Analysis of hydrocarbon removal methods for the management of oilfield brines and produced waters

Abstract

According to the Texas Railroad Commission (TRC), ????over 250 billion gallons of produced water is taken out of Texas Soil every year, and more than 35% of this water is not currently fit to use.?? Therefore, it can be assumed that domestically and globally, the petroleum industries challenge has been to develop a high-tech and cost effective method to purify the large volumes of oilfield brines and produced water. Currently, most of the produced water requires several pre- and post- treatment methods to aide in reducing fouling of membranes, separation of components, increasing influent and effluent quality, and preventing unwanted work stoppage during the desalination process. As a result, the pre- and post- treatment conditioning of the produced water affects the economics and scale-up (i.e. residence times, absorption capacity, etc??) of the varying processes parameters. Therefore, this research focuses on developing an economic analysis and determining the adsorption capacity of an organoclay system to remove oil.