scholarly journals Oilfield Produced Water Management: Treatment, Reuse and Disposal

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baghdad Science Journal

Produced water is accompanied with the production of oil and gas especially at the fields producing by water drive or water injection. The quantity of these waters is expected to be more complicated problem with an increasing in water cut which is expected to be 3-8 barrels water/produced barrel oil.Produced water may contain many constituents based on what is present in the subsurface at a particular location. Produced water contains dissolved solids and hydrocarbons (dissolved and suspended) and oxygen depletion. The most common dissolved solid is salt with concentrations range between a few parts per thousand to hundreds parts per thousand. In addition to salt, many produced waters also contain high levels of heavy metals like zinc, barium, chromium, lead, nickel, uranium, vanadium and low levels of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM).This study will highlight the main aspects of the different international experiences with the produced water treatment for subsequent reuse or disposal. These different treatment methods vary considerably in effectiveness, cost and their environmental impacts. Samples of produced water from Al-Mishrif formation in ten wells belongs to five fields southern Iraq were taken and analyzed chemically to define the basic features of these waters and to have guide lines for the best strategy that required handling the increased water cut in these fields.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abiola Oyatobo ◽  
Amalachukwu Muoghalu ◽  
Chinaza Ikeokwu ◽  
Wilson Ekpotu

Abstract Ineffective methods of increasing oil recovery have been one of the challenges, whose solutions are constantly sought after in the oil and gas industry as the number of under-produced reservoirs increases daily. Water injection is the most extended technology to increase oil recovery, although excessive water production can pose huge damage ranging from the loss of the well to an increase in cost and capital investment requirement of surface facilities to handle the produced water. To mitigate these challenges and encourage the utilization of local contents, locally produced polymers were used in polymer flooding as an Enhanced Oil Recovery approach to increase the viscosity of the injected fluids for better profile control and reduce cost when compared with foreign polymers as floppan. Hence this experimental research was geared towards increasing the efficiency of oil displacement in sandstone reservoirs using locally sourced polymers in Nigeria and also compared the various polymers for optimum efficiency. Starch, Ewedu, and Gum Arabic were used in flooding an already obtained core samples and comparative analysis of this shows that starch yielded the highest recovery due to higher viscosity value as compared to Ewedu with the lowest mobility ratio to Gum Arabic. Finally, the concentration of Starch or Gum Arabic should be increased for optimum recovery.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Ricceri ◽  
Mattia Giagnorio ◽  
Giulio Farinelli ◽  
Giulia Blandini ◽  
Marco Minella ◽  
...  

Abstract The treatment of produced waters (by-products of oil and gas extraction) with the innovative process of membrane distillation is challenging, because these highly saline streams contain high concentrations of organic compounds and hydrocarbons that cause membrane wetting and impairment of performance. To design the most compact treatment scheme and with the aim of obtaining an easier management of produced water for reuse purposes, Fenton oxidation is here investigated as a feed pre-treatment that may produce an effluent easily handled by membrane distillation. In high-recovery membrane distillation tests, we systematically investigate the detrimental effects of individual contaminants in a synthetic produced water mimicking the composition of a real sample. The recovery rate depends strongly on the initial salinity, which eventually causes scaling and pore blocking. Surfactants are found to be mainly responsible for membrane wetting, but volatile and hydrophobic organics also spoil the quality of the product water. A Fenton oxidation pre-treatment is thus performed to degrade the target organics, with the aim of enhancing the effectiveness of the following membrane distillation and to improve the quality of the final product. The combined oxidation-membrane distillation scheme has both advantages and limitations, which need to be carefully evaluated and further investigated.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (01) ◽  
pp. 11-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.. Buciak ◽  
G.. Fondevila Sancet ◽  
L.. Del Pozo

