JUOGR 60 No.

of Pages 9, Model 5G
3 August 2015

Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

1

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/juogr

5
6

3 An integrated approach for incorporating thermal membrane distillation

4 in treating water in heavy oil recovery using SAGD
7 Nesreen A. Elsayed a, Maria A. Barrufet a, Mahmoud M. El-Halwagi b,c,⇑
8 a
Petroleum Engineering Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3116, USA
9 b
Chemical Engineering Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, USA
10 c
Adjunct Faculty at the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

11
12
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
1
2 4
5
15 Article history: The production of heavy oil and bitumen requires unconventional methods. One such approach is 26
16 Received 4 September 2014 steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). This technology has key advantages but is characterized with 27
17 Revised 5 July 2015 substantial levels of water consumption and discharge. Therefore, there is a need for effective water 28
18 Accepted 29 July 2015
treatment and reuse methods in SAGD. This paper examines the use of an emerging technology: thermal 29
19 Available online xxxx
membrane distillation (TMD) as an integral part of water treatment for SAGD. Synergistic effects are 30
exploited from heat and mass integration of SAGD and TMD. Specifically, the hot produced water and 31
20 Keywords:
blowdown water are evaluated for treatment using TMD because of their thermal content and because 32
21 Membrane distillation
22 Produced water
of the need for high levels of purity which can be achieved by TMD. Several design configurations and 33
23 SAGD scenarios are proposed and evaluated to assess the technical and economic viability of including TMD 34
24 as a process in water-management systems for SAGD. 35
Ó 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. 36
37

38
39
40 Introduction folds. The largest reserves are located in Canada and Venezuela, 61
with a daily production of about 1.5 million barrels (Nasr and 62
41 It is notable that the increasing population and industrialization Ayodele, 2005). Either heavy oil or bitumen is characterized by 63
42 all over the world drive a continuous increase in energy consump- having very high viscosity. Therefore, they require very compli- 64
43 tion. The International Energy Agency anticipated in the 2013 fact cated and challenging extraction processes with high demands of 65
44 sheet, that the growth in the global energy demand will increase energy and water. In most cases, these requirements have negative 66
45 by one-third within the next two decades (Kato et al., 2008). impacts on the environment. The environmental impacts may 67
46 Among the various sources of the world’s energy, fossil fuel is con- include: greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from boilers to produce 68
47 sidered one of the major pillars on which the global energy portfo- steam, fresh water consumption and waste generation (Hill, 2012). 69
48 lio relies. Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) is one of the thermal 70
49 The term ‘‘unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs’’ has recently enhancing recovery technologies used for the unconventional pro- 71
50 become popular in the oil and gas industry. It refers to oil and gas duction of oil. Steam is injected to the crude oil formation produc- 72
51 reservoirs with certain characteristics referring to the formation of ing a steam chamber in which a steam-saturated zone is developed 73
52 the reservoir or the oil itself. Shale gas reservoirs and heavy oil are and the steam starts delivering its latent heat to the adjacent area. 74
53 among the most popular unconventional resources: the first is Heat released from steam is transferred to the sand formation con- 75
54 because of its extremely low permeability (at nanodarcy levels) taining the heavy oil and bitumen and helps reduce the viscosity of 76
55 and the second because of its extremely high viscosity. These spe- the bitumen and consequently mobilizes it. Steam condenses due 77
56 cial characteristics require modern or unconventional technologies to losing its latent heat and is drained by gravity as produced water 78
57 to extract the enclosed hydrocarbons. Heavy oil and bitumen are along with the mobilized bitumen to the production well located 79
58 counted as major potential resources to supply the increasing glo- parallel and beneath the steam injection well. Because the process 80
59 bal energy demand. The estimated reserves of heavy oil and bitu- is driven by gravitational forces and in order to maximize the bitu- 81
60 men exceed the conventional crude oil reserves by four to five men production, the production well is located at the base of the 82
reservoir (Shen, 2013). 83
Water is heavily consumed and produced backin SAGD process. 84
⇑ Corresponding author at: Chemical Engineering Department, Texas A&M In order to produce one barrel of bitumen, up to five barrels of boi- 85
University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, USA. ler feed water (converted to steam) are injected (Lightbown, 86

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002
2213-3976/Ó 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Please cite this article in press as: Elsayed, N.A., et al. An integrated approach for incorporating thermal membrane distillation in treating water in heavy
oil recovery using SAGD. J. Unconventional Oil Gas Resourc. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002
 JUOGR 60 No. of Pages 9, Model 5G
3 August 2015

2 N.A. Elsayed et al. / Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

Nomenclature

AFCTMD annual fixed cost of the TMD network ($/yr) WPermeate flow rate of the permeate (kg/s)
AOCTMD_NH annual operating cost of the TMD excluding heating WReject flow rate of the reject (kg/s)
($/yr) xw,f mole fraction of the water in the feed
Am membrane area (m2) xi,f mole fraction of contaminant i in the feed
Kw membrane permeability (kg/m2 Pa)
KwB temperature-independent base value for the permeabil- Subscripts:
 
kg
ity m2 s Pa f feed stream to TMDN
K1:334
u hot stream
Cp specific heat of the water stream (kJ/kg) v cold stream
Jw permeate flux (kg/m2 s) w water
NHU number of eating utilities
pow;f water vapor pressure of the feed (Pa) Superscripts:
pow;p water vapor pressure of the permeate (Pa) s supply
Qpermeate heat required to vaporize the desired amount of the per- t target
meate (kJ/s)
QRemoved heat removed from TMD (kL/s)
Greek:
T absolute temperature (K)
DHvw latent heat of vaporization for water (kJ/kg)
TBF temperature of the feed (K)
cw,f activity coefficient of water in the feed to the TMD
Tpermeate temperature of the permeate (K)
gThermal thermal efficiency for vaporization in TMD
TBBDin the inlet temperature of the boiler blowdown (K)
t ratio of recycled reject to raw feed (kg recycled reject/kg
TBBDout the outlet temperature of the boiler blowdown (K)
raw feed)
Tm,f temperature of the feed on the membrane (K)
f water recovery ratio (kg permeate/kg raw feed)
WBBD flow rate of the boiler blowdown (kg/s)
W Raw
f total flowrate of the raw water to be treated (kg/s)
W TMD
f TMD-feed flowrate (kg/s)

