Removal of organic contaminants from flowback water using Fenton process

Abstract

Shale gas exploration requires large amount of water along with the additives for hydraulic fracturing to facilitate the extraction of natural gas. This water contains significant amount of inorganic and organic pollutants and needs to be treated before disposal. Advanced oxidation process (AOP) like Fenton can be used for removal of organics from the flowback water. In this study, Fenton process was applied to treat real life flowback water (after pretreatment) to investigate its efficacy to degrade the organics. The effects of various parameters like initial solution pH, the dose of Fenton reagents were investigated in detail. A detailed kinetic model was developed by considering various reactions involved in the process. The set of model equations were solved numerically and unknown rate constants were evaluated by optimization of degradation profile of the organics. The pH profile was also accurately predicted during the reaction. The model can be of help to design engineers to upscale such system.