Development of a multistage mobile system for oily wastewater treatment

Produced water comes as a by-product during recovery of natural gas and crude oil from onshore and offshore production operations. Pollution caused by inappropriate disposal of produced water has become a widespread problem in many oilfields. This situation is especially poignant in developing of a new oil field. Many studies have been carried out on produced water treatment. However, traditional physical and chemical processes alone did not meet the requirement of discharge standards. It is also difficult to treat the large volume of produced water generated on remote site, where there is no appropriate infrastructure. The objective of this study is to design a mobile water treatment system to cost efficiently treat the oily wastewater. In this project, the key technical approach of the proposed project is the combination of electrocoagulation and membrane filtration with integrated intelligent automation and process optimization in the framework of a mobile treatment unit for produced water. Various treatment modules have been developed. Multistage electrocoagulation and membrane filtration have been developed and tested. Operating parameters for developed system have been optimized to improve treatment efficiency. Based on process technology and equipment performance, the treatment scheme on trailer platform has been determined to include consideration of both technical and economic efficiency.