87 2014a). About 10% of the injected steam is retained in the reservoir membrane. The hydrophobic nature of the membrane ensures no 123
88 and the remaining 90% is produced back with the bitumen (Hill, condensation takes place before leaving the membrane pores. 124
89 2012). Hence, SAGD is a process that is characterized by high con- The passing vapor condenses in the permeate side and is collected 125
90 sumption of fresh water and high discharge of produced water. as a highly-pure liquid. This process is driven by the difference in 126
91 Therefore, it is very important to better manage the water water chemical potential across the membrane sides. This chemi- 127
92 resources to supply the huge water demand needed in energy pro- cal potential difference is proportional to the vapor pressure differ- 128
93 duction including the SAGD process. From an integrated and sus- ence between the feed and the permeate sides. 129
94 tainable design perspective, water treatment networks and The main concern about TMD is providing sufficient heat to 130
95 recycling are considered among the most effective strategies for ensure the phase change needed to evaporate the desired amount 131
96 water management within SAGD processes. of permeate. If this heat is provided exclusively from an external 132
97 Water networks are forms of mass integration networks devel- energy source (e.g., heating fluid or low pressure steam produced 133
98 oped to reduce the fresh water consumption by treating the based on the combustion of a purchased fuel), the TMD cost may 134
99 wastewater stream and allowing recycle. The treatment takes be prohibitive. An inherent advantage in SAGD produced water is 135
100 place by different technologies and the choice of technologies that it is already hot. This advantage can lead to substantial reduc- 136
101 depends on the characteristics of the wastewater and the required tion in water treatment cost. 137
102 characteristics of the produced stream. In SAGD, the produced Thermal membrane distillation technology offers several 138
103 water is typically characterized by low salinity, high silica and advantages in the areas of water desalination for recycle and reuse 139
104 hardness content and elevated concentrations of dissolved organic purposes, readers are referred to references such: Adham et al. 140
105 matter (Xie et al., 2009). The steam used in SAGD is typically pro- (2013), Singh and Sirkar (2012); Mariah et al. (2006). One of the 141
106 duced through Once Through Steam Generator (OTSG) with speci- most attractive pros of TMD is theoretically, ideal TMD module 142
107 fic concentration constraints on water quality. Typically the offers a complete rejection of non-volatile compounds and ions 143
108 produced water from SAGD contains sodium chlorides represented and actual performance can approach this theoretical limit. 144
109 as total dissolved salts (TDS), organics represented by total organic The capacity of TMD can be readily increased by adding more 145
110 compounds (TOC), silica, and hardness. Table 1 provides some modules and maintenance can be carried out without completely 146
111 characteristics of a sample produced water from SAGD and the shutting down the plant. Recent experimental work has 147
112 OTSG requirements of the boiler feed water. The produced water
113 is treated and mixed with makeup water to be recycled for steam
Table 1
114 production.
Typicl SAGD produced water compositions and feed requirements for the OTSG (Xie
115 The treatment of produced water requires selective technolo- et al., 2009).
116 gies. Thermal membrane distillation (TMD) is an emerging desali-
117 nation and water treatment technology that started to gain Impurities Produced water from SAGD OTSG Feed water
(mg/L) requirements (mg/L)
118 industrial attention in the field of industrial water recycle/reuse
119 and desalination. It is a thermally driven separation process based TDS 4000–6500 7000
TOC 232 2
120 on heating up the feed solution to moderate temperature, below SiO2 150–400 502
121 the boiling point at the feed water pressure. The produced water Hardness, 150–300 0.1
122 vapor travels preferentially through a hydrophobic, micro-porous CaCO3

Please cite this article in press as: Elsayed, N.A., et al. An integrated approach for incorporating thermal membrane distillation in treating water in heavy
oil recovery using SAGD. J. Unconventional Oil Gas Resourc. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002
 JUOGR 60 No. of Pages 9, Model 5G
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N.A. Elsayed et al. / Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources xxx (2015) xxx–xxx 3

