Thermal Desalination of Produced Water—An Analysis of the Partitioning of Constituents into Product Streams and Its Implications for Beneficial Use Outside the O&G Industry

To understand partitioning of produced water (PW) constituents using thermal desalination, PW from the Delaware Basin was desalinated a crystallization process and modeled OLI Systems, Inc. (OLI, Parsippany, NJ, USA) chemistry software. The incorporation pretreatment step, steam stripping, prior to desalination predicted be effective at removing hydrocarbons (across range volatilities). As expected, inorganics were almost completely retained in residual brine which confirmed by OLI. evaporation progressed, sparingly soluble compounds such as gypsum celestite precipitated first overall solids production this stage low (<1% total solids). Further resulted saturation with respect NaCl, started precipitate bulk up practical limit approximately 68% mass (approximately 80% volume). Beyond point, mixture became too viscous pumped. Gravimetrically determined dissolved (TDS) for PW, distillate found much higher than prediction, potentially due presence neutral species, unstripped gases organic (likely hydrophilic) constituents. Although had TDS, unknown including will likely require polishing treatment mitigate potential toxicity associated or transformation products post-release if discharged environment. near-complete retention acetate brine. In contrast, laboratory tests showed nearly 50% into distillate. not modeled, propionate even 94%. inclusion ammonia an input species greatly improved match between test data model prediction. Additionally, it hypothesized that acetic acid/acetate could have formed volatile adduct increased its volatility findings study inform beneficial use describing chemical composition desalination-derived distillate, salt products. This also identified alternative approaches, both non-treatment, managing unconventional operations.