A Core Flood Test-Program Performed with a Pilot-Skid to Quantify the Permeability Decline Induced by Real Treated Produced Waters Also Containing Degraded Polymer or Not

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rezki Oughanem ◽  
Thomas Gumpenberger ◽  
Jean Grégoire Boero-Rollo ◽  
Scherwan Suleiman ◽  
Jalel Ochi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Formation Damage ◽  
Core Flooding ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Produced Waters ◽  
Core Flood ◽  
Core Permeability ◽  
Degraded Polymer

Abstract A water treatment pilot skid called WaOω has been developed by TotalEnergies to test the efficiency of the centrifugation technology in treating the produced water containing back produced polymer. In case of success, this technology would be implemented on field and the water quality targeted by the technology must allow re-injecting the treated produced water in matrix flow regime for pressure maintain and sweep efficiency. The same interest was expressed by OMV and a partnership project has been built. It was also agreed that OMV builds a second pilot skid called PRT that allows carrying out core flood tests onsite to assess the formation damage and related permeability decline that could be induced by the treated produced water. Both pilot skids have been implemented, connected to each other, and tested during more than one year on the OMV's Matzen oil field nearby Vienna where degraded polymer is already back produced by wells and present in the produced water. More than seventy core flooding tests have been performed in different centrifugation conditions in terms of speed and water qualities, some of them on high permeable sand packs representing the field targeted by TotalEnergies and some others on consolidated sandstone samples of lower permeability representing OMV reservoirs. The effect of adding fresh polymer to the treated produced water for EOR purposes has also been investigated. Some complementary core flood tests have also been performed in TotalEnergies labs using reconstituted sand packs and produced waters with and without polymer to understand the contribution of the degraded polymer alone, the produced water quality alone and both to understand the formation damage and some uncommon results observed with the PRT pilot skid. Core flood tests data often obtained on long injection periods revealed of a high quality, reliable and reproducible. They also showed that even if centrifugation seems to be a good technology, the very clean and transparent water that it delivered induced surprisingly some core permeability declines the origin of which would be discussed in this paper. However, it was clearly established that the presence of degraded polymer has a cleaning effect and limits the formation damage induced by the produced water injected on cores if the Total Suspended Solids in the treated water remains at an acceptable level. Adding fresh polymers limited even more the formation damage because their cleaning effect is more pronounced than with degraded polymer.

scholarly journals Ammonium Concentrations in Produced Waters from a Mesothermic Oil Field Subjected to Nitrate Injection Decrease through Formation of Denitrifying Biomass and Anammox Activity

2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (15) ◽  
pp. 4977-4987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina L. Cornish Shartau ◽  
Marcy Yurkiw ◽  
Shiping Lin ◽  
Aleksandr A. Grigoryan ◽  
Adewale Lambo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitrate Reduction ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Community Analysis ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
16S Rrna Genes ◽  
Rrna Genes ◽  
Ammonium Concentration ◽  
Anammox Activity ◽  
Produced Waters

ABSTRACT Community analysis of a mesothermic oil field, subjected to continuous field-wide injection of nitrate to remove sulfide, with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes indicated the presence of heterotrophic and sulfide-oxidizing, nitrate-reducing bacteria (hNRB and soNRB). These reduce nitrate by dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (e.g., Sulfurospirillum and Denitrovibrio) or by denitrification (e.g., Sulfurimonas, Arcobacter, and Thauera). Monitoring of ammonium concentrations in producing wells (PWs) indicated that denitrification was the main pathway for nitrate reduction in the field: breakthrough of nitrate and nitrite in two PWs was not associated with an increase in the ammonium concentration, and no increase in the ammonium concentration was seen in any of 11 producing wells during periods of increased nitrate injection. Instead, ammonium concentrations in produced waters decreased on average from 0.3 to 0.2 mM during 2 years of nitrate injection. Physiological studies with produced water-derived hNRB microcosms indicated increased biomass formation associated with denitrification as a possible cause for decreasing ammonium concentrations. Use of anammox-specific primers and cloning of the resulting PCR product gave clones affiliated with the known anammox genera “Candidatus Brocadia” and “Candidatus Kuenenia,” indicating that the anammox reaction may also contribute to declining ammonium concentrations. Overall, the results indicate the following: (i) that nitrate injected into an oil field to oxidize sulfide is primarily reduced by denitrifying bacteria, of which many genera have been identified by DGGE, and (ii) that perhaps counterintuitively, nitrate injection leads to decreasing ammonium concentrations in produced waters.