148 demonstrated the lab-scale viability of TMD in treating SAGD pro- process in which the silica and hardness causing ions are precipi- 210
149 duced water. Singh and Sirkar (2012) conducted experimental tated to particles and separated from the water effluent. Hot 211
150 work for a synthesized SAGD produced water stream at tempera- Lime Softening (HLS) and Warm Lime Softening (WLS) are used 212
151 tures ranging from 353 K to 403 K and under pressure ranges of for removing hardness and silica from the produced water from 213
152 2–3 atm and provided as feed stream to direct contact membrane SAGD and produce the boiler feed water (Heins, 2010). In some 214
153 for treating. The synthesized produced water contained high con- cases, the softened water exiting WLS/HLS goes through an ion 215
154 centration of NaCl and traces of phenol, cresol, and naphthenic exchange stage for further polishing (Hill, 2012). 216
155 acid. As mentioned earlier, TMD is highly effective in removing
156 inorganic salts and heavy components (with vapor pressure much
Steam generators 217
157 less than that of water). For other contaminants in water, they are
158 to be treated using additional technologies including the following.
Steam injection is required for SAGD in very large volumes. A 218
typical boiler feed water (leading to steam) to oil ratio ranges from 219
159 Pretreatment
2 to 4 on a volume basis. Commonly, steam is generated through 220
Once Through Steam Generators (OTSG) with pressure that typi- 221
160 De-oiling
cally ranges from 8400 to 11,200 kPa (Bridle, 2005). The boiler feed 222
161 Typically the produced water associated the production of oil
water has specific characterization to be met in terms of total hard- 223
162 and gas contains organic materials that exist in two forms: dis-
ness, organic materials, total dissolved solids (TDS) and silica con- 224
163 persed oil and dissolved organic material that can be classified into
tent. The concentrated boiler blowdown (BBD) water from the 225
164 four categories (Lightbown, 2014b): aliphatic hydrocarbons, phe-
separator (typically around 20% of the boiler feed water) can be 226
165 nols, carboxylic acids and low molecular weight aromatic
treated for further recycle if Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) is required 227
166 compounds.
(Heins and Schooley, 2004). 228
167 The physical and chemical characteristics of the produced water
Fig. 1 provides a schematic representation of the typical water 229
168 vary widely due to differences in the type of reservoir formations
treatment technologies used in SAGD from the reservoir to the 230
169 rock, type of hydrocarbon produced, and the life of the well
steam injection step. 231
170 (Plebon, 2006). The SAGD produced water is characterized by high
The target of this paper is to provide an integrated approach for 232
171 content of organic compounds (Xie et al., 2009). Regardless of the
using TMD as an element in SAGD water treatment applications. 233
172 characteristics of SAGD produced water, the treated water must
The use of TMD is intended to take advantage of the hot produced 234
173 meet strict requirements before being used in the boilers
water and blowdown streams. The thermal energy of these water 235
174 employed for steam generation. These requirements are needed
streams exploits the energy-water nexus within SAGD and may 236
175 to the various potential problems that may be caused in the boiler
reduce water treatment cost. The use of TMD is to be examined 237
176 drum and tubes including corrosion and coking (Xie et al., 2009).
in treating and recycling the produced water associated with the 238
177 The SAGD process depends on injecting steam to the formation
production of heavy oil and boiler blowdown. Conceptual designs 239
178 to heat up the bitumen zone to help increase its mobility and
of integrated water treatment networks are presented and differ- 240
179 enhance production that causes elevating the temperature of water
ent scenarios are addressed. It is desired to produce a high-purity 241
180 produced with bitumen from about 283 to 353 K (Kato et al.,
water permeate suitable for steam generation and to minimize 242
181 2008; Plebon, 2006). Typical technologies used for de-oiling
the fresh water usage as well as the wastewater discharge. 243
182 require cooling the hot produced water, and this cooling would
183 cause an increase in the operating cost of treatment. New tech-
184 nologies are emerging in the market for de-oiling without the need Problem statement 244
185 for cooling the produced water effluent. An example of such tech-
186 nologies is the Phase Separation method developed by RJ Oil Sands In this paper, we consider two wastewater sources associated 245
187 which uses gas bubbles to separate oil and oil wet solids from the with SAGD: produced water and boiler blowdown. Each wastewa- 246
188 SAGD produced water (Lightbown, 2014a). These technologies will ter source has a known flowrate, Wi, temperature, Tin,i, pressure, Pi, 247
189 reduce the operating cost of the treatment and will enable utilizing and composition of impurities xik, where i = 1, 2, . . ., Wsource and 248
190 the hot produced SAGD deoiled produced water as a feed to TMD. k = 1, 2, . . ., Nimpurities. Treated produced water and/or blowdown 249
may be used to replace some of the feed to the boiler. The boiler 250
191 Suspended solids removal feed water requires a certain flowrate W, inlet and outlet temper- 251
192 Suspended solids are among the most common contaminants in atures, Tin and Tout, and maximum allowable composition of impu- 252
193 the produced water. They can be easily removed typically using rities, xk. Available for service is fresh makeup water resource 253
194 simple filters. which can be purchased (flowrate W to be determined) to comple- 254
ment the need for the boiler. The temperature of the fresh makeup 255
195 Softening and silica removal water, TF, and composition, xf,k, are known. Also external heating 256
196 The produced water is typically characterized by a high content utilities, NHU, where u = 1, 2, . . ., NH and cooling utilities, where 257
197 of calcium and magnesium ions commonly known by the term NCU, v = 1, 2, . . ., NC are available for service for the boiler and the 258
198 ‘‘hardness’’ (Camacho et al., 2013) as well as high silica content. TMD if needed after thermal coupling. A network of TMD modules 259
199 Divalent ions must be removed from boiler feed water due to is to be used. The total area, number of modules, and design spec- 260
200 potential scaling problems that lead to inefficient heat transfer ifications for the TMD network are to be determined. Available for 261
201 and equipment breakdown. Silica is a major component of the sand service are sets of pretreatment technologies to be used prior to 262
202 formation where bitumen is extracted. It is present in the produced TMD network for de-oiling and eliminating silica and hardness. 263
203 water from SAGD in high levels (Pedenaud et al., 2004). Dissolved Mass and heat integration will take place between water sources 264
204 silica particles precipitate and deposit in the boiler tubes which and sinks. Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of the proposed 265
205 may lead to tube failure. Typically, the water softening technology problem statement. The objective is to assess the technical and 266
206 is selected based on the extent of hardness. For low concentrations, economic performance of TMD in treating the SAGD produced 267
207 less than 200–300 mg/L, ion exchange is more economical while water and boiler blowdown while rendering a permeate that can 268
208 for higher concentrations of hardness, lime softening may be be used as part of the feed to SAGD boilers. The result is a reduction 269
209 included (Xie et al., 2009). Lime softening is simply a chemical in fresh water usage and wastewater discharge for SAGD. 270

Please cite this article in press as: Elsayed, N.A., et al. An integrated approach for incorporating thermal membrane distillation in treating water in heavy
oil recovery using SAGD. J. Unconventional Oil Gas Resourc. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002
 JUOGR 60 No. of Pages 9, Model 5G
3 August 2015

4 N.A. Elsayed et al. / Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

Makeup
Water

Fig. 1. The stages of the produced water recycling from the reservoir and to the form of steam injected to the reservoir again.

