Treatment of Produced Water Using Microalgae

Abstract

Produced water is one of the key attractions in the oil fields, where formation water rises to the surface along with the crude oil and is then separated to prevent many problems that may arise during transportation. Nevertheless, the created water is occasionally injected into a man-made lake inside the fields. The sands, creatures, vegetation, and formation water are all contaminated by the lake's water. Because produced water contains minerals and inorganic salts, effective treatment of this water is crucial. This study was conducted to examine how treating produced water with organic elements like freshwater algae affected the amount of salts in the formation water. Two types of freshwater algae namely: Oedogonium algae , Zygnema algae, were used.
 Electrical Conductivity (E.C), pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), and salinity were measured before and after the treatment at different times intervals ( on day one, the fourth day, and the seventh day). The results showed that Oedogonium algae have positive effects on the first day, whereas TDS decreased from 5364 mg/l to 1381 mg/l, pH changed from 7.13 to 8.7, E.C decreased from 10.95 ms/cm to 2.818 ms/cm, and salinity decreased from 6.2 ppt to 1.6 ppt. The treated produced water was used for irrigation of plants and as a drinking water for animals without any detrimental effects.