Beyond treatment technology: Understanding motivations and barriers for wastewater treatment and reuse in unconventional energy production

Robbins, Cristian A.; Du, Xuewei; Bradley, Thomas H.; Quinn, Jason C.; Bandhauer, Todd M.; Conrad, Steve; Carlson, Kenneth; Tong, Tiezheng

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.106011

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…These include regulation, economic feasibility, treatment technology, and social acceptance. 30 While the technical aspects of water reuse could be improved and resolved, social acceptance poses the greatest challenge 31 and . 32 Several studies have explored the public‘s perception of recycled water.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public perception of oilfield produced water: The case of California's Central Valley

Sarma

Michieka

2022

Energy & Environment

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Oilfield Produced Water (OPW) has been identified as a viable solution to mitigate water scarcity in California‘s Central Valley. However, consumer perception on the use of OPW outside of the oil and gas industry remains unknown and poses a hurdle for large-scale adoption. This paper, based on 134 randomly selected residents of Kern County (California‘s largest oil-producing county and top agricultural region), examined attitudes towards OPW reuse. In the survey, more than half (52.3%) of participants said that they have heard about oilfield-produced water and other reclaimed waters. Findings also suggest that participants mostly preferred rain and stormwater, and interestingly scored OPW higher than industrial and black waters for irrigation purposes. Around 67% of the participants supported the use of oilfield-produced water for irrigating crops. Younger people (18–29 years) expressed greater concern about using OPW compared to the older residents. Given the drought conditions in Central Valley, policymakers might need to focus on a circular economy and mandate the use of OPW in Central Valley considering that this region‘s economy lies at the nexus of the O&G and agriculture industries.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public perception of oilfield produced water: The case of California's Central Valley

Sarma

Michieka

2022

Energy & Environment

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“…Deep-well injection is the current business-as-usual strategy of produced water management due to its maturity. 12 However, the cost of deep-well injection increases with the distance for the transport of produced water, 11 especially when the storage capacities of nearby wells are reached. Further, the disadvantages of deep-well injection, such as induced seismicity, restrained access to disposal wells, and the potential risk of contaminating groundwater resources, cast doubt on its reliability and sustainability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis for the Treatment of Oil-Field Produced Water Intended for Beneficial Reuse

et al. 2023

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Treatment and reuse of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) produced water are important strategies that address the dual challenges of water scarcity and pollution posed by UOG production. Considering the high salinity and complex chemistry of UOG produced water, it is important to comprehensively analyze the water quality and potential ecological risk of treated produced water for reuse applications. In this study, we evaluated and compared the efficacy of pretreatment followed by nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) using membranes of varied permselectivity in treating produced water from the Niobrara Shale play in Colorado. We determined the efficacy of each technology in removing inorganic and organic constituents as well as reducing toxicity on Daphnia magna. Our results show that the pretreatment step resulted in a minor reduction of chemical constituents and toxicity and that the NF permeates did not meet the water quality criteria for irrigation and livestock drinking water. Despite high removal rates for most contaminants in the produced water by RO, the concentrations of chloride and boron as well as the sodium adsorption rate (SAR) in the RO permeates exceeded irrigation guidelines. We observed the passage of surfactants with molecular weights much higher than the molecular weight cutoff of NF and RO membranes, suggesting that membranes are not an absolute barrier to organic contaminants. Our results demonstrate that thorough chemical and toxicological analyses are needed to understand the feasibility and potential risk of treating UOG produced water for beneficial reuse.

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“…Surface spills of UOG-derived fluids, including hydraulic fracturing fluids and produced waters, have been identified as the most likely pathway for drinking water contamination. − Produced water, which is continuously generated throughout UOG well production, is of particular concern given the current challenges for its proper treatment, reuse, or disposal . Previous analyses of these wastewaters have revealed the presence of contaminants with known detrimental effects on human health, including carcinogenicity, endocrine-disrupting activity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity. , …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10−14 Produced water, which is continuously generated throughout UOG well production, is of particular concern given the current challenges for its proper treatment, reuse, or disposal. 15 Previous analyses of these wastewaters have revealed the presence of contaminants with known detrimental effects on human health, including carcinogenicity, endocrine-disrupting activity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity. 16,17 Groundwater contamination by UOG spills has been assessed with fate and transport models assuming the source location and properties of the spilled material can be specified.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Scale Assessment of Shallow Groundwater Vulnerability to Contamination from Unconventional Hydrocarbon Extraction

Soriano

Deziel

Saiers

2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Concerns over unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development persist, especially in rural communities that rely on shallow groundwater for drinking and other domestic purposes. Given the continued expansion of the industry, regional (vs local scale) models are needed to characterize groundwater contamination risks faced by the increasing proportion of the population residing in areas that accommodate UOG extraction. In this paper, we evaluate groundwater vulnerability to contamination from surface spills and shallow subsurface leakage of UOG wells within a 104,000 km2 region in the Appalachian Basin, northeastern USA. We test a computationally efficient ensemble approach for simulating groundwater flow and contaminant transport processes to quantify vulnerability with high resolution. We also examine metamodels, or machine learning models trained to emulate physically based models, and investigate their spatial transferability. We identify predictors describing proximity to UOG, hydrology, and topography that are important for metamodels to make accurate vulnerability predictions outside their training regions. Using our approach, we estimate that 21,000–30,000 individuals in our study area are dependent on domestic water wells that are vulnerable to contamination from UOG activities. Our novel modeling framework could be used to guide groundwater monitoring, provide information for public health studies, and assess environmental justice issues.

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Beyond treatment technology: Understanding motivations and barriers for wastewater treatment and reuse in unconventional energy production

Cited by 18 publications

References 82 publications

Public perception of oilfield produced water: The case of California's Central Valley

Public perception of oilfield produced water: The case of California's Central Valley

Efficacy of Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis for the Treatment of Oil-Field Produced Water Intended for Beneficial Reuse

Regional Scale Assessment of Shallow Groundwater Vulnerability to Contamination from Unconventional Hydrocarbon Extraction

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