scholarly journals Innovative Optical-Sensing Technology for the Online Fouling Characterization of Silicon Carbide Membranes during the Treatment of Oily Water

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1161
Author(s):  
Mehrdad Ebrahimi ◽  
Axel A. Schmidt ◽  
Cagatay Kaplan ◽  
Oliver Schmitz ◽  
Peter Czermak

The oil and gas industry generates a large volume of contaminated water (produced water) which must be processed to recover oil before discharge. Here, we evaluated the performance and fouling behavior of commercial ceramic silicon carbide membranes in the treatment of oily wastewaters. In this context, microfiltration and ultrafiltration ceramic membranes were used for the separation of oil during the treatment of tank dewatering produced water and oily model solutions, respectively. We also tested a new online oil-in-water sensor (OMD-32) based on the principle of light scattering for the continuous measurement of oil concentrations in order to optimize the main filtration process parameters that determine membrane performance: the transmembrane pressure and cross-flow velocity. Using the OMD-32 sensor, the oil content of the feed, concentrate and permeate streams was measured continuously and fell within the range 0.0–200 parts per million (ppm) with a resolution of 1.0 ppm. The ceramic membranes achieved an oil-recovery efficiency of up to 98% with less than 1.0 ppm residual oil in the permeate stream, meeting environmental regulations for discharge in most areas.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-474
Author(s):  
Matan Beery ◽  
Christian Pflieger ◽  
Marcus Weyd

Abstract The federal research project, PAkmem, deals with the recycling of industrial wastewater. The aim of the project is to develop and pilot an innovative integrative process for produced water treatment in the oil and gas industry utilizing flotation and ceramic micro-nano-membrane filtrations (MF-NF membranes) as well as the wastewater treatment of the ceramic industry with ceramic NF-membranes and electrodialysis (ED). The process utilized should remove fine particles, organic matter and divalent ions in order to make the water dischargeable or reusable (direct disposal or reuse as process water in the ceramic industry and the enhanced oil recovery reinjection in the oil and gas industry in which the water is conditioned in order to increase the oil production yield). Three pilot plants were designed and built according to strict safety standards and were operated on industrial manufacturing sites in Germany in 2019. Two innovative optical fine particle measuring techniques (inline and online) have been specially adapted for the project and integrated into the pilot plants. The results show promising technical potential for the use of ceramic membranes in the above-mentioned applications.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abiola Oyatobo ◽  
Amalachukwu Muoghalu ◽  
Chinaza Ikeokwu ◽  
Wilson Ekpotu

Abstract Ineffective methods of increasing oil recovery have been one of the challenges, whose solutions are constantly sought after in the oil and gas industry as the number of under-produced reservoirs increases daily. Water injection is the most extended technology to increase oil recovery, although excessive water production can pose huge damage ranging from the loss of the well to an increase in cost and capital investment requirement of surface facilities to handle the produced water. To mitigate these challenges and encourage the utilization of local contents, locally produced polymers were used in polymer flooding as an Enhanced Oil Recovery approach to increase the viscosity of the injected fluids for better profile control and reduce cost when compared with foreign polymers as floppan. Hence this experimental research was geared towards increasing the efficiency of oil displacement in sandstone reservoirs using locally sourced polymers in Nigeria and also compared the various polymers for optimum efficiency. Starch, Ewedu, and Gum Arabic were used in flooding an already obtained core samples and comparative analysis of this shows that starch yielded the highest recovery due to higher viscosity value as compared to Ewedu with the lowest mobility ratio to Gum Arabic. Finally, the concentration of Starch or Gum Arabic should be increased for optimum recovery.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 60-61
Author(s):  
Judy Feder

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Judy Feder, contains highlights of paper SPE 199498, “Reuse of Produced Water in the Oil and Gas Industry,” by Madeleine Gray, International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association, prepared for the 2020 SPE International Conference and Exhibition on Health, Safety, Environment, and Sustainability, originally scheduled to be held in Bogota, Colombia, 28-30 July. The paper has not been peer reviewed. The onshore oil and gas industry investigates new and improved ways to manage the supply and disposal of produced water continually. Within oil and gas operations, produced water increasingly is being recycled and reused for enhanced oil recovery, drilling, and well stimulation. The growing global demand for water resources also is creating interest in reusing produced water outside oil and gas operations. The complete paper focuses on sources of produced water from conventional and unconventional onshore oil and gas operations and addresses the challenges and opportunities associated with reusing the produced water. Introduction Produced water is water that is brought to surface during oil and natural-gas production. It includes formation, flowback, and condensation water. Produced water varies in composition and volume from one formation to another and is often managed as a waste material requiring disposal. In recent years, increased demand for, and regional variability of, available water resources, along with sustainable water-supply planning, have driven interest in reusing produced water with or without treatment to meet requirements within the industry or by external users. Reuse of produced water can provide important economic, social, and environmental benefits, particularly in water-scarce regions. It can be used for hydraulic fracturing, waterflooding, and enhanced oil recovery, decreasing the demand for other sources of water. However, reuse for offsite, non-oilfield applications such as crop irrigation, wildlife and livestock consumption, industrial processes, and power generation, is subject to a variety of constraints and risks. Practical considerations for offsite reuse include supply and demand and regulatory, infrastructural, economic, legal, social, and environmental factors. Sources, Chemical Properties, and Management of Produced Water The information contained in the paper is based on an internal survey conducted by the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) of 14 of its member companies, interviews with selected external stakeholders covering a range of sectors and geographic regions, and a literature review of readily available information. The external stakeholders were identified from the membership survey as well as from IPIECA and consultant experience. Sources and Volumes. Onshore oil and gas operations generate millions of barrels of produced water each day world-wide. The composition and flow of produced water can differ dramatically from one source to another.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1183
Author(s):  
Ashiqur Rahman ◽  
Shanglei Pan ◽  
Cymone Houston ◽  
Thinesh Selvaratnam

