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Title: Biotreatment of produced waters for volume reduction and contaminant removal

Abstract

Produced water is wastewater that is brought to the surface from natural gas wells during natural gas production. Its constituents, mostly salt, with traces of hydrocarbons and heavy metals, are a significant disposal problem. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), in partnership with the Gas Research Institute (GRI), has developed a low-cost, low-tech method, in which green plants are used to reduce the volume of produced water. The authors have designed an engineered bioreactor system, which is modeled after natural saline wetland ecosystems. The plant bioreactor system maximizes plant evapotranspiration to reduce wastewater volume and, concurrently, may function as a biological filter to enhance contaminant degradation and immobilization in the root/rhizosphere zone. Halophyte plant species having high salt tolerance and high transpiration rates were selected after they tested them in greenhouse experiments. Models obtained by using their greenhouse findings reduced the volume of the wastewater (up to 6% salt) by 75% in about 8 days. A field demonstration of the bioreactor, designed on the basis of the results from the greenhouse study, is successfully under way at a natural gas well site in Oklahoma. The process could offer the petroleum industry a low-cost biological alternative to existing expensive options.

Authors:
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
  2. Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, OK (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); Gas Research Inst., Chicago, IL (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
554814
Report Number(s):
ANL/ES/CP-93084; CONF-970990-
ON: DE97054580; TRN: AHC29801%%77
DOE Contract Number:  
W-31109-ENG-38
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Conference: 4. international petroleum environmental conference, San Antonio, TX (United States), 9-12 Sep 1997; Other Information: PBD: [1997]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
03 NATURAL GAS; WATER TREATMENT; WETLANDS; WASTE WATER; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; PLANTS; DESIGN; SALINITY; NATURAL GAS WELLS; SPECIES DIVERSITY; TRANSPIRATION; EVAPORATION; VOLUME

Citation Formats

Negri, M C, Hinchman, R R, and Mollock, J. Biotreatment of produced waters for volume reduction and contaminant removal. United States: N. p., 1997. Web. doi:10.2172/554814.
Negri, M C, Hinchman, R R, & Mollock, J. Biotreatment of produced waters for volume reduction and contaminant removal. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/554814
Negri, M C, Hinchman, R R, and Mollock, J. 1997. "Biotreatment of produced waters for volume reduction and contaminant removal". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/554814. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/554814.
@article{osti_554814,
title = {Biotreatment of produced waters for volume reduction and contaminant removal},
author = {Negri, M C and Hinchman, R R and Mollock, J},
abstractNote = {Produced water is wastewater that is brought to the surface from natural gas wells during natural gas production. Its constituents, mostly salt, with traces of hydrocarbons and heavy metals, are a significant disposal problem. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), in partnership with the Gas Research Institute (GRI), has developed a low-cost, low-tech method, in which green plants are used to reduce the volume of produced water. The authors have designed an engineered bioreactor system, which is modeled after natural saline wetland ecosystems. The plant bioreactor system maximizes plant evapotranspiration to reduce wastewater volume and, concurrently, may function as a biological filter to enhance contaminant degradation and immobilization in the root/rhizosphere zone. Halophyte plant species having high salt tolerance and high transpiration rates were selected after they tested them in greenhouse experiments. Models obtained by using their greenhouse findings reduced the volume of the wastewater (up to 6% salt) by 75% in about 8 days. A field demonstration of the bioreactor, designed on the basis of the results from the greenhouse study, is successfully under way at a natural gas well site in Oklahoma. The process could offer the petroleum industry a low-cost biological alternative to existing expensive options.},
doi = {10.2172/554814},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/554814}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997},
month = {Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997}
}