Summary This paper deals with the learning curve of a five-plus-year polymer-flooding pilot conducted in a mature waterflood that includes, for example, several works related to injector and producer wells and reservoir management. The scope of this paper is to describe the learning curve during the last 5 years rather than the reservoir response of the polymer-flooding technique; focus is on the aspects related to reduce cost per incremental barrel of oil for a possible extension to other waterflooded areas of the field. Diadema oil field is in the San Jorge Gulf basin in the southern portion of Argentina. The field is operated by CAPSA, an Argentinean oil-producer company; it has 480 producer and 270 injector wells (interwell spacing is 250 m on average). The company has developed waterflooding over more than 18 years (today, this technique represents 82% of oil production in the field) and produces approximately 1600 m3/d of oil and 40 000 m3/d of gross production (96% water cut) with 38 400 m3/d of water injection. The reservoir that is polymer-flooded is characterized by high permeability (average of 500 md), high heterogeneity (10 to 5,000 md), high porosity (30%), very stratified sandstone layers (4 to 12 m of net thickness) with poor lateral continuity (fluvial origin), and 20 °API oil (100 cp at reservoir conditions). Diadema's polymer-flooding pilot started in October 2007 on five water injectors (it includes 13 injectors today) with an injected rate of 1000 m3/d (today, 2000 m3/d). Polymer solution is made with produced water (15,000 ppm brine) and 1,500 ppm of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide polymer reaching 15- to 20-cp fluid-injection viscosity. Oil-production rate from the original “central” producers (wells that are aided with 100% of polymer injection) has increased 100% at the same time as average reduction in water cut is approximately 15%. The main aspects presented in this work are depth profile modification with crosslinked gel injected along with polymer, use of “curlers” to regulate injection in multiple wells with one injection pump without shearing the polymer, and an improved technology on producer wells with progressing-cavity pumps to decrease shut-in time and number of pump failures. The plan for the future is to extend this project to other areas with the acquired knowledge and to improve different aspects, such as water quality and optimization of polymer plant operation. These improvements will allow the company to reduce operating costs per incremental barrel of oil.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (07) ◽  
pp. 7-8
Author(s):  
Pam Boschee

Drought conditions rated as “moderate or worse” affected 31 US states as of 8 June, as reported by the US National Integrated Drought Information System. Particularly dry are the West and Upper Midwest regions, relevant to the Permian and Bakken, respectively. While not a record-level drought, attention is turning to the Missouri River in North Dakota where streamflow levels are at low levels for this time of year—about 48% below the seasonal average. About 96% of the water in North Dakota’s rivers and streams flows through it, making it one of the main sources of fresh water for oil and gas production in the Bakken. In the extreme drought, water restrictions could come into play. Throughout the industry, recycling and reuse of frac and produced water have been studied, and where the chemical makeup of the frac or produced water is suitable for optimal and economical treatment, it has been implemented. However, Bakken production is typically associated with 1.0 to 1.5 bbl of produced water per barrel of oil (a water cut of approximately 50%). It is highly saline with total dissolved solids (TDS) ranging up to 350,000 mg/L (seawater is about 35,000, or 10 times less salty than Bakken brine). Treatment options for such high TDS levels are limited and often cost-prohibitive. The Bakken’s produced water volumes increased fourfold since 2008 to about 740 million bbl per year due to increasing volumes per well and increasing water cut. Produced water disposal volumes in the same period increased fivefold to about 680 million bbl per year. More than 95% of saltwater disposal (SWD) targets the Inyan Kara Formation, the lowermost sandstone interval of the Dakota Group. The increase in SWD volumes has resulted in localized areas of high pressure in the formation in geographic regions associated with high levels of oil and gas activity. This increased pressure affects the economics and risk associated with the drilling of new wells that now require additional intermediate casing strings (“Dakota Strings”), adding a cost of $300,000 to $700,000 per well. About 200 wells to date have been identified with additional casing strings, according to the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC). Faced with the challenges of high salinity in recycling/reuse of produced water, constraints on SWD injection, freshwater limitations, pressure regulation, and inflated drilling costs, a 2-year project was begun in January 2020 which may hold promise for greater use of the produced water. Participants in the $1.3-million project are EERC, Nuverra Environmental Solutions, and the US Department of Energy.