Produced Water Quality: The Effects of Different Separation Methods for Water and Chemical Floods

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jawaher Almorihil ◽  
Aurélie Mouret ◽  
Isabelle Hénaut ◽  
Vincent Mirallès ◽  
Abdulkareem AlSofi
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Oil Content ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Light Transmission ◽  
Formation Damage ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Separation Plant ◽  
Deep Bed Filtration ◽  
Separation Techniques ◽  
Gravity Settling

Abstract Gravity settling represents the main oil-water separation mechanism. Many separation plants rely only on gravity settling with the aid of demulsifiers (direct or reverse breakers) and other chemicals such as water clarifiers if they are required. Yet, other complementary separation methods exist including filtration, flotation, and centrifugation. In terms of results and more specifically with respect to the separated produced-water, the main threshold on its quality is the dispersed oil content. Even with zero discharge and reinjection into hydrocarbon formations, the presence of residual oil in the aqueous phase represents a concern. High oil content results into formation damage and losses in injectivity which necessitates formation stimulations and hence additional operational expenses. In this work, we investigated the effects of different separation techniques on separated water quality. In addition, we studied the impact of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) chemicals on the different separation techniques in terms of efficiency and water quality. Based on the results, we identified potential improvements to the existing separation process. We used synthetic well-characterized emulsions. The emulsions were prepared at the forecast water: oil ratio using dead crude oil and synthetic representative brines with or without the EOR chemicals. To clearly delineate and distinguish the effectiveness of different separation methods, we exacerbated the conditions by preparing very tight emulsions compared with what is observed on site. With that, we investigated three separation techniques: gravity settling, centrifugation, and filtration. First, we used Jar Tests to study gravity settling, then a benchtop centrifuge at two speeds to evaluate centrifugation potential. Finally, for filtration, we tested two options: membrane and deep-bed filtrations. Concerning the water quality, we performed solvent extraction followed by UV analyses to measure the residual oil content as well as light transmission measurements in order to compare the efficiency of different separation methods. The results of analyses suggest that gravity settling was not efficient in removing oil droplets from water. No separation occurred after 20 minutes in every tested condition. However, note that investigated conditions were severe, tighter emulsions are more difficult to separate compared to those currently observed in the actual separation plant. On the other hand, centrifugation significantly improved light transmission through the separated water. Accordingly, we can conclude that the water quality was largely improved by centrifugation even in the presence of EOR chemicals. In terms of filtration, very good water quality was obtained after membrane filtration. However, significant fouling was observed. In the presence of EOR chemicals, filtration lost its effectiveness due to the low interfacial tension with surfactants and water quality became poor. With deep-bed filtration, produced water quality remained good and fouling was no longer observed. However, the benefits from media filtration were annihilated by the presence of EOR chemicals. Based on these results and at least for our case study, we conclude that centrifugation and deep-bed filtration techniques can significantly improve quality of the separated and eventually reinjected water. In terms of the effects of EOR chemicals, the performance of centrifugation is reduced while filtrations are largely impaired by the presence of EOR chemicals. Thereby, integration of any of the two methods in the separation plant will lead to more efficient produced-water reinjection, eliminating formation damage and frequent stimulations. Yet, it is important to note that economics should be further assessed.

