Forward osmosis remediation of high salinity Permian Basin produced water from unconventional oil and gas development

Tiffany Liden; Doug D Carlton Jr; Shinji Miyazaki; Takehiko Otoyo; Kevin A Schug

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.325

Forward osmosis remediation of high salinity Permian Basin produced water from unconventional oil and gas development

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Feb 25:653:82-90. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.325. Epub 2018 Oct 25.

Authors

Tiffany Liden¹, Doug D Carlton Jr², Shinji Miyazaki³, Takehiko Otoyo³, Kevin A Schug⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Arlington, 700 Planetarium Place, Arlington, TX 76019, USA.
² Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Arlington, 700 Planetarium Place, Arlington, TX 76019, USA; Affiliate of Collaborative Laboratories for Environmental Analysis and Remediation, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA.
³ Asahi Kasei Corporation, 2-1 Samejima, Fuji, Shizuoka 416-8501, Japan.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Arlington, 700 Planetarium Place, Arlington, TX 76019, USA; Affiliate of Collaborative Laboratories for Environmental Analysis and Remediation, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA. Electronic address: kschug@uta.edu.

PMID: 30408671
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.325

Abstract

Unconventional oil and gas operations are on the rise, and they are an integral component to meeting the nation's energy needs. Produced water is the primary by-product of oil and gas operations, and it has proven challenging to treat to date. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using forward osmosis with thin-film composite hollow fiber membranes as a remediation option for produced water with high total dissolved solids levels from the Permian Basin. Trials consisted of a series of 5 experiments in order to evaluate the performance of the membrane. Three PW samples, each from different locations, were used to conduct the series of experiments and compare the performance of the membranes on samples with TDS levels ranging from 16,000 to 210,000 mg/L. It was concluded that forward osmosis can be used to extract water from high salinity oil field brines and PW. Flux decreased over the course of the trials due to a combination of membrane fouling, concentration polarization, and temperature fluctuations. The flux of the PW was similar to the flux measured for the PW mimic with small difference due to the influence of activity on the osmotic pressure. The flux was also influenced by temperature and the linear velocity of the feed solution and draw solution.

Keywords: Forward osmosis; Hydraulic fracturing; Total dissolved solids; Wastewater treatment; Water treatment.