Treatment of produced water from an oilfield and selected coal mines in the Illinois Basin

Abstract

Please cite this article in press as: Dastgheib, S.A., et al., Treatment of produced water from an oilfield and selected coal mines in the Illinois Basin. Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control (2016), http://dx. a b s t r a c tIf large-scale CO 2 sequestration operations are implemented in oilfields or coal mines, large volumes of water (i.e., produced water) could potentially be generated that would need to be properly managed. In this work, produced water samples with total dissolved solids (TDS) values of 18,000-102,000 mg/L (ppm) were collected from an oilfield, a coal-bed methane field, and a coal mine in the Illinois Basin of the United States and were treated by selected conventional pretreatment processes followed by a reverse osmosis desalination process. Pretreatment processes included coagulation by lime, ferric chloride, or aluminum sulfate; filtration by sand, walnut shells, anthracite coal, or microfiltration; and adsorption by organoclay, activated carbon, or ion-exchange resins. Selected pretreatment processes were sufficient for removing most of the contaminants, but the high sodium background of the high-TDS produced water (102,000 ppm) limited the effectiveness of the ion-exchange pretreatment in removing scale-forming species. Reverse osmosis was a practical process for desalination of pretreated produced water samples tested (by reducing the TDS more than 96%) except for the high-TDS produced water. Reported benchscale produced water treatment data might be beneficial for the design and operation of pilot-scale plants for treating produced waters with similar properties.

Treatment of Produced Water in the Permian Basin for Hydraulic Fracturing: Comparison of Different Coagulation Processes and Innovative Filter Media

“…For the removal of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), anthracite coal, walnut, and sand removed 70%, 60%, and 45% respectively after 15 h of operation. These experiments proved the effectiveness of filtration for saline produced water with a TDS concentration of 100,000 mg/L [15]. Zhang et al also utilized walnut shell in a packed-bed arrangement to filter produced water as a pretreatment prior to membrane distillation [29].…”

“…Wang et al showed that flocculation of oilfield produced water using some of the most common coagulant agents was effective for trapping and removing suspended solids [14]. Dastgheib et al combined two coagulants in different proportions to remove suspended solids in produced water with TDS values around 100,000 mg/L [15]. High turbidity removal was achieved by combinations of coagulants such as high alum-low lime, moderate alum-high lime, and moderate ferric chloride-low lime.…”

“…High turbidity removal was achieved by combinations of coagulants such as high alum-low lime, moderate alum-high lime, and moderate ferric chloride-low lime. When these chemicals were combined, pH was not impacted drastically [15]. Younker and Walsh reported a coagulation pretreatment employing ferric chloride reduced oil and grease concentration of produced water from 100 mg/L to below 30 mg/L [16].…”

“…A variety of media have been employed for produced water filtration to remove organic matter and suspended solids. Dastgheib et al [15] employed sand, anthracite coal, and walnut shell to filter oilfield produced water. They found that the media with the greatest capacity to remove suspended particles was sand, while the best to remove oil droplets was anthracite coal.…”

Nanoparticles of zirconium hydrophosphate framed with a weakly-acidic cation-exchange polymer

“…Its ion exchange capability is provided by -COOH groups. This resin is used successfully for water purification [32]. Following characteristics are given by the company: total volume capacity -3.8 mmol cm -3 (H + →Na + ), swelling of ion-exchanger bed -70 %.…”