Produced water softening using high-pH catholyte from brine electrolysis: reducing chemical transportation and environmental footprints

Khajouei, Golnoosh; Park, Hoil Il; Finklea, Harry O.; Ziemkiewicz, Paul F.; Peltier, Edward F.; Lin, Lian-Shin

doi:10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101911

Title: Produced water softening using high-pH catholyte from brine electrolysis: reducing chemical transportation and environmental footprints

Journal Article · Thu Jan 14 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Journal of Water Process Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101911· OSTI ID:1849303

Khajouei, Golnoosh ^[1]; Park, Hoil Il ^[2];

^[3];

^[4]; Peltier, Edward F. ^[5];

^[1]

West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States). Wadsworth Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Valent BioSciences LLC, Osage, IA (United States)
West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States). C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry
West Virginia Water Research Inst., Morgantown, WV (United States)
Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (United States). Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering,

This study evaluates the benefits of using brine electrolysis for generating caustic soda (NaOH) and free chlorine for on-site produced water (PWs¹) treatment. A two-compartment electrochemical cell was shown to generate NaOH solutions (pH > 12, faradic efficiency 93%) and chlorine (faradic efficiency 32%) from a NaCl brine solution at a current density of 10 mA/cm2. The catholyte was used for softening field-collected PWs. The degree of Mg removal depends mostly on the catholyte/PW mixture pH with pH 11 achieving >90% removal. Ca removal is poor (<10%) due to low bicarbonate alkalinity in the PWs. Soda ash alone at a dose equivalent to the total hardness of the PWs helps CaCO3 precipitation and Ca removal (>90%). The combined treatment of the catholyte and a reduced quantity of soda ash achieves better or comparable Ca removal compared to the full stoichiometric amounts of soda ash alone. Ba and Sr removal patterns closely follow those of Ca, suggesting co-precipitation of these cations as the primary removal mechanism. Organic removal is negligible during chemical softening; however, activated carbon filtration achieves >90% of total organic carbon (TOC) removal in all PWs. A treatment scheme is proposed for field generation of caustic soda and chlorine from PW. The economic analysis demonstrates the significant cost-effectiveness of the approach compared to purchasing the NaOH.

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Research Organization:: West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)

Grant/Contract Number:: FE0031740

OSTI ID:: 1849303

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1809821

Journal Information:: Journal of Water Process Engineering, Vol. 40, Issue C; ISSN 2214-7144

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
Engineering
Water Resources
Brine electrolysis
Produced water treatment
Softening
Caustic soda
Chlorine

Title: Produced water softening using high-pH catholyte from brine electrolysis: reducing chemical transportation and environmental footprints

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