Excess Heat this context, it reduces the use and discharge of softening chemi- 307
cals and provides high quality permeate. Fig. 3 is a representation 308
of a possible embodiment for the treatment of deoiled PW using 309
Produced Water TMD. This representation involves the extraction of heat from the 310
Water Treatment SAGD Process hot BBD and the use of external heat from the combustion of fossil 311

Boiler Feed Water

fuel or flared gases to heat the feed to TMD. Later, specific imple- 312
Network Including OTSG mentation scenarios with and without external heating will be 313
presented. 314

Fig. 2. Representation of the problem statement. Treating the boiler blowdown water 315

Thermal membrane distillation is one of very few technologies 316

271 The design challenges for the problem include different objec- that can handle high-salinity water such as the blowdown water 317
272 tive functions to consider: from the OTSG while rendering a permeate that satisfies the strict 318
requirements for feed water into OTSG. The high temperature of 319
273  What is the optimal heat integration within the streams? how BBD offers a substantial advantage for the use of TMD. Treatment 320
274 much external heating and cooling utilities should be used? of the BBD is particularly important in cases when there are no suf- 321
275  What is the optimal area required for the membrane? ficient fresh water resources for OTSG makeup. It is also useful 322
276
when deep-well injection of BBD is not an option, when there is 323
277 The next section describes the proposed design approach to be strict regulatory restriction on the disposal of large volumes of 324
278 used in solving this problem. high-temperature, pressure and salinity, or when there is a desire 325
to approach ZLD. It is worth noting that TMD does not offer a com- 326
279 Design scenarios plete ZLD system but is works as an important stage in the system. 327
As shown by Fig. 4, it is desired to recover clean water along 328
280 In this section, the key scenarios for using TMD are described. with heat from the BBD. The BBD leaves the OTSG at elevated tem- 329
281 As previously mentioned, the economic performance of TMD is perature and pressure such as 320 °C and 11,000 kPa (Heins, 2010). 330
282 highly dependent on the thermal energy and the availability of Such heat content, elevated temperature and concentrated salt 331
283 no/low-cost heat that needs to be supplied for the feed to assure composition of the BBD are advantageous factors for TMD. This 332
284 the production of the desired permeate recovery. Since the major scenario is very important when the SOR is high in which case 333
285 wastewater streams within SAGD are discharged at high tempera- the volumes of the BBD will also be high. Recycle of this water will 334
286 tures, there is a unique opportunity for synergizing the reduce the consumption of the required makeup water. Also, it is a 335
287 energy-water nexus by employing TMD treatment technology in good starting stage when ZLD is required. Because TMD has been 336
288 the SAGD process. Two main water streams are to be treated: the validated to work with high concentration feeds (e.g., Adham 337
289 deoiled PW and the BBD. Since both wastewater streams are hot, et al., 2013), it is among the most promising desalination technolo- 338
290 there is an inherent motivation for considering TMD. The heat con- gies to deal with BBD. 339
291 tent of the hot wastewater streams may not be sufficient to achieve
292 the desired recovery of the clean permeate. As such, two applica-
Methodology 340
293 tions are considered for treating each wastewater: one without
294 external heating and one with external heating. The following is
Modeling the TMD modules 341
295 a detailed description of the cases for each wastewater.

The TMD model is adapted from Elsayed et al. (2013). In this 342
296 Treating the deoiled PW steam to produce boiler feedwater
section, focus is given to the key governing equations and to the 343
modifications in the modeling equations to be able to address 344
297 The water produced along with the bitumen in SAGD is first
the specific case of SAGD wastewater. 345
298 introduced to skim tanks for water/bitumen separation. The sepa-
The flux of the permeate (Jw) depends on the vapor pressure dif- 346
299 rated water is deoiled to meet the requirements of the boiler feed
ference between the feed and permeate sides and is calculated 347
300 water. It is very useful to maintain the high temperature of the pro-
from the following equation: 348
301 duced water while deoiling. Therefore it is very useful to consider 349
302 the emerging deoiling technologies designed to work under high Jw ¼ K w ðpow;f cw;f xw;f  pow;p Þ ð1Þ 351
303 temperature and pressure conditions. This will eliminate the need
304 for cooling and will save the heating energy needed for TMD. where Jw is the permeate flux and Kw is the membrane permeability 352
305 Furthermore, TMD may be used to replace or complement PW soft- which is a function in the membrane properties as well as the mem- 353
306 ening technologies such as lime softening. When TMD is used in brane temperature. The non related temperatures parameters are 354

Please cite this article in press as: Elsayed, N.A., et al. An integrated approach for incorporating thermal membrane distillation in treating water in heavy
oil recovery using SAGD. J. Unconventional Oil Gas Resourc. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002
 JUOGR 60 No. of Pages 9, Model 5G
3 August 2015

N.A. Elsayed et al. / Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources xxx (2015) xxx–xxx 5

Steam

WTMD
Reservoir De-oiling
Wraw
TMD OTSG

BBD

Wreject

Waste
Discharge

Fig. 3. A representative configuration involving the use of TMD in treating deoiled PW.

