SiC Membranes for Produced Water

Treatment:Case Study 1

Challenge

• Discharge/Re-injection of Produced Water from oil production becoming difficult.• Oil wells maturing and water cut

increasing• Tighter government regulations

are being enforced for discharge of Produced Water.

Key contaminants in produced water

stream

• TSS,• Oil in Water (ppm)• TOG (residual total oil & grease) • ALL CAN CAUSE FOULING IN

DOWNSTREAM EQUIPMENT.• CONTAMINATE GROUNDWATER

WHEN PW IS DISCHARGED.

Existing Technologies

1. Oil & Water separation via free water knock out, demulsifiers

2. Skim tanks 3. Gas flotation 4. Filters (Wallnut Shell)

SEVERAL SHORTCOMINGS

1. More process steps2. Heavy in footprint3. Uses large amounts of chemicals and biocides

4. Require large amount of labor5. High in OPEX AND CAPEX.6. Removal of fine particles in conventional settling tanks take a long time.

7. Reduced efficiency of dispersed oil removal.

Our Solution

SiC Ceramic Membranes Used in a wide variety industrial settings and make the perfect candidate when dealing with oil separation given their oil repelling characteristics.

Unique hydrophilic properties leads to higher water fluxes -> continuous process flux for oil/water separation is between 200-2000 L/(m2*h)

What can I remove?

• Oil • Grease• Iron• TSS• Bacteria • Algae• Organic Matter

Why SiC Membranes

• Oil repelling• Inert• Less Footprint• Longer lifetime• High Recovery• Self-cleaning

All this filtration can be accomplished in 1 single

step!

Why SiC over traditional methods

POLYMERIC MEMBRANES ARE • Not as chemically or temperature resistant as not good (ecspecially at high temperatures of oil&gas industry)

• Handle oil very poorly Polymeric membranes are

• Expensive • Low water flux

0.04 Micron 3,000 L/(m2hr)

4,000 L/(m2hr)

10,000 L/(m2hr)

>12,000 L/(m2hr)

FluxPore size

0.1 Microns

1 Microns

3 Microns

Filtration capability

How it works

feed flow is tangential to the surface of the membrane in order to sweep rejected particles and solutes away

CROSS FLOW FILTRATION

CASE 1: Produced

Water Treatment for

Discharge

Application: PW Treatment at off-shore oil platform in the North SeaChallenge: Customer cannot meet discharge limit of 30 ppm oil with conventional technology.Feed Water:Oil: 2500 ppm (highly emulsified)TSS: 75-200 mg/LTemperature: 2-17 °CMembrane: 0.04 micron pore sizeProcess Data:Cross flow: 2m/s-2 stagesTMP: 0.4 barPermeate Flux: 200 LMHPermeate:Oil: <10 ppmTSS: <10 mg/L

Case 1: Final Installation of H2O Systems SiC Membranes

Case 1: Permeate-Feed-Concentrate

CASE 2: Produced

Water Treatment for Re-Injection

Application: PW Treatment for re-injection at on-shore production site. Challenge: Field trial in order to evaluate performance and feasibility of SiC membranes for PW filtration prior to re-injection.Feed Water:Oil: up to 60 mg/L TSS: up to 9 mg/LTemperature: 60 °CMembrane: 0.04 micron pore sizeProcess Data:Cross flow: 1.2-1.6 m/sTMP: 0.7-1.0 barPermeate Flux: 400-600 LMHPermeate:Oil:0-5 mg/L TSS: <0.03 mg/L

Case 2: Test setup with automatic prefiltration (300 μm), CIP unit and H2O Systems MultiBrain

membrane filtration unit

Case 2: Samples from field trialsPermeate (left), Feed (right)

Conclusion

• Possible to remove oil & TSS from PW below required limits regardless of feed water oil concentration.

• SiC membranes can replace conventional technologies with 1 step process (i.e. microflotation, walnut shell filters)

Next Steps• Meeting• Submit water analysis • Proposal and savings • Trial• Full systems intergration

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info@h2osystems.ca

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