Produced water (PW) is the largest waste stream generated by the oil and gas industry. Traditional treatment of PW burdens the industry with significant expenses and environmental issues. Alternatively, microalgal-based bioremediation of PW is often viewed as an ecologically safe and sustainable platform for treating PW. Moreover, the nutrients in PW could support algal growth. However, significant dilution of PW is often required in algal-based systems due to the presence of complex chemical contaminants. In light of these facts, the current work has investigated the potential of cultivating Galdieria sulphuraria and Chlorella vulgaris in PW using multiple dilutions; 0% PW, 5% PW, 10% PW, 20% PW, 50% PW and 100% PW. While both algal strains can grow in PW, the current results indicated that G. sulphuraria has a higher potential of growth in up to 50% PW (total dissolved solids of up to 55 g L−1) with a growth rate of 0.72 ± 0.05 g L−1 d−1 and can achieve a final biomass density of 4.28 ± 0.16 g L−1 in seven days without the need for additional micronutrients. Additionally, the algae showed the potential of removing 99.6 ± 0.2% nitrogen and 74.2 ± 8.5% phosphorus from the PW.


Modelling ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-239
Author(s):  
Saeed P. Langarudi ◽  
Robert P. Sabie ◽  
Babak Bahaddin ◽  
Alexander G. Fernald

This paper explores the possibility and plausibility of developing a hybrid simulation method combining agent-based (AB) and system dynamics (SD) modeling to address the case study of produced water management (PWM). In southeastern New Mexico, the oil and gas industry generates large volumes of produced water, while at the same time, freshwater resources are scarce. Single-method models are unable to capture the dynamic impacts of PWM on the water budget at both the local and regional levels, hence the need for a more complex hybrid approach. We used the literature, information characterizing produced water in New Mexico, and our preliminary interviews with subject matter experts to develop this framework. We then conducted a systematic literature review to summarize state-of-the-art of hybrid modeling methodologies and techniques. Our research revealed that there is a small but growing volume of hybrid modeling research that could provide some foundational support for modelers interested in hybrid modeling approaches for complex natural resource management issues. We categorized these efforts into four classes based on their approaches to hybrid modeling. It appears that, among these classes, PWM requires the most sophisticated approach, indicating that PWM modelers will need to face serious challenges and break new ground in this realm.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1950
Author(s):  
Monika Gajec ◽  
Ewa Kukulska-Zając ◽  
Anna Król

Significant amounts of produced water, spent drilling fluid, and drill cuttings, which differ in composition and characteristics in each drilling operation, are generated in the oil and gas industry. Moreover, the oil and gas industry faces many technological development challenges to guarantee a safe and clean environment and to meet strict environmental standards in the field of processing and disposal of drilling waste. Due to increasing application of nanomaterials in the oil and gas industry, drilling wastes may also contain nanometer-scale materials. It is therefore necessary to characterize drilling waste in terms of nanomaterial content and to optimize effective methods for their determination, including a key separation step. The purpose of this study is to select the appropriate method of separation and pre-concentration of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from drilling wastewater samples and to determine their size distribution along with the state of aggregation using single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS). Two AgNP separation methods were compared: centrifugation and cloud point extraction. The first known use of spICP-MS for drilling waste matrices following mentioned separation methods is presented.


Author(s):  
Dhyanjyoti Deka ◽  
Paul R. Hays ◽  
Kamaldev Raghavan ◽  
Mike Campbell

