Premium
Coproduced Ground Water Treatment and Disposal Options During Hydrocarbon Recovery Operations
Author(s) -
Stover Enos L.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
groundwater monitoring and remediation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-6592
pISSN - 1069-3629
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6592.1989.tb01122.x
Subject(s) - environmental science , refinery , water treatment , produced water , waste management , hydrocarbon , groundwater , aquifer , environmental engineering , engineering , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry
Reinjection of untreated ground water during hydrocarbon recovery operations provides for economical water handling and can accelerate the recovery of the free hydrocarbons. However, considering current regulatory trends, water containing dissolved hydrocarbon constituents would require treatment prior to reinjection into the aquifer. The disposal of coproduced ground water is dependent on several factors, including the volume of water, level of treatment required, and availability of disposal options. Disposal options include reinjection, discharge to surface water, and beneficial use. This paper presents treatment and disposal options for coproduced water during hydrocarbon recovery operations including cost comparisons for a particular case study. Treatment technologies for oil/water separation, inorganics and heavy metals removal, and dissolved hydrocarbon removal are presented. The primary technologies discussed for dissolved hydrocarbon removal include air stripping, activated carbon adsorption, biological treatment, and combinations of these technologies. Consideration of the use of existing refinery waste water treatment facilities for ground water treatment should be encouraged where applicable. However, separate treatment facilities are usually required because the use of existing on‐site treatment facilities is usually not feasible because of the volume of water produced during large recovery projects and the effectiveness of existing treatment facilities. A specific case example is presented with costs for applying different technologies including the use of existing on‐site facilities. Treatment costs ranged between 44 cents to $2.82 per thousand gallons (11 cents to 75 cents per thousand liters) of water treated for the specific technologies examined herein.