Nucleation Time Prediction of Selected Inorganic Salts during Reverse Osmosis Treatment of Produced Water in Kern County
Poster Number
05C
Format
Poster Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
Mary Kay Camarillo, PhD, PE
Faculty Mentor Department
Civil Engineering
Abstract/Artist Statement
Produced water treatment in drought-stricken regions can serve to augment freshwater supplies for potable and non-potable use. Extensive hydraulic fracturing operations in California contributed to the production of approximately 10.5 billion gallons of natural oil and gas, making it the third-largest oil producing state in America. Thus, the reuse of the large amount of produced and flowback water from these operations serves to benefit drought stricken-regions if viable and cost-effective combinations of membrane treatment can be determined.
The outcome of the study was to gain general insight into how and when regional variations of produced water constituents can potentially affect reverse osmosis (RO) recovery. Produced water data from the Kern Oil Field was obtained from a recently-updated Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) database. Subsequently, three representative source waters were determined to be favorable, generally representative, and worst-case fouling scenarios and modeled in PHREEQC and DOW WAVE to determine nucleation times and membrane surface concentrations of selected inorganic salts. Wide, regional variances of produced water constituents require specific evaluations to determine which scaling-prone salts will dominate fouling. Overall, the modeled results generally indicate that barite inhibits RO operational efficiency in source waters with lower fouling tendencies, while calcite inhibits RO operational efficiency in source waters with higher fouling tendencies.
Location
DeRosa University Center Ballroom
Start Date
27-4-2018 12:30 PM
End Date
27-4-2018 2:30 PM
Nucleation Time Prediction of Selected Inorganic Salts during Reverse Osmosis Treatment of Produced Water in Kern County
DeRosa University Center Ballroom
Produced water treatment in drought-stricken regions can serve to augment freshwater supplies for potable and non-potable use. Extensive hydraulic fracturing operations in California contributed to the production of approximately 10.5 billion gallons of natural oil and gas, making it the third-largest oil producing state in America. Thus, the reuse of the large amount of produced and flowback water from these operations serves to benefit drought stricken-regions if viable and cost-effective combinations of membrane treatment can be determined.
The outcome of the study was to gain general insight into how and when regional variations of produced water constituents can potentially affect reverse osmosis (RO) recovery. Produced water data from the Kern Oil Field was obtained from a recently-updated Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) database. Subsequently, three representative source waters were determined to be favorable, generally representative, and worst-case fouling scenarios and modeled in PHREEQC and DOW WAVE to determine nucleation times and membrane surface concentrations of selected inorganic salts. Wide, regional variances of produced water constituents require specific evaluations to determine which scaling-prone salts will dominate fouling. Overall, the modeled results generally indicate that barite inhibits RO operational efficiency in source waters with lower fouling tendencies, while calcite inhibits RO operational efficiency in source waters with higher fouling tendencies.