In the case of SAGD, both of PW and BBD contain different types 377
Steam of dissolved salts and notable concentration of dissolved silica. In 378
the case of multiple components, two assumptions were tested 379
to calculate the activity coefficient of the water: 380

Reservoir De-oiling WLS/HLS

OTSG (1) The vapor pressure of water is reduced by the contribution 381
of the dissolved salts through reduction in mole fraction of 382
water, i.e., 383
! 384
X
n
Permeate TMD cw;f ¼ 1 xi;f ð4Þ
i 386

P
Reject where ni xi;f is the summation of mole fractions of the non- 387
volatile components present in the feed water. 388
Fig. 4. Process flow diagram for the second scenario targeting the treatment the
BBD stream.
(2) A single key component (typically the dominant component) 389
is used to represent the nonvolatile components. In the case 390
when NaCl is the dominant component, using this assump- 391
355 lumped in one term, therefore the membrane permeability can be tion renders Eq. (3) in the following form: 392
393
356 represented as a function in membrane temperature for every !2
357 membrane type (Schofield et al., 1990). Assuming a molecular diffu- X
n X
n

358 sion mechanism of water in air as proposed by (Lawson and Lloyd,

cw;f ¼ 1  0:5 xi;f  10 xi;f ð5Þ
i¼1 i¼1 395
359 1996): 396
360
362 Kw ¼ K wB T 0:5
m ð2Þ These two assumed models offer different approaches to pre- 397

363 where KwB is temperature-independent base value for the perme- dicting the activity coefficient. A third approach is to use property 398

ability and Tm is membrane average temperature. The terms pow;f estimators available in computer-aided simulation tools such as 399
364
ASPEN Plus. In order to compare the results of the two assumed 400
365 and pow;pare the water vapor pressure of the feed and permeate.
models and the simulation results, the activity coefficient and 401
366 The vapor pressure of the permeate (which is nearly free of salts) vapor pressure were calculated using the three methods. For the 402
367 depends on temperature and can be modeled through an Antoine ASPEN Plus simulation, the NRTL-RK model was used. The simu- 403
368 type equation. The term cw;f is the activity coefficient of the water lated wastewater stream contains the following concentrations 404
369 in the feed. The activity coefficient is a function of the salinity con- (in mg/L): 650, 1500, of 4000 of CaCO3, silica, and NaCl, respec- 405
370 centration. In the case of NaCl removal, it may be calculated from tively. The wastewater stream is 83 °C. Table 2 represents the 406
371 the following expression valid for concentrations below the salt results of the calculating the activity coefficient and the vapor pres- 407
372 precipitation limit (Lawson and Lloyd, 1996): sure using the two different expressions given by Eqs. (4) and (5) as 408
373
375 cw;f ¼ 1  0:5xNaCl  10x2NaCl ð3Þ well as the simulation using ASPEN Plus. These results are quite 409
comparable and would lead to a difference of less than 1% in the 410
376 where xNaCl is the mole fraction of NaCl. flux calculation given by Eq. (1). Therefore, any of the three 411

Table 2
Comparison of different models for activity coefficient and vapor pressure.

Reduction in mole fraction Lumped key component NRTL-RK model using ASPEN
model, Eq. (4) model, Eq. (5) Plus simulation
Activity coefficient of water 0.9982 0.9991 1.0002
Vapor pressure, kPa 52.923 52.372 53.028

Please cite this article in press as: Elsayed, N.A., et al. An integrated approach for incorporating thermal membrane distillation in treating water in heavy
oil recovery using SAGD. J. Unconventional Oil Gas Resourc. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002
 JUOGR 60 No. of Pages 9, Model 5G
3 August 2015

6 N.A. Elsayed et al. / Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

412 approaches may be used in calculating the activity coefficient and

413 vapor pressure.
414 Once the flux through the membrane is calculated, the mem-
415 brane area can be calculated by dividing the desired permeate flow
416 rate (W Permeate ) by the water flux:
417
419 W Permeate
Am ¼ ð6Þ
Jw

420 Modeling heat balance and recovery for the cases without and with
421 external heating

422 As mentioned earlier, for each of the two wastewater streams

423 (PW or BBD), two cases will be considered: without external heat-
424 ing and with external heating. In the no-external heating case, the
425 hot wastewater stream is fed to the TMD network at its raw tem-
426 perature. If sufficient permeate recovery is not obtained, external
427 heating is provided. In the case involving the addition of external
428 heating for PW treatment, we are constrained with the targeted
429 permeate recovery of the TMD feed (PW) to assure the water pro-
430 duced is adequate to the required water volumes before blending
431 with makeup water. Therefore, the water recovery is set and the
432 system is designed to produce this permeate and to evaluate the
433 amount of heat required to achieve the desired recovery. A similar
434 observation is made for the addition of external heating for BBD
Fig. 5. Representation of the PW or BBD treatment systems for Case I (no external
435 treatment. When there are insufficient fresh water resources for heating).
436 the makeup water compensating the losses of the BBD or when
437 there are strict regulations that limit the disposal of the BBD, it will 475
438 be necessary to meet certain water recovery targets. If such water Q Remov ed ¼ W Raw
f C BF Reject
p T BF  W Reject C p T Reject ð10Þ 477
439 recovery levels cannot be obtained by using the heat content of the
440 hot BBD, then external heating should be provided. Not only does Assuming that the specific heats of the feed and reject are 478
441 the addition of external heating in treating PW or BBD increase roughly the same (Cp) for simplification and using the expressions 479
442 the temperature of the feed to the TMD but it also allows the heat- for the flowrate of the feed and the reject (Eq. (9)), we obtain: 480
481
443 ing of a portion of the reject and recycling the heated reject to be
444 mixed with the raw feed. The increase in the total feed to the
Q Remov ed ¼ ½T BF  ð1  fÞT Reject C p W Raw
f ð11Þ 483

