Mansour Al.Haddabi
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Water Sources
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Produced Water: A new Source
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Ceramic membrane
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Possibilities
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Conclusion
Red/Orange –Scarcity
Tan –Stress
Blue –Sufficient Water
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The water that is trapped in underground
formation and brought to the surface along
with the oil and gas production
PDO currently produces 7.5 barrels of water for
a barrel of oil
H2O
H2O
OIL
H2O
H2O
H2O
H2O
H2O
H2O
H2O
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Dissolved and dispersed oil components
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Dissolved minerals
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Production chemicals
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Production solids
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Dissolved gases
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Minimize the volumes of water produced by
adopting proper reservoir and well management
Inject the water to oil producing formations or
reservoirs
Discharging it to the environment after it
complies with the discharge regulations.
Consume in Beneficial use: treat to meet
quality required for beneficial uses like
irrigation, land restoration, cattle and animal
consumptions and industrial application

Along with oil PDO produces about 5 million
barrels of water per day
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Salinity ranging from 5000-200000 mg/l

Oil content range from 100-1000 mg/l
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The produced water is utilized for reservoir's
pressure maintenance by injection into shallow
and deep sub-surface formations
The disposing of the produced water is
expensive
Environmental regulations are becoming more
stringent
Reuse potential of produced water needs
investigations
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De-oiling: removing dispersed oil and grease
Soluble organics removal
Disinfection: removing microorganisms
Removal of SS
Removal of dissolved gases
Desalination or demineralization
Softening (removal of excess hardness)
Miscellaneous: removing NORM
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Physical processes: Such as cyclones, API, CPI,
sand filters, Electrodialysis and DAP
Chemical Processes: chemical oxidation,
electrochemical processes, photocatalytic and
ozone
Biological Processes: the use of aerobic and
anaerobic microorganisms
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High cost of treatment
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The use of toxic chemicals
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Space for installation
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Secondary pollution
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New class of materials made from clays of
nitrides, carbides and oxides of metals.
It can operate in both cross-flow filtration and
dead-end filtration modes
Lifespan > 10 years
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The ability to accomplish the current
regulatory treatment objectives without
chemical pre-treatment
Thermal stability
Ease of scale up, low running investment and
small area requirements
Resistance to solvents, chemicals and thermal
stress allows good recovery of membrane
performance
Mechanical strength and long life-time
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Membrane cleaning with harsh chemicals (if
necessary) does not reduce membrane
performance stability
It has higher fluxes and higher oil rejection due
to their high porosity and more hydrophilic
surface, compared to polymer membranes .
They are operational in pH-range from 1-14.
Therefore, cleaning is not an issue.
High oil removal efficiency
Low energy requirements
Effect of TMP on Permeate Flux
(CFV: 1.68 mS-1)
TMP (MPa) Flux (Lm-2h-1)
TOC removal
efficiency (%)
0.05
30
97.3
0.1
70
97
0.15
110
95.2
0.2
170
93
(Edible oil mixed with water and surfactant)
Effect Of CFV on permeate Flux
(TMP: 0.2 MPa)
CFV (mS-1) Flux (Lm-2h-1)
TOC removal
efficiency (%)
0.17
0.42
0.8
1.7
122
135
140
165
97.5
97.4
97.5
97.4
Parameter
Unit
Feed
Treated wastewater by using tubular
ceramic MF (α-Al2O3)
Total Suspended Solids (TSS)
mg/l
92
Trace
Oil and grease content
mg/l
26
4
Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
mg/l
141
7
Turbidity
mg/l
21
0.3
(TMP: 1.25 bar, CFV: 2.25 mS-1and T: 32.5 oC). API effluent of refinery.
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Agricultural Use
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Solar Ponds
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Aquaculture, Brine Shrimps
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Mineral Recovery
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High value salts, Fertilizers
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Magnesium metals and Alloys
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Fire retardants
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Building Products
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Sealant and Flocculating agents
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Greening the desert
Agroforestry
Forage production
Biofuel
Oil recovery
Other benefits:
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Carbon credit
Energy savings
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Livestock drinking water ( possible up to 7000
ppm)
Irrigation: salinity, SAR, Boron
Salt tolerant plants and trees are available and
have been tested under Omani conditions
Poor land restoration
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Possibilities exists for using water as a resource
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Field research is urgently needed
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Firm government decisions on its use such as
forge production, growing trees, subsidies,
ownership, aquifer storage
Further research on low cost membrane
treatment
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Water Management decisions have a very
significant impact on project economics
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How clean should be the water?
Controls the design of the treatment facility
Injection rates and pressure
Produced water can be a potential source to
solve the water scarcity (if treated well!!)