Initial recognition of the possibilities of use abandoned oil and gas wells to desalinate produced water

Abstract

Diminishing water resources, population growth and utilization energy intense processes for drinking water production lead to seek new methods of water acquisition. Desalination of seawater or/and geothermal water and also water acquisition with the utilization of abandoned oil and gas wells potentially represents promising new production method of freshwater streams. Abandoned oil and gas wells potentially can be a source of geothermal heat which can be used as a heat source for water desalination. In many countries, among others in Poland area, there are hundreds, and even thousands of abandoned exploration, research or oil/gas wells which can be adapted for other purposes, including water desalination. The aim of this paper is to conduct preliminary recognition of current world knowledge on the possibility of using abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal purposes, including desalination of produced waters (also for drinking purposes) based on selected examples (Iran and USA). This technique is environmental-friendly and provides enough amount of energy for high-energy desalination processes (e.g. reverse osmosis), along with reducing gas emissions and consumption of conventional fuels. Based on world experience, a comprehensive assessment of the possibility of using abandoned wells for geothermal purposes in Poland should be carried out.

Prospects of Using Hydrocarbon Deposits from the Autochthonous Miocene Formation (Eastern Carpathian Foredeep, Poland) for Geothermal Purposes

“…The analyzed area of Carpathian Foredeep is well endowed with boreholes (abandoned or still operating, Figure 2), which translates into high possibility in terms of their potential reconstruction (although this depends directly on the technical condition of the hole and requires a pre-analysis/test) and destination for geothermal purposes. Theoretically, many of them could be suitable for the exploitation and injection of water after performing appropriate reconstruction operations [13,50] or for the implementation of different geothermal technology [28,35]. This is also a big advantage because, in the case of any geothermal investment, the drilling stage is the largest financial burden (even up to 80% [19])-the deeper the borehole is, the more expensive the projected investment.…”