Desalination of oilfield produced waters via reverse electrodialysis: A techno-economical assessment

Produced waters (PWs) are oilfield waste streams rich in minerals and hydrocarbons whose production rate is largely increased last decades following the corresponding increase of energy demand. The high salinity level PWs inhibits adoption cheap biological treatments. Also, desalination techniques based on osmotic membranes would require severe pre-treatments. As an alternative, Reverse ElectroDialysis (RED) Assisted (ARED) here proposed for first time to reduce PWs. RED may also guarantee operation cost reduction thanks its generation. An ad-hoc model ARED developed order deal suitably with This done by a calibration validation experimental data purposely collected via units fed real integrated economical equations techno-economic analysis carried out identify best configuration purposes. Results suggest that mode option guaranteeing minimum controlled dilution 1.32 € per m3 treated, thus leaving room affordable future implementation more sophisticated treatment chains bioremediation.