Combined electrocoagulation-microfiltration-membrane distillation for treatment of hydraulic fracturing produced water

Journal Article · Thu Dec 17 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Desalination

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2020.114886· OSTI ID:1848619

Jebur, Mahmood ^[1]; Chiao, Yu-Hsuan ^[2]; Thomas, Kupaaikekaiao ^[3]; Patra, Tanmoy ^[4]; Cao, Yuhe ^[2]; Lee, Kyunghoan ^[5]; Gleason, Nicholas ^[5]; Qian, Xianghong ^[4]; Hu, Yunxia ^[6]; Malmali, Mahdi ^[7]; Wickramasinghe, S. Ranil ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (United States). Ralph E Martin Dept. of Chemical Engineering; Tikrit Univ. (Iraq). Dept. of Chemical Engineering; Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (United States)
2. Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (United States). Ralph E Martin Dept. of Chemical Engineering
3. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering
4. Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (United States).Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
5. Northwest Arkansas Community College, Bentonville, AR (United States). Dept. of Science and Mathematics
6. Tianjin Polytechnic Univ., Tianjin (China)
7. Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering

Hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced water is a highly impaired wastewater containing dissolved salts polar and non-polar organic compounds, oil and surfactants. Here a combined electrocoagulation - microfiltration – membrane distillation process has been used to treat this wastewater. Electrocoagulation followed by microfiltration was used to pretreat the wastewater prior membrane distillation. The initial total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration was extremely high being 245,300 mg L^-1. After electrocoagulation, the total organic carbon (TOC) was reduced from 120 mg L^-1 to 64 mg L^-1. Tangential flow microfiltration using a 0.1 μm pore size polyethersulfone membrane was used to separate the particulate matter after electrocoagulation and to further reduce the TOC to 44 mg L^-1. Membrane distillation was used to desalinate the pretreated produced water resulting in a high quality treated water (TDS of 56 mg L^-1 and TOC 1 mg L^-1). Three membranes with very different surface morphology were used: commercially available polyvinylidene fluoride, electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) nanofibers and multiwalled carbon nanotube coated polytetrafluoroethylene. The TDS in the retentate increased to over 350,000 mg L^-1. During membrane distillation, the temperature of the feed tank was maintained at 36 °C while the feed entered the module at 60 °C in order to minimize scaling on the membrane. The surface properties of an ideal membrane that is resistant to wetting and provides high flux is likely to depend on the TDS and properties of the wastewater.

• Research Organization: American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), New York, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Grant/Contract Number: EE0007888
• OSTI ID: 1848619
• Journal Information: Desalination, Journal Name: Desalination Journal Issue: C Vol. 500; ISSN 0011-9164
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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