion ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Produced Waters ◽  
Water Cut ◽  
Basic Features ◽  
Lead Nickel ◽  
Guide Lines

Produced water is accompanied with the production of oil and gas especially at the fields producing by water drive or water injection. The quantity of these waters is expected to be more complicated problem with an increasing in water cut which is expected to be 3-8 barrels water/produced barrel oil.Produced water may contain many constituents based on what is present in the subsurface at a particular location. Produced water contains dissolved solids and hydrocarbons (dissolved and suspended) and oxygen depletion. The most common dissolved solid is salt with concentrations range between a few parts per thousand to hundreds parts per thousand. In addition to salt, many produced waters also contain high levels of heavy metals like zinc, barium, chromium, lead, nickel, uranium, vanadium and low levels of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM).This study will highlight the main aspects of the different international experiences with the produced water treatment for subsequent reuse or disposal. These different treatment methods vary considerably in effectiveness, cost and their environmental impacts. Samples of produced water from Al-Mishrif formation in ten wells belongs to five fields southern Iraq were taken and analyzed chemically to define the basic features of these waters and to have guide lines for the best strategy that required handling the increased water cut in these fields.

Removing scale-forming cations from produced waters

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Shafer-Peltier ◽  
Colton Kenner ◽  
Eric Albertson ◽  
Ming Chen ◽  
Stephen Randtke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Production Water ◽  
Produced Waters

The formation of precipitates (scales) during reinjection limits the reuse of oil and gas production water (produced water) for additional oil recovery.

Prospects for the Use of Physico-Chemical and Mathematical Modeling for the Development of Highly Efficient Integrated Technology for the Treatment and Preparation of Produced Waters

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
O.V. Savenok ◽  
L.V. Povarova ◽  
D.A. Berezovsky
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Gas Field ◽  
Field Development ◽  
Oil And Gas Fields ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Oil And Gas Field ◽  
Produced Waters

A detailed analysis of the existing methods of cleaning and preparation of produced waters of oil and gas fields has been carried out and the most high-tech methods have been considered in detail. The prospects for the use of produced water as a technological reserve for increasing the efficiency of oil and gas field development are shown. It is noted that the methods of physico-chemical and mathematical modeling can be effectively used to improve the electromembrane technologies. At the same time, many theoretical questions require further, deeper study.

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