445 TMD increases the amount of the permeate. For more detailed dis- The thermal efficiency for heat utilization in the TMD is the 484
446 cussion of the aspects of using external heating, partial reject recy- fraction of the heat removed from the feed which is used for vapor- 485
447 cle, and impact on permeate recovery, the reader is referred to izing the permeate, i.e., 486
448 Elsayed et al. (2013) and Camacho et al. (2013). 487
W Permeate DHv w
gThermal ¼ ð12Þ
449 Case I: treatment without external heating of PW or BBD Q Remov ed 489

where DHvw is the water heat of vaporization at the average mem- 490
450 In this case, the heat contained in the wastewater streams is
brane temperature. The temperature of the reject may be calculated 491
451 used to drive the TMD separation. No fuel is burned to provide
through detailed modeling of heat and mass transfer within TMD. 492
452 external heating. As described before, in this case there is no recy-
To avoid the use of such complex models, we assume that the tem- 493
453 cle of reject because it does not help unless the reject is heated
perature of the reject is the arithmetic average of the temperature 494
454 using an external source. Fig. 5 shows the system with key flow
of the feed and the permeate-sweeping liquid, i.e., 495
455 and temperature variables. 496
456 Water recovery (f) is defined as: T BF þ T Permeate
457 T Reject ¼ ð13Þ 498
W Permeate 2
f¼ ð7Þ
459 W Raw
f
Using Eqs. (11)–(13) and rearranging the resulting expression, 499
we get: 500
where W Raw is the flowrate of the produced water raw feed (WPW) 501
460 f
C p gThermal ðT BF  T Permeate Þ
461 for the case of treating deoiled PW and it is the flowrate of the blow- f¼ ð14Þ
2DHv w  C p gThermal ðT BF þ T Permeate Þ 503
462 down (WBBD) in the case of treating BBD. Therefore, the flowrate of
463 the reject stream leaving the TMD is calculated through mass bal- This derived expression enables the calculation of the water 504
464 ance around the TMD: recovery for a given set of temperature conditions of the feed 505
465
and permeate as well as thermal properties (specific heat, latent 506
467 W Reject ¼ W Raw
f  W Permeate ð8Þ
heat of vaporization, and thermal efficiency). 507
468 Combining Eqs. (7) and (8), we get:
469
W Reject ¼ ð1  fÞW Raw ð9Þ Case II: treatment with external heating of PW or BBD 508
471 f

472 The heat removed from the TMD feed (QRemoved) is the difference As discussed earlier, the use of external heating (e.g., combus- 509
473 in enthalpy of the feed entering the TMD and the reject leaving the tion of fossil fuel or flared gases to provide an additional source 510
474 TMD, i.e., of heating) enables the heating of the raw feed and the heating 511

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oil recovery using SAGD. J. Unconventional Oil Gas Resourc. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002
 JUOGR 60 No. of Pages 9, Model 5G
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Fig. 6. Representation of the PW or BBD treatment systems for Case II (with external heating).

512 and recycle of a portion of the reject. Fig. 6 is a representation of Hence, the external heat to be added to the recycled portion of 554
513 the treatment system with recycle. the reject is given by: 555
556
514 Let t be the ratio of the recycled flowrate of the reject to the raw
515 flowrate of PW or BBD. Therefore, the TMD-feed flowrate is given Q TMD ¼ tW Raw
f C P ðT BF  T Reject Þ ð20Þ 558

516 by: Using Eqs. (13) and (20), we obtain: 559

517 560
 
519 W TMD
f ¼ ð1 þ t ÞW Raw
f ð15Þ T BF  T Permeate
Q TMD ¼ tW Raw
f CP ð21Þ
2 562
520 The flowrate of the reject stream leaving the TMD is calculated
521 through mass balance around the TMD: A heat balance around the feedside of the membrane, the heat- 563
522
ing loop, and the feed and reject streams gives: 564
524 W Reject ¼ W TMD
f  W Permeate ð16Þ 565
Q TMD þ W Raw
f C P T BF ¼ ð1  fÞW Raw
f C P T Reject þ Q Remov ed ð22Þ 567
525 The combination of Eqs. (7), (15) and (16) results in the follow-
526 ing expression: Substituting for QRemoved and QTMD from Eqs. (18) and (21) into 568
527
Eq. (22), we get, 569
529 W Reject ¼ ð1 þ t ÞW Raw
f  fW Raw
f   570
530 T BF  T Permeate
tW Raw
f CP þ W Raw
f C P T BF
532 or W Reject ¼ ð1 þ t  fÞW Raw ð17Þ 2
f
W Permeate DHv w
533 As shown before, the heat removed from the TMD feed ¼ ð1  fÞW Raw
f C P T Reject þ ð23Þ
gThermal 572
534 (QRemoved) is the difference in enthalpy of the feed entering the
535 TMD and the reject leaving the TMD, i.e., This equation can be used to determine the value of the 573
536
required recycle ratio t. 574
538 Q Remov ed ¼ W TMD
f C BF Reject
p T BF  W Reject C P T Reject ð10aÞ

539 Using the expressions Eqs. (15) and (17) for the flowrate of the Case study 575
540 feed and the reject, we get:
541
Assuming an operating company is using SAGD to produce bitu- 576
543 Q Remov ed ¼ ½ð1 þ tÞT BF  ð1 þ t  fÞT Reject C P W Raw
f ð18Þ men from a heavy oil reservoir. A pair of horizontal wells configu- 577

544 Eq. (18) can be used in the thermal efficiency expression given ration is used as well as the associated steam production and 578

545 by Eqs. (10) and (10a). injection facilities. Bitumen separation and processing facilities 579

546 A particularly interesting case is when the recycled reject is are located in the site. Located also is a water treatment plant 580

547 heated to the same temperature as that of raw feed (i.e., TPW). including deoiling and desalination sections. The hot produced 581

548 In this case, water is deoiled prior to subjection to desalination using TMD. 582
549 The deoiling technology to be used is characterized by low heat 583
551 T BF ¼ T Raw
f ¼ T Recycled
Reject ð19Þ loss during the deoiling (Lightbown, 2014a). Therefore, the tem- 584
perature of the deoiled PW is taken as 391 K. If deoiling causes 585
552 where T Raw
f is TPW for the case of treating deoiled PW and TBBD for the temperature to go below that level, heat integration with the 586
553 the case of treating BBD. hot BBD can bring it up to this temperature. A deoiled PW stream 587

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oil recovery using SAGD. J. Unconventional Oil Gas Resourc. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002
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Table 3 Case I: treatment with no external heating 621

