Abstract
Produced water represents the largest wastewater stream from oil and gas production. Generally, its high salinity level restricts the treatment options. Membrane crystallization (MCr) is an emerging membrane process with the capability to extract simultaneously fresh water and valuable components from various streams. In the current study, the potential of MCr for produced water treatment and salt recovery was demonstrated. The experiments were carried out in lab scale and semi-pilot scale. The effect of thermal and hydrodynamic conditions on process performance and crystal characteristics were explored. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses confirmed that the recovered crystals are sodium chloride with very high purity (>99.9%), also indicated by the cubic structure observed by microscopy and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) analysis. It was demonstrated experimentally that at recovery factor of 37%, 16.4 kg NaCl per cubic meter of produced water can be recovered. Anti-scaling surface morphological features of membranes were also identified. In general, the study provides a new perspective of isolation of valuable constituents from produced water that, otherwise, is considered as a nuisance.
Highlights
Increasing demand of oil and gas has been observed despite the emphasis on using alternative energy resources
The decrease in flux with experimental time in both cases can be attributed mainly to increase in solution concentration that decreases the vapor pressure of solution as evident from Equation (14). It can be noticed from the figure that flux for PP membrane increases from
Trans-membrane flux of the system was simulated by using existing heat transfer and vapor pressure depreciation correlations
Summary
Increasing demand of oil and gas has been observed despite the emphasis on using alternative energy resources. High concentrations of different metals present in produced water pose serious environmental threats, and, in certain cases, proper management of produced water governs the decision of further oil and gas recovery from a reservoir. A proper treatment of produced water can solve the environmental concerns and can be beneficial in bridging the gap between demand and availability of freshwater in water scarcity regions where generally oil and gas reservoirs are located. New stringent environmental regulations put emphasis on more effective treatments, underlying the importance of adopting more efficient treatment options. Due to these reasons, recently membrane based treatments have been tried widely for produced water treatment [5,6,7,8,9,10]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