VIVA is a vortex induced vibration (VIV) analysis software that to date has not been widely used as a design tool in the offshore oil and gas industry. VIVA employs a hydrodynamic database that has been benchmarked and calibrated against test data [1]. It offers relatively few input variables reducing the risk of user induced variability of results [2]. In addition to cross flow current induced standing wave vibration, VIVA has the capability of predicting traveling waves on a subsea riser, or a combination of standing and traveling waves. Riser boundary conditions including fixed, pinned, flex joint or SCR seabed interaction can be modeled using springs and dashpots. VIVA calculates riser natural frequencies and mode shapes and also has the flexibility to import external modal solutions. In this paper, the applicability of VIVA for the design of straked steel catenary risers (SCR) and top tensioned risers (TTR) is explored. The use of linear and rotational springs provided by VIVA to model SCR soil interaction and flex joint articulation is evaluated. Comparisons of the VIV fatigue damage output with internal and external modal solution is presented in this paper. This paper includes validation of the VIVA generated modal solution by comparing the modal frequencies and curvatures against a finite element (FE) model of the risers. Fatigue life is calculated using long term Gulf of Mexico (GoM) currents and is compared against the industry standard software SHEAR7. Three different lift curve selections in SHEAR7 are used for this comparison. The differences in riser response prediction by the two software tools are discussed in detail. The sensitivity of the VIVA predicted riser response to the absence of VIV suppression devices is presented in this paper. The riser VIV response with and without external FE generated modal input is compared and the relative merits of the two modeling approaches are discussed. Finally, the recommended approach for VIVA usage for SCR and TTR design is given.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (01) ◽  
pp. 12-13
Author(s):  
Manas Pathak ◽  
Tonya Cosby ◽  
Robert K. Perrons

Artificial intelligence (AI) has captivated the imagination of science-fiction movie audiences for many years and has been used in the upstream oil and gas industry for more than a decade (Mohaghegh 2005, 2011). But few industries evolve more quickly than those from Silicon Valley, and it accordingly follows that the technology has grown and changed considerably since this discussion began. The oil and gas industry, therefore, is at a point where it would be prudent to take stock of what has been achieved with AI in the sector, to provide a sober assessment of what has delivered value and what has not among the myriad implementations made so far, and to figure out how best to leverage this technology in the future in light of these learnings. When one looks at the long arc of AI in the oil and gas industry, a few important truths emerge. First among these is the fact that not all AI is the same. There is a spectrum of technological sophistication. Hollywood and the media have always been fascinated by the idea of artificial superintelligence and general intelligence systems capable of mimicking the actions and behaviors of real people. Those kinds of systems would have the ability to learn, perceive, understand, and function in human-like ways (Joshi 2019). As alluring as these types of AI are, however, they bear little resemblance to what actually has been delivered to the upstream industry. Instead, we mostly have seen much less ambitious “narrow AI” applications that very capably handle a specific task, such as quickly digesting thousands of pages of historical reports (Kimbleton and Matson 2018), detecting potential failures in progressive cavity pumps (Jacobs 2018), predicting oil and gas exports (Windarto et al. 2017), offering improvements for reservoir models (Mohaghegh 2011), or estimating oil-recovery factors (Mahmoud et al. 2019). But let’s face it: As impressive and commendable as these applications have been, they fall far short of the ambitious vision of highly autonomous systems that are capable of thinking about things outside of the narrow range of tasks explicitly handed to them. What is more, many of these narrow AI applications have tended to be modified versions of fairly generic solutions that were originally designed for other industries and that were then usefully extended to the oil and gas industry with a modest amount of tailoring. In other words, relatively little AI has been occurring in a way that had the oil and gas sector in mind from the outset. The second important truth is that human judgment still matters. What some technology vendors have referred to as “augmented intelligence” (Kimbleton and Matson 2018), whereby AI supplements human judgment rather than sup-plants it, is not merely an alternative way of approaching AI; rather, it is coming into focus that this is probably the most sensible way forward for this technology.


Author(s):  
L.S. Leontieva ◽  
◽  
E.B. Makarova ◽  

The oil and gas sector of the economy in many states remains the main source of foreign exchange and tax revenues to the budget. Moreover, its share, for example, in Russia, accounts for about 12 % of all industrial production. However, this sector, as the practice of world oil prices shows, is experiencing not only a rise, but also a decline. Consequently, the problem of forming a balanced portfolio of oil and gas assets is an object of close attention on the part of national oil and gas companies. The issues of choosing the optimal combination of oil and gas assets in the portfolio are no less urgent, especially among the tasks that all oil and gas companies face, both in Russia and abroad. An investment portfolio or a portfolio of oil and gas assets, which includes new projects for the commissioning of fields, as well as measures to enhance oil recovery, and exploration are objects of real investment. The high volatility of the oil and gas industry is influenced by various factors, including: macroeconomic, innovation risks and a number of others. These circumstances stimulate the sector to increase the resilience of its project portfolios in order to respond flexibly to changes. In an increasingly challenging and uncertain environment, oil and gas companies around the world face constant pressures as difficult strategic decisions and building long-term plans lead to a sustainable portfolio. In order to achieve their goals and maximize profitability, companies should apply certain algorithms in their practice. The article substantiates the role and importance of project portfolio management in achieving the goals of the state and companies in the oil and gas sector. The main goal of the article is to build an algorithm that is aimed both at determining the stability of the portfolio and the ability to flexibly respond to changes in the environment. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the determination of an algorithm for assessing the sustainability of a portfolio of projects of oil and gas companies. Application of this algorithm will allow oil and gas companies to take into account the influence of external factors. The research methodology is based on such methods as analysis of internal regulations and reporting of companies for project portfolio management, risk analysis, project ranking; grouping and classification method.


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