Produced Water Quality: the Effects of Different Separation Methods

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jawaher Almorihil ◽  
Aurélie Mouret ◽  
Isabelle Hénaut ◽  
Vincent Mirallés ◽  
Abdulkareem AlSofi
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Oil Content ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Light Transmission ◽  
Formation Damage ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Separation Plant ◽  
Deep Bed Filtration ◽  
Separation Techniques ◽  
Gravity Settling

Abstract Gravity settling represents the main oil-water separation mechanism. Many separation plants rely only on gravity settling with the aid of demulsifiers (direct or reverse breakers) and others chemicals such as water clarifiers if they are required. Yet, other complementary separation methods exist including filtration, flotation, and centrifugation. In terms of results and more specifically with respect to the separated produced-water, the main threshold on its quality is the dispersed oil content. Even with zero discharge and reinjection into hydrocarbon formations, the presence of residual oil in the aqueous phase represents a concern. High oil content results into formation damage and losses in injectivity which necessitates formation stimulations and hence additional operational expenses. In this work, we investigated the effects of different separation techniques on separated water quality. Based on the results, we identified potential improvements to the existing separation process. We used synthetic well-characterized emulsions. The emulsions were prepared at the forecast water:oil ratio using dead crude oil and synthetic representative brine. To clearly delineate and distinguish the effectiveness of different separation methods, we exacerbated the conditions by preparing very tight emulsions compared with what is observed on site. With that, we investigated three separation techniques: gravity settling, centrifugation, and filtration. First, we used jar tests to study gravity settling, then a benchtop centrifuge at two speeds to evaluate centrifugation potential. Finally, for filtration, we tested two options: membrane and deep-bed filtrations. Concerning the water quality, we performed solvent extraction followed by UV analyses to measure the residual oil content as well as light transmission measurements in order to compare the efficiency of different separation methods. The results of analyses suggest that gravity settling was not efficient in removing oil droplets from water. No separation occurred after 20 minutes in every tested condition. However, note that investigated conditions were severe, tighter emulsions are more difficult to separate compared to those currently observed in the actual separation plant. On the other hand, centrifugation significantly improved light transmission through the separated water. Accordingly, we can conclude that the water quality was largely improved by centrifugation. In terms of filtration, very good water quality was obtained after membrane filtration. However, significant fouling was observed. With deep-bed filtration, produced water quality remained good and fouling was no longer observed. On the basis of those results, we conclude that for our case study, centrifugation and deep-bed filtration techniques can significantly improve quality of the separated and eventually reinjected water. Thereby, integration of any of the two methods in the separation plant will lead to more efficient produced-water reinjection, eliminating formation damage and frequent stimulations. Yet, it is important to note that economics should be further assessed.

The Study of Axial Dynamic Backwashing Dual-Media Filter Experiment

2013 ◽  
Vol 781-784 ◽  
pp. 2067-2070
Author(s):  
Zhong Chen Yu ◽  
Xue Jiao Zhang ◽  
Song Wang ◽  
Bing Sun ◽  
Xian Jun Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Oil Content ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Removal Rate ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Walnut Shell ◽  
Polymeric Compound ◽  
Filter Materials ◽  
Suspended Substance ◽  
High Removal Rate

According to the problem of polymeric compound appearing in oil field produced water, following by the changes of water quality characteristics that result in the polymeric compound accumulated in the filter tank which lead to the poor regeneration, being partly hardened and the losing, and the over standard of water quality, the study uses the technology of axial dynamic backwashing to back wash and regenerate the dual-media filter of walnut shell/quartz sand. The removal rate of oil content for filter materials reaches above 90% after backwashing. Simultaneously, cleaning the granular filter materials in filter bed achieves high removal rate of oil and suspended substance content, the average removal rate of oil content being 96.0% while the suspended substance 77.81% which greatly improved the water quality index.

scholarly journals Characteristics and Management of Produced Water in Al-Ahdab Oil Field

2021 ◽  
Vol 1094 (1) ◽  
pp. 012090
Author(s):  
Zahraa N Mahbouba ◽  
Mahmood K Abdulkhalik ◽  
Jassim H Mussa
Keyword(s):  
Produced Water ◽  
Oil Field

scholarly journals Water–rock interaction and the concentrations of major, trace, and rare earth elements in hydrocarbon-associated produced waters of the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carleton R. Bern ◽  
Justin E. Birdwell ◽  
Aaron M. Jubb
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rare Earth ◽  
Rare Earth Elements ◽  
Water Chemistry ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rock Interaction ◽  
Produced Waters ◽  
Water Rock Interaction

Comparisons of hydrocarbon-produced waters from multiple basins and experiments using multiple shales illustrate water–rock interaction influence on produced water chemistry.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document