Abstract
Produced water is the largest waste stream associated with oil and gas production. It has a complex matrix composed of native constituents from geologic formation, chemical additives from fracturing fluids, and ubiquitous bacteria. Characterization of produced water is critical to monitor field operation, control processes, evaluate appropriate management practices and treatment effectiveness, and assess potential risks to public health and environment during the use of treated water. There is a limited understanding of produced water composition due to the inherent complexity and lack of reliable and standardized analytical methods. A comprehensive description of current analytical techniques for produced water characterization, including both standard and research methods, is discussed in this review. Multi-tiered analytical procedures are proposed, including field sampling; sample preservation; pretreatment techniques; basic water quality measurements; organic, inorganic, and radioactive materials analysis; and biological characterization. The challenges, knowledge gaps, and research needs for developing advanced analytical methods for produced water characterization, including target and nontarget analyses of unknown chemicals, are discussed.
Highlights
In 2020, the United States became a net energy exporter and will remain so until 2050, according to the U.S Energy Information Administration [1]
hydraulic fracturing (HF) uses a large volume of water to extract oil and gas (O&G) from an “unconventional play”, which refers to the low permeable unconventional shale that cannot be explored and produced by conventional processes relying on the natural pressure of the wells and pumping operation [3,4]
The amount of produced water (PW) generated per year keeps increasing with unconventional O&G development (UD), which produced more than 50% of crude oil and natural gas in 2019 [1]
Summary
Characterization of Produced Water. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// 4.0/).
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