A sample composition of a deoiled water stream from SAGD. In this case, we consider that the only heating source for the 622
Component, i PW BBD TMD feed is the heat contained in the PW (or supplemented via 623
(conc. mg/L) (conc. mg/L) heat integration with the BBD). The TMD feed temperature is 624
Hardness and alkalinity, CaCO3 650 5400 therefore taken to be 391 K. The solution of the aforementioned 625
Silica, SiO2 1500 90 modeling equations, heat balances, recovery, and cost estimation 626
TDS, NaCl 4000 17,000 provides the necessary design and costing results. The key results 627
are shown by Table 5. Having a limited heat contained in the feed 628
stream limits the attainable permeate recovery to 19.2%. The cost 629
of permeate in this case is $0.77/m3. In order to enhance the per- 630
Table 4
The operating conditions of BBD stream (Brown and El-Borno, 2005). meate recovery to a desirable level (e.g., 80%), external heating 631
must be used. This is described by Case II. 632
Inlet temperature 593 K
Outlet temperature 403 K
Operating pressure 11,000 kPa Case II: treatment with external heating 633
In this case, external heating (using purchased fuel or free flared 634
gases which are burned to provide the external heating) is 635
588 with a flowrate of 5 kg/s is to be treated using TMD. For steam gen- employed to achieve the desired 80% water recovery. It was found 636
589 eration, we consider OTSG with steam to feed ratio of 80% (i.e., BBD that to achieve 80% recovery, 3102 kW of external heating is 637
590 is 20% of the feed). Table 3 shows a representative composition for required. This heat increases the temperature of the recycled por- 638
591 the deoiled produced water and boiler blowdown based on data tion of the reject to 391 K. The value of the recycle ratio, t, is 3.2. If 639
592 from Xie et al. (2009). The operating conditions for BBD are shown the flared gases are offered for free, there is no external heating 640
593 in Table 4. Prior to discharging the hot BBD, it must be cooled. cost and the cost of the permeate is $0.59/m3 which is quite attrac- 641
594 Brown and El-Borno (2005) reported that the hot BBD at 592 K is tive. Nonetheless, if the external heating is provided through the 642
595 cooled to 403 K. As mentioned earlier, one of the scenarios that combustion of a purchased fossil fuel, the associated heating cost 643
596 we will be proposing is to use heat integration with the TMD feed will be $489,000/year and the cost of the permeate is $4.47/m3. 644
597 to cool the BBD and heat the TMD feed.
598 The following data for cost estimation are taken from Elsayed Application II: treatment of BBD 645
599 et al. (2013):
600 The annualized fixed cost of the TMD network, AFCTMD, is given For this application, the TMD network is used to treat the hot 646
601 by: BBD. Because of the relatively high temperature of the BBD 647
602
(593 K), a significant level of recovery may be achieved (greater 648
604 AFC TMD ¼ 58:5  Am þ 1115  W TMD
f ð24Þ than 98%). Nonetheless, to avoid precipitation of the salts, the 649
recovery is limited to 60%. Salt precipitation tends to deteriorate 650
605 where Am is the area of the membrane in m2 and WTMD
f is the feed to the performance of the membrane and may even render it inoper- 651
606 the TMD in kg/s, noting that for the first case where no external able. Therefore, no external heating is needed and the cost of per- 652
607 heating is used WTMD
f is substituted by WRaw
f meate is $0.30/m3 which is quite attractive for treating a high 653
608 The annual operating cost of the TMD network excluding heat- salinity BBD. 654
609 ing is given by: It is important to point out that the flowrate of the BBD is sig- 655
610 nificantly less than that of the produced water (flowrate of the 656
612 AOC TMD NH ¼ ð864 þ 43  ð1  fÞ þ 1613  ð1 þ tÞÞ  W Raw
f ð25Þ BBD is typically 1–20% of the flowrate of the injected steam 657
(Heins, 2010)). As such, we did not propose to use the heat content 658
613 The following cost data are used for the heating utilities:
of BBD to drive the treatment of the produced water. Instead (as 659

614 Cost of heating utility I (heating fluid at 590 K): $9.0/10 J. 9 shown by Application II), we proposed the use of heat contained 660

615 Cost of low pressure steam at 420 K: $5.0/109 J. in the BBD to drive the TMD that treats the BBD. 661

616 It is worth comparing the economic results of TMD with those 662
of SAGD water-treatment technologies. Pedenaud and Dang 663
617 Results and discussion (2008) have reported cost estimations for three technologies used 664
in treating SAGD water to steam quality. These technologies are 665
618 Application I: treatment of deoiled PW silica inhibition and blowdown evaporation (SIBE), warm lime 666
softening (WLS), and warm lime softening coupled with Zero 667
619 For this application, the TMD network is employed to treat the Liquid Discharge (ZLD). Assuming 360 days of operation per year 668
620 deoiled PW. As mentioned before, two cases are considered: and a linear depreciation scheme with no salvage value, the 669

Table 5
Results of the case study.

Application I: treating Application I: treating PW Application I: treating PW Application II: treating

PW BBD
Case I: treatment with no Case IIa: treatment with external Case IIb: treatment with external Case I: treatment with no
external heating heating from flared gases heating from purchased fossil fuel external heating
Percentage recovery of 19.2 80.0 80.0 60.0
treated wastewater
TMD membrane area (m2) 43.7 183.6 183.6 32.0
Total annualized cost of 23.4 74.6 563.7 5.5
TMD network 103$/m3
Cost of permeate ($/m3) 0.77 0.59 4.47 0.30

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oil recovery using SAGD. J. Unconventional Oil Gas Resourc. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002
 JUOGR 60 No. of Pages 9, Model 5G
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N.A. Elsayed et al. / Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources xxx (2015) xxx–xxx 9

