Treatment Options
During this project we conducted a comprehensive literature review and technical assessment to evaluate existing and emerging technologies that have been used for treatment of produced water or novel technologies that could be tested and considered in the future. The technical assessment includes stand-alone water treatment processes, hybrid configurations, and commercial packages developed for treatment of oil and gas produced water and zero liquid discharge (ZLD). The assessment document considers pretreatment, desalination, post-treatment, and concentrated waste disposal to meet the required water quality standards for beneficial use scenarios.
Many commercially available technologies/systems for treatment of produced water are usually unique combinations of unit processes. The evaluation document and the individual fact sheets focus on primary unit processes, but also include select commercial packages/processes for produced water treatment. The documents can be used to evaluate various treatment processes in a generic fashion even if their vendors are not listed.
The Technical Assessment of Produced Water Treatment Technologies document and fact sheets were developed as part of a collaborative research project (#07122-12) led by the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) and funded by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA).
Technologies Assessed
Technical Assessment of Produced Water Treatment Technologies
A total of 54 technologies were reviewed and assessed in the study. The technologies are classified into stand-alone technologies and combined treatment processes. The technologies and configurations identified in the review were assessed in terms of several criteria, which are summarized in Table 1 of the Technical Assessment of Produced Water Treatment Technologies [PDF] document. The table below summarizes the treatment technologies that were evaluated.
| Stand-alone/primary | Multi-technology processes |
|---|---|
Basic Separation
|
Enhanced distillation/evaporation
|