Performance Evaluation of a High Salinity Produced Water Treatment Train: Chemical Analysis and Aryl Hydrocarbon Activation

Van Houghton, Brett D.; Liu, Jerry; Strynar, Mark J.; Bailley, Treasure; Pfeiffer, Patricia R.; Jassby, David; Corton, J. Christopher; Rosenblum, James; Cath, Tzahi Y.

doi:10.1021/acsestwater.3c00407

Performance Evaluation of a High Salinity Produced Water Treatment Train: Chemical Analysis and Aryl Hydrocarbon Activation

Journal Article · Wed Feb 14 00:00:00 EST 2024 · ACS ES&T Water

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.3c00407· OSTI ID:2397287

Van Houghton, Brett D. ^[1]; Liu, Jerry ^[2]; ^[2]; Bailley, Treasure ^[3]; Pfeiffer, Patricia R. ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[2]; ^[1]; ^[1]

Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Durham, NC (United States)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 8, Denver, CO (United States)
University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

Water scarcity and increased energy demands have put a strong focus on improving industries at the heart of the water–energy nexus. Treatment of oil and gas produced water (PW) can help reduce freshwater consumption during hydraulic fracturing, especially in arid regions, while also removing harmful contaminants from entering the environment. However, it is also difficult to treat because PW contains high concentrations of many environmentally toxic contaminants, which require complex and expensive treatment processes to achieve their removal. To demonstrate the possibility of PW treatment and reuse in the O&G industry, a comprehensive environmental toxicity and water quality analysis throughout a five-process treatment train was performed on high salinity (>120 g/L) Permian basin raw PW. Here, the concentrations of naturally occurring radioactive materials were reduced by over 99%, total organic carbon was reduced by 93%, and inorganic constituents, including total dissolved solids, were reduced by over 99%. Compounds that induced the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and caused cytotoxicity in MCF-7 cells were also removed. Overall, the results of this study show that a short treatment train (five distinct unit processes) can be effective in treating PW to a level suitable for use outside of the oil industry.

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This content will become publicly available on Fri Feb 14 00:00:00 EST 2025

Research Organization:: Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0008391

OSTI ID:: 2397287

Journal Information:: ACS ES&T Water, Vol. 4, Issue 4; ISSN 2690-0637

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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