Modular Mechanical Vapor Compression-Membrane Distillation (MVC-MD) for Treatment of High TDS Produced Water

Executive Summary

This projects aims to integrate mechanical vapor compression with membrane distillation (MVC-MD) to intensify the treatment of produced water resulted from hydraulic fracturing of shale oil and gas. In particular, membrane distillation offers a viable pathway to treat concentrated brine streams with high salinity brines, and it has the potential to be utilized for near-zero liquid discharge. However, MD in its current state is handicapped by significant energy intensity due to loss of heat of evaporation, and scaling (fouling). This project is looking into the energy intensity issue by integrating MD with MVC to recycle the latent heat of evaporation. It also proposes a facile aluminum electrocoagulation (EC) pretreatment to remove up to 95% of total suspended solids and organic compounds. The proposed aluminum EC can effectively mitigate membrane scaling for long-term applications.

Technical Challenge

• Complex chemistry of the produced water makes the treatment process more challenging.

• The characteristics of the produced water is highly variable, depending on the geochemistry of the formation and age of the well.

• If not controlled, precipitation and scaling of minerals in the hypersaline produced water can irreversibly impair the membrane and reduce the membrane performance.

• Visualizing the hydrodynamics of the flow in the intensified membrane cells is complicated.

Potential Impact

• Treating produced water for recycle and reuse is an untapped business. The oil & gas industry spends more than $40 billion for the PW treatment and disposal, annually. Less than 10% of PW is recycled or reused, while only 1% is treated.
• Small, modular MD-MVC can be used to treat the produced water at the well site. This technology has the potential to be utilized for near-zero liquid discharge.
 

Resources

TTU: 
    • Designing innovative membrane-based separations
   • Using the first-principles thermodynamics to estimate the eNRTL parameters for an array of electrolytes present in the hypersaline produced water
   • Designing intensified MD stack modules
   • Experience with intensifying various chemical processes
   • Process-level simulation and energy/entropy analysis
UA:
   • Electrocoagulation for treatment of produced water
Gore:
   • A worldwide leader in membrane development
     Gore supplies the membranes for MD
Apache:
   • One of the largest hydraulic fracturing companies in north America – 
     Apache will facilitate field studies for on-site treatment
Aspen Tech:
   • Process simulation software provider
     Aspen Tech will provide the software for process simulation and thermodynamics studies

Investigator
Date Approved
Project Number
-
Initial TRL Level
-
Current TRL level
6
Project Funding
4,100,000
Focus Areas
Partner Organizations