670 results of Pedenaud and Dang (2008) were converted to cost per References 705
671 volume to be (in units of $/m3 of treated water) 3.21, 3.97,
672 $5.48 for SIBE, WLS, and ZLD, respectively. The use of TMD to treat Adham, S., Hussain, A., Matar, J.M., Dores, R., Janson, A., 2013. Application of 706
membrane distillation for desalting brines from thermal desalination plants. 707
673 SAGD produced water in Application I, Cases I and IIa is consider- Desalination 314, 101–108. 708
674 ably less expensive than SIBE, WLS, and ZLS. This gives an incen- Bridle, M., 2005. Treatment of SAGD Produced Waters without Lime Softening. 709
675 tive to replacing the conventional de-oiling systems with the Brown, D., El-Borno, B., 2005. Challenges in water treatment for generation of 100% 710
steam quality. Presentation in partnership between EnCana Oil & Gas and G.E. 711
676 emerging technologies that preserve the temperature of the pro- <http://naceedmonton.com/pdf/FtMacPresentation/Encana_Challenges%20in% 712
677 duced water (Lightbown, 2014a). Additionally, new field develop- 20Water%20Treatment_NACE_Fort%20Mac_10%2006.pdf> (accessed 05.07.15). 713
678 ers should consider the use of the emerging de-oiling technologies Camacho, L.M., Dumée, L., Zhang, J., Li, J.D., Duke, M., Gomez, J., Gray, S., 2013. 714
Advances in membrane distillation for water desalination and purification 715
679 to enable the cost-effective use of TMD in treating the SAGD pro- 716
applications. Water 5 (1), 94–196.
680 duced water. Another economic advantage for TMD is that Elsayed, N.A., Barrufet, M.A., El-Halwagi, M.M., 2013. Integration of thermal 717
681 because of modular nature, its capital cost is almost a linear func- membrane distillation networks with processing facilities. Ind. Eng. Chem. 718
Res. 53 (13), 5284–5298. 719
682 tion of the treated volume. Therefore, the cost results reported in 720
Heins, W., Schooley, K., 2004. Achieving zero liquid discharge in SAGD heavy oil
683 Table 5 are relatively constant for a wide range of treated vol- recovery. J. Can. Pet. Technol. 43 (8), 37–42. 721
684 umes. This is an important point given the broad range of SAGD Heins, W.F., 2010. Is a paradigm shift in produced water treatment technology 722
occurring at SAGD facilities. J. Canadian Petrol. Technol. 49 (1). 723
685 facility sizes that can be as low as 10,000 bbl/day and may exceed
Hill, R., 2012. Thermal In Situ Water Conservation Study. A Summary Report. Jacobs 724
686 200,000 bbl/day with steam to oil ratios in the order of 2.0 –2.5 Consultancy. 725
687 (Heins, 2010). Kato, A., Onozuka, S., Nakayama, T., 2008. Elastic property changes in a bitumen 726
reservoir during steam injection. Lead. Edge 27 (9), 1124–1131. 727
Lawson, K.W., Lloyd, D.R., 1996. Membrane distillation. II. Direct contact MD. J. 728
688 Conclusions Membr. Sci. 120 (1), 123–133. 729
Lightbown, V., 2014a. New SAGD technologies show promise in reducing 730
environmental impact of oil sand production. Oil Gas Min. 1 (2), 1–13. 731
689 This work has examined the treatment of two primary wastew- 732
Lightbown, V., 2014b. New SAGD technologies show promise in reducing
690 ater streams generated in the unconventional production of heavy environmental impact of oil sand production. Oil Gas Min. 1 (2). 733
691 oil and bitumen using SAGD. The use of TMD was considered to Nasr, T.N., Ayodele, O.R., 2005. Thermal techniques for the recovery of heavy oil and 734
bitumen. SPE International Improved Oil Recovery Conference in Asia Pacific, 735
692 take advantage of the relatively high temperature of two wastew-
2005. Society of Petroleum Engineers. 736
693 ater streams: PW and BBD. The modeling, heat-balance, and recov- Pedenaud, P., et al., 2004. Silica scale inhibition for steam generation in OTSG boiler. 737
694 ery equations were developed for the two targeted SAGD SPE International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium and Western 738
Regional Meeting, 2004. Society of Petroleum Engineers. 739
695 wastewater streams. The cases of using TMD without and with
Pedenaud, P., Dang, F., 2008. A New Water Treatment Scheme for Thermal 740
696 external heating utilities were considered. A case study shows that Development: the SIBE Process, SPE-11756-MS. Presented at the SPE 741
697 both PW and BBD can be treated to very high-quality permeate International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium, 20–23 October, 742
698 streams in a cost-effective manner. The costs for the various sce- Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 743
Plebon, M.J., 2006. De-Oiling Produced Water from Upstream Operations without 744
699 narios range from $0.30–4.47/m3 of permeate depending on the the Need for Added Chemicals or Heat. Water Innovation in the Oil Patch 745
700 characteristics of the wastewater, the desired recovery, and the Conference. 746
701 availability of heating sources. Schofield, R.W. et al., 1990. Factors affecting flux in membrane distillation. 747
Desalination 77, 279–294. 748
Shen, C., 2013. Chapter 17 – SAGD for heavy oil recovery. In: Sheng, J.J. (Ed.), 749
702 Acknowledgment Enhanced Oil Recovery Field Case Studies. Gulf Professional Publishing, Boston, 750
pp. 413–445. 751
Xie, J., Liu, X., Xie, W., 2009. Technology and Application of Recycling Produced 752
703 Dr. Elsayed would like to thank the Egyptian Ministry of Higher 753
Water from Heavy Oil Production to Steam Generators.
704 Education for sponsoring the conducted research.
754

Please cite this article in press as: Elsayed, N.A., et al. An integrated approach for incorporating thermal membrane distillation in treating water in heavy
oil recovery using SAGD. J. Unconventional Oil Gas Resourc. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juogr.2015.07.002