Measurement of oilfield chemical residues in produced water discharges and marine sediments

Abstract

During oil production, significant quantities of water are produced with the crude oil which, following treatment on the platform, are discharged to the marine environment. This produced water contains residues of oilfield chemicals added by the platform operators to the topside processing equipment to aid oil‐water separation and mitigate operational problems. The levels of oilfield chemicals entering the marine environment via this route were investigated using electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS/MS) and wet chemical analysis techniques. The generic nature of different chemical types was shown by ESI‐MS/MS. Studies of the partitioning behaviour of corrosion inhibitors and demulsifiers between the oil and water phases of the produced fluids suggested corrosion inhibitors partitioned primarily into the aqueous phase and demulsifiers into the oil phase. This was reflected in levels observed in produced water although, in the case of a corrosion inhibitor, lower than expected concentrations were measured. Scale inhibitors were discharged with the produced water at their dosing concentrations. Marine sediments in the proximity of two North Sea oil platforms contained low levels of benzalkonium quaternary ammonium salts (0.74–10.84 ng/g), typical corrosion inhibitor chemicals. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Review of technologies for oil and gas produced water treatment

“…However, some production chemicals can increase partitioning of oil compounds into the aqueous phase at high concentrations [29]. Treatment chemicals can precipitate and accumulate in marine sediments [30].…”

Quaternary ammonium compounds in soil: implications for antibiotic resistance development

“…Total QAAC concentrations in sediments can only be estimated, as data are compiled from studies of different authors, methods and QAAC homologues detected (Gerike et al 1994;Fernández et al 1996;Grigson et al 2000; Alexandre et al 2016). The data we report do not represent results from systematic screening, and standard methods do not exist.…”

Engineering Surface Functional Groups on Silica Aerogel for Enhanced Cleanup of Organics from Produced Water

“…Fatty acids that have been reported in produced water range from C 1 to C 9 , and reported concentrations are also shown in Table 1. Although there are methods for measuring production additives, [8][9][10][11] little data is available about specific compounds and concentrations of corrosion and scale inhibitors, demulsifiers and defoamers, and biocides in produced water. Thus, engineering treatment methods to remove these components can only be done in collaboration with industrial partners.…”