Salem Alzahrani

Bio: Salem Alzahrani is an academic researcher from National University of Malaysia. The author has contributed to research in topics: Reverse osmosis & Nanofiltration. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 5 publications receiving 387 citations. Previous affiliations of Salem Alzahrani include King Saud University.

Challenges and trends in membrane technology implementation for produced water treatment: A review

Abstract: This review provides insight into the implementation of membrane technology in the petroleum industry for treating produced water that is generated from conventional oilfields in upstream and downstream processes. The ever-evolving and increasingly stringent regulatory standards for discharging produced water pose colossal environmental and economic implications because the bulk of this produced water is disposed into the environment. Thus, a review of the implementation of membrane technology for produced water treatment could contribute to the knowledge required for the increased introduction of scaled-up membrane technology in the petroleum industry. This review encompasses the capabilities and performance optimization possibilities of microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis membranes. The level of applications that these membrane technologies might attain within the petroleum industry were determined, and these implementations were correlated with the purpose, performance efficiency, treatment system configurations, necessary pretreatment procedures, quality of treated produced water, fouling occurrence and control, foulants, cleaning procedures, raw produced water content, potential challenges with corresponding applied solutions, and economic factors. This review also maps current and future trends and provides a perspective on the outlook for advances in novel membrane applications for produced water treatment.

Potential tertiary treatment of produced water using highly hydrophilic nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes

Abstract: This study characterized the potential of new, highly hydrophilic nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes for the beneficial reuse of produced water. It was found that both NF and RO membranes were hydrophilic at 23° ± 0.90 and 37° ± 0.49, respectively. The findings of the permeation tests revealed that the NF membrane exhibited a higher permeability (7.3 L m −2 h −1 ) in pure water than the RO membrane (3.4 L m −2 h −1 ). The NF membrane was effective at rejecting certain monovalent salt ions (in 2000 mg/L, 97% Na 2 SO 4 , 95% MgSO 4 , 94.8% CaSO 4 , 94% K 2 SO 4 , and 87% Na 2 CO 3 ), whereas the RO membrane was more effective at rejecting hard salts (96% Na 2 CO 3 , 88% NaCl, 85% KCl, 85.4% BaCl 2 , 83% NaHCO 3 , and 80–81% for Na 2 SO 4 , MgCl 2 , SrCl 2 , and K 2 SO 4 ). A primary assessment of the post-treatment potential of the NF and RO membranes for produced water showed that the critical component in produced water was characterized mainly by TDS and TOC at 854 and 26.3 mg/L, respectively. The RO membrane was more efficient at rejecting these components, in quantities of 244 mg/L of TDS and 6.7 mg/L of TOC, whereas the NF membrane attained 520 mg/L of TDS and 22.9 mg/L of TOC. Both membranes reduced the initial oil concentrations (2 mg/L), turbidity (21 NTU) and TSS (10 mg/L) to less than 1 mg/L. Conclusively, the findings on the treated water quality substantiated the possibility of utilizing RO-treated water as a future source of water.

Produced water characteristics, treatment and reuse: A review

Abstract: In oil and gas industry, produced water is considered as the largest waste stream, which contains relatively higher concentration of hydrocarbons, heavy metals and other pollutants. Due to the increase in industrial activities, the generation of produced water has increased all over the world and its treatment for reuse is now important from environmental perspective. Treatment of produced water can be done through various methods including physical (membrane filtration, adsorption etc.), chemical (precipitation, oxidation), and biological (activated sludge, biological aerated filters and others) methods. This paper aims to highlight characteristics of produced water in detail and physical, chemical, and biological techniques used for its treatment. In addition, reuse of produced water for different purposes has been discussed. At the end, few case studies from different countries, related to the treatment and reuse of their produced waters have been included.

Produced water treatment by membranes: A review from a colloidal perspective.

Abstract: While the world faces an increased scarcity in fresh water supply, it is of great importance that water from industry and waste streams can be treated for re-use. One of the largest waste streams in the oil and gas industry is produced water. After the phase separation of oil and gas, the produced water is left. This mixture contains dissolved and dispersed hydrocarbons, surfactants, clay particles and salts. Before this water can be used for re-injection, irrigation or as industrial water, it has to be treated. Conventional filtration techniques such as multi media filters and cartridge filters, are able to remove the majority of the contaminants, but the smallest, stabilized oil droplets (<10 μm) remain present in the treated water. In recent years, research has focused on membranes to remove these small oil droplets, because this technology requires no frequent replacement of filters and the water quality after treatment is better. Membranes however suffer from fouling by the contaminants in produced water, leading to a lower clean water flux and increased energy costs. Current research on produced water treatment by membranes is mainly focused on improving existing processes and developing fouling-resistant membranes. Multiple investigations have determined the importance of different factors (such as emulsion properties and operating conditions) on the fouling process, but understanding the background of fouling is largely absent. In this review, we describe the interaction between the membrane and a produced water emulsion from a colloidal perspective, with the aim to create a clear framework that can lead to much more detailed understanding of membrane fouling in produced water treatment. Better understanding of the complex interactions at the produced water/membrane interface is essential to achieve more efficient applications.