Produced water treatment to remove organic compounds

• Main Authors: KOSTEDT WILLIAM LEONARD IV, KU ANTHONY YUUNG, PETERSEN MATTHEW ALAN, MATIS HOPE, POLIZZOTTI DAVID M, MOORE BRIAN CHRISTOPHER, SCHWORM JEFFREY LYNN
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 05.08.2015
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATERTREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; METALLURGY; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE

Systems and methods for removing organic contaminants from water may be used, for example, to treat produced water from a steam assisted heavy oil recovery operation. The treated produced water may be re-used to create steam. Alternatively, the produced water may be a blowdown stream treated to facilitate further treatment in a thermal crystallizer. The treatments may include pH adjustment or separating de-solubilized organics or both. Other treatments may include one or more of oxidation, sorption and biological treatments. The treatments may be used alone or in various combinations. One exemplary combination includes reducing the pH of produced water, separating de-solubilized organics from the produced water, and oxidizing the produced water or contacting the produced water with activated carbon.