Water reclamation from shale gas drilling flow-back fluid using a novel forward osmosis―vacuum membrane distillation hybrid system

• Published in: Water science and technology Vol. 69; no. 5; pp. 1036 - 1044
• Main Authors: LI, Xue-Mei, BAOLONG ZHAO, ZHOUWEI WANG, MING XIE, JIANFENG SONG, NGHIEM, Long D, TAO HE, CHI YANG, CHUNXIA LI, GANG CHEN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London International Water Association 01.01.2014; IWA Publishing
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Bottled water; Cellulose; Contaminants; Distillation; Distillation - instrumentation; Distilled water; Distilling; Drilling; Drinking water; Drinking water and swimming-pool water. Desalination; Exact sciences and technology; Extraction and Processing Industry; Feasibility Studies; Flow velocity; Fluid flow; Gas industry; Global environmental pollution; Hybrid systems; Hydraulic fracturing; Laboratories; Membranes; Membranes, Artificial; Osmosis; Pollution; Pretreatment; Reclaimed water; Reclamation; Recovery; Recycling - methods; Salinity; Sedimentary rocks; Shale; Shale gas; Shales; Solutes; Vacuum; Vacuum distillation; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods; Water Purification - methods; Water Quality; Water reclamation; Water treatment and pollution; China, People's Rep; Drilling mud; Vacuum distillation; Water treatment; water reclamation; Membrane distillation; Drilling fluid; Water resource management; Osmosis; Sustainable development; Shale gas; Hybrid system; Membrane separation; Restoration; Desalination; drilling and fracturing fluid; water reuse; forward osmosis; Natural gas; Environmental protection
• ISSN: 0273-1223; 1996-9732
• DOI: 10.2166/wst.2014.003

This study examined the performance of a novel hybrid system of forward osmosis (FO) combined with vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) for reclaiming water from shale gas drilling flow-back fluid (SGDF). In the hybrid FO-VMD system, water permeated through the FO membrane into a draw solution reservoir, and the VMD process was used for draw solute recovery and clean water production. Using a SGDF sample obtained from a drilling site in China, the hybrid system could achieve almost 90% water recovery. Quality of the reclaimed water was comparable to that of bottled water. In the hybrid FO-VMD system, FO functions as a pre-treatment step to remove most contaminants and constituents that may foul or scale the membrane distillation (MD) membrane, whereas MD produces high quality water. It is envisioned that the FO-VMD system can recover high quality water not only from SGDF but also other wastewaters with high salinity and complex compositions.