Purification of Produced Water from Kuwaiti Oil Fields Using Ceramic Membranes

Abstract

Abstract Fresh water resources are increasingly becoming scarce, which is a concerning matter due to the rapid growth in global human population, industrialization and pollution of fresh water sources and underground aquifers. Therefore, utilizing water treatment technologies in water intense processes such as oil and gas production and increasing the industries’ water efficiency have become ever so important. Produced water (PW) from oilfields is the largest waste stream in the oil and gas industry, and the quantities of PW globally has been recorded at more than 250 million barrels per day. The purification of this large amount of by-product by means of ceramic membrane filtration has been investigated in this study with samples from an oilfield in the State of Kuwait with a reservoir containing mostly heavy oil and a high H2S content. The sampled PW originates from an oilfield with approximately 80 percent water cut. PW has a number of components that cause production problems such as scaling and corrosion. Therefore, the treatment of PW before its disposal or reuse is seen to be urgent. Discharging this water to the environment can also lead to severe environmental impact. Therefore, rigorous regulatory standards have been implemented for the disposal of PW into the environment, which are a significant challenge to the oil and gas industry. The understanding of the characteristics and the treatment of PW can avoid the degradation of production facilities and equipment and consequently lower the maintenance costs at the production sites. In this study, the PW samples were filtered using a φ30/100mmL ceramic membrane element with a nominal pore size of 0.1μm.