Showing papers on "Brine published in 2018"

CO2 and CH4 Wettabilities of Organic-Rich Shale

Abstract: CO2 and CH4 wettabilities of organic-rich shale are important physicochemical parameters that significantly influence CO2 sequestration and CH4 production. However, there is a serious lack of understanding of these aspects because the data available are scarce. Thus, we evaluated organic-rich shale CO2 and CH4 wettabilities (i.e., brine/shale/gas systems) through advancing and receding brine contact angle measurements as a function of pressure, temperature, salinity, and ion type (as these can vary significantly in underground formations). The results indicated that the brine contact angles for both CO2/CH4–brine–shale systems increased with pressure and salinity, but decreased with temperature. However, these effects were much less significant for CH4. Furthermore, the brine contact angles for the CO2–brine–shale system reached 180° (i.e., the shale was completely wetted by CO2) when the pressure reached 30 MPa at 343 K and ∼9 MPa at 298 K. The brine contact angles for the analogue CH4 systems was much l...

Electrochemical Desalination of Seawater and Hypersaline Brines with Coupled Electricity Storage

Abstract: We present a zinc|ferricyanide hybrid flow battery that achieves extensive first-pass desalination while simultaneously supplying electrical energy (10 Wh/L). We demonstrate 85% salt removal from simulated seawater (35 g/L NaCl) and 86% from hypersaline brine (100 g/L NaCl), together with reversible battery operation over 100 h with high round-trip efficiency (84.8%). The system has a high operating voltage (E0 = +1.25 V), low specific energy consumption (2.11 Wh/L for 85% salt removal), and a desalination flux (4.7 mol/m2·h) on par with that of reverse osmosis membranes. Salt removal was similarly effective at higher feed salinities, for which reverse osmosis becomes physically impossible because of the pressure required. The results have positive implications for regions that rely on desalination for their freshwater needs, especially where sea salinity is high. Alternatively, the battery may also be useful in minimal liquid discharge wastewater treatment if operated as a brine concentrator.

Activation of Periodate by Freezing for the Degradation of Aqueous Organic Pollutants

Abstract: A new strategy (i.e., freezing) for the activation of IO4- for the degradation of aqueous organic pollutants was developed and investigated. Although the degradation of furfuryl alcohol (FFA) by IO4- was negligible in water at 25 °C, it proceeded rapidly during freezing at -20 °C. The rapid degradation of FFA during freezing should be ascribed to the freeze concentration effect that provides a favorable site (i.e., liquid brine) for the proton-coupled degradation process by concentrating IO4-, FFA, and protons. The maximum absorption wavelength of cresol red (CR) was changed from 434 nm (monoprotonated CR) to 518 nm (diprotonated CR) after freezing, which confirms that the pH of the aqueous IO4- solution decreases by freezing. The degradation experiments with varying experimental parameters demonstrate that the degradation rate increases with increasing IO4- concentration and decreasing pH and freezing temperature. The application of the IO4-/freezing system is not restricted to FFA. The degradation of four other organic pollutants (i.e., tryptophan, phenol, 4-chlorophenol, and bisphenol A) by IO4-, which was negligible in water, proceeded during freezing. In addition, freezing significantly enhanced the IO4--mediated degradation of cimetidine. The outdoor experiