ABSTRACT

Produced water is the wastewater formed when water is brought from subsurface reservoirs
during oil or gas extraction. Currently, produced water is mainly treated using conventional
trains that contain adsorbates, membrane filters, phase separators and cyclones. This
presentation reviewed the detailed characteristics of oilfield produced water and the assessment
of multiple technologies at primary, secondary, and tertiary treatments stages. The effectiveness
of the treatment technology from the production of waste, energy requirements, usage of
chemicals and the treatment effect of contaminants has been discussed.
Introduction
Extraction of oil and gas leads to a reduction in reservoir pressure, and as a result of this water
is injected into the reservoir water layer to maintain hydraulic pressure and enhance recovery.
In addition to the injected water, water breakthrough occurs from outside the reservoir area and
as oil and gas production continues, formation water reaches production well and is produced
alongside the hydrocarbon. This water accounts for the largest volume of by product generated
during oil and gas recovery operations. Produced water is usually very salty and may contain
suspended and dissolved solids, residual hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and chemicals used in
hydrocarbon extractions.
Oilfield and refineries wastewater:
wastewater Within the oilfields and refineries, oil-related to water is named as the produced
water during crude oil extraction operations. This water is considered as the largest aquatic
wass that produced in industries. And Produced water conducts through:
• During the extraction process of crude oil that
conduct a combination of both oil and water as its
naturally within the cavities of subsurface
formations, as shown in fig 1.
In the original reservoir, the pores in the mineral
matrix contain the natural fluids at chemical
equilibrium. Because reservoir rock is largely of
sedimentary origin, water was present at the time of
rock genesis and, therefore, is trapped in the pores of
the rock. Water may also move or migrate according
to the hydraulic pressures induced by geological
processes that also form the reservoirs.
• Injecting water into the oil field to far up the oil to
the ground level but this step will make a future
problem by increasing the water quantities within the
Figure 1.1: Reservoirs which contain water, oil
and gas develop a series of transition zones
aquifers eventually. With regard to formations of subsurface, rocks are penetrated with a
combination of oil, water and gas.
ʺIt is believed that rocks are completely saturated with water in most oil-bearing formations
due to the invasion and trapping of oilʺ.
This water can flow from below, above, or inside the hydrocarbons area or can flow due to the
additives that were injected during extraction and production. Before starting the production
process and bringing the fluids upward, the produced fluid is named formation water. As a
result, any water within the hydrocarbon zone that is produced with crude oil or natural gas and
brought up by well pumps is named as the produced water. The fig 2 below shows the typical
oil field production.

Figure 2. Production profile for a typical

oilfield

WATER PRODUCTION IN OIL WELLS:

Figure 3 below shows the process of oil, gas, and water separation. Produced water, represented
by the brown line, comes out of the wellhead at the top lefthand corner. At this point it mixes
together with oil and gas.
It then goes through a separation vessel. In this vessel, water settles at the bottom, oil in the
middle, and gas rises to
the top. Water is
pumped out of the
bottom of the tank.
The oil then goes
through one or two
more stages
of separation, often in a
heated vessel, which
accelerates separation.
Separation of oil, gas and water in static separators or tank farm:
The crude oil from the well is usually a mixture of oil, gas and water. To process the oil and its
ingredients, these three components are separated in a first step. Depending on whether gas is
present in the crude oil or not, a 2- or 3-phase separation is required.
3-phase separation
Wells with a high content of gas have also a high pressure. In the separation plant, this pressure
is reduced. This is done in so called high pressure separators, and mid or low pressure
separators. This process is a continuous process, where at the front of the separator the
liquid/gas is constant added. The gas is released at the top and the oil-water mixture is
separating by using gravity and chemicals. The oil water mixture contains as well emulsion,
which causes problems in this process as well. As the oil is lighter than water is goes up,
whereas the water goes down at the same time. Once the liquid reaches the end of the separator
the liquids are leave the oil and water are discharge separately. This process sounds rather easy
but is in realty a though job. A lot of chemicals have to be added, sometime heat is introduced
in order to speed up the separation and to have the purest possible liquids.

2-phase separation for liquid

In a batch-wise separation the crude is brought in very big tanks where it is stored for a defined
time. During this time gravity is separating the oil, the emulsion and the water. Whereas the
water which is heaviest is at the bottom, the oil which is lightest is at the top, and in the middle
there is found the emulsion, which is a mixture of oil and water, and therefore the weight is in
between oil and water.
After some time, normally hours, the crude has separated and is pumped to further processes.
Why produced water must be removed?
It is important to treat the wastewater associated with the crude oil operations, where this
untreated water may affect the quality of the oil, its price, and its properties. In addition, it
affects this produced water on human health, the environment, soil and groundwater, therefore
there's a need to deal with for the purpose of free crude oil, water, suspended solids and other
materials. Many studies showed that the oil-field produced wastewater may cause problems in
the environment in several ways :
• clay deflection which caused by over sodicity.
• Plant harming by dehydrating and dying due to the increase of soluble salts.
• Aquatic environment damage as per to the reduction of oxygen level.
• Deep formation plugging by suspended solids which leads to increase in injection pressure and
decrease the flow rate of injected produce water.
• The impact of chemical additives such as corrosion inhibitor and H2S scavenger.
Produced water volume and management
There is no fixed volume for the produced water, it depends on the reservoir location and the
extraction technology that was operated. Produced water volume in a certain reservoir varies
from a while to while. At the beginning of the extraction process, the produced water quantity is
very little but when the aging of the reservoir increases, the amount becomes more.
The management for the purpose of treating is very costly and should be considered in any
production plan which has an effective role in making the economic recovery determination of
the reservoir that may lead to having a substantial number of recoverable hydrocarbons in the
reservoir.
The most important options of produced water managing can be summarized in:
• The produced water can be injected again into the same formation of a reservoir or another
suitable formation in order to reduce cost and also compensating pressure in the reservoir.
• The discharging of produced water to the aquatic environment after a specific treatment to
meet required discharge regulations of the environment.
• Reusing the produced water in the drilling and maintenance operations of the well sites in
accordance with treating it to meet the desired quality.
• The produced water can be used for commercial purposes after proceeding a significant
treatment to meet the minimum limits for the reuse in irrigation, rangeland restoration and live
organism consumption.
Characteristics of oilfield produced water
OPW contains a mixture of suspended solids and dissolved organic and inorganic compounds.
Its physicochemical properties vary, depending on the production region, and on the type of
hydrocarbons prevalent in the crude oil. Variability depends on many factors such as
geographical location, hydrocarbon composition, reservoir formation and water injection
history. The main constituents of OPW are listed in Table1, whereas details of the different
constituents are described in the following sections, focussing on the most relevant topics and
highlights for different locations.
Major constituents in oilfield produced water:

Dissolved organic
compounds PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons), organic acids, BTEX (benzene,
toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) and phenol

Dissolved minerals
and heavy metals Generally high in concentration depending on geological formation.
Some dissolved minerals can make the water extremely saline.

Produced solids Natural Solids and artificial solids are the two classes of
produced solids associated with oil & gas production

Treatment Chemical additives applied in well operation to enhance

chemicals production operation may induce toxicity

Oil and grease O&G can result from contact with the hydrocarbon bearing
formation

Dissolved gases
Hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide, oxygen
The physicochemical properties of produced water
It varies considerably depending on the reservoir type (e.g. oil, gas or coal), geographic location
of the field, the geologic formation and the type of produced hydrocarbon (e.g. heavy oil,
medium oil, light oil, lean gas, rich gas. Table 2 represents the summary of typical oil field
produced water properties.