2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan Adams ◽  
Ian Campbell ◽  
Peter K. J. Robertson

Hydrocarbons contamination of the marine environment generated by the offshore oil and gas industry is generated from a number of sources including oil contaminated drill cuttings and produced waters. The removal of hydrocarbons from both these sources is one of the most significant challenges facing this sector as it moves towards zero emissions. The application of a number of techniques which have been used to successfully destroy hydrocarbons in produced water and waste water effluents has previously been reported. This paper reports the application of semiconductor photocatalysis as a final polishing step for the removal of hydrocarbons from two waste effluent sources. Two reactor concepts were considered: a simple flat plate immobilised film unit, and a new rotating drum photocatalytic reactor. Both units proved to be effective in removing residual hydrocarbons from the effluent with the drum reactor reducing the hydrocarbon content by 90% under 10 minutes.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 686
Author(s):  
Trung-Kien Pham ◽  
Ana Cameirao ◽  
Aline Melchuna ◽  
Jean-Michel Herri ◽  
Philippe Glénat

Today, oil and gas fields gradually become mature with a high amount of water being produced (water cut (WC)), favoring conditions for gas hydrate formation up to the blockage of pipelines. The pressure drop is an important parameter which is closely related to the multiphase flow characteristics, risk of plugging and security of flowlines. This study developed a model based on flowloop experiments to predict the relative pressure drop in pipelines once hydrate is formed in high water cutsystems in the absence and presence of AA-LDHI and/or salt. In this model, the relative pressure drop during flow is a function of hydrate volume and hydrate agglomerate structure, represented by the volume fraction factor (Kv). This parameter is adjusted for each experiment between 1.00 and 2.74. The structure of the hydrate agglomerates can be predicted from the measured relative pressure drop as well as their impact on the flow, especially in case of a homogeneous suspension of hydrates in the flow.


2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 2372-2380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angéla Szép ◽  
Robert Kohlheb

Large amounts of produced water are generated during oil and gas production. Produced water, as it is known in the oil industry, is briny fluid trapped in the rock of oil reservoirs. The objective of this study was to test produced waters from a Montana USA oilfield using a mobile station to design a plant to cost efficiently treat the produced water for agricultural irrigation. We used combined physical and chemical treatment of produced water in order to comply with reuse and discharge limits. This mobile station consists of three stages: pretreatments, membrane filtration and post treatment. Two spiral-wound membrane units were employed and the rejections of various constituents were examined. The performance of two membranes, 20 kDa weight cut-off (MWCO) ultrafiltration and a polyamide-composite reverse osmosis membrane was investigated. The mobile station effectively decreased conductivity by 98%, COD by 100% and the SAR by 2.15 mgeqv0.5 in the produced water tested in this study. Cost analysis showed that the treatment cost of produced water is less expensive than to dispose of it by injection and this treated water may be of great value in water-poor regions. We can conclude that the mobile station provided a viable and cost-effective result to beneficial use of produced water.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rouhi Farajzadeh ◽  
Siavash Kahrobaei ◽  
Ali Akbari Eftekhari ◽  
Rifaat A. Mjeni ◽  
Diederik Boersma ◽  
...  

AbstractA method based on the concept of exergy-return on exergy-investment is developed to determine the energy efficiency and CO2 intensity of polymer and surfactant enhanced oil recovery techniques. Exergy is the useful work obtained from a system at a given thermodynamics state. The main exergy investment in oil recovery by water injection is related to the circulation of water required to produce oil. At water cuts (water fraction in the total liquid produced) greater than 90%, more than 70% of the total invested energy is spent on injection and lift pumps, resulting in large CO2 intensity for the produced oil. It is shown that injection of polymer with or without surfactant can considerably reduce CO2 intensity of the mature waterflood projects by decreasing the volume of produced water and the exergy investment associated with its circulation. In the field examples considered in this paper, a barrel of oil produced by injection of polymer has 2–5 times less CO2 intensity compared to the baseline waterflood oil. Due to large manufacturing exergy of the synthetic polymers and surfactants, in some cases, the unit exergy investment for production of oil could be larger than that of the waterflooding. It is asserted that polymer injection into reservoirs with large water cut can be a solution for two major challenges of the energy transition period: (1) meet the global energy demand via an increase in oil recovery and (2) reduce the CO2 intensity of oil production (more and cleaner energy).


Author(s):  
Aditya Nugraha Ernawan ◽  
Alfi Fachrizal ◽  
Angga Wijaya ◽  
Bima Syahreza ◽  
Muhammad Ridwan Alkhandi ◽  
...  

Implementation of waterflood is with injected pressured water to reservoir to escalation oil production. Produced water is the dominated result from oil and gas mechanism in this world meanwhile 65% of water is injected back to the well for pressure maintenance, 30% for discharge aquifier condition and surface. For shaly sand, produced water usually bring coarse and suspended sand to the surface. Therefore, this sand level is needed to declining to avoid plugging in injection well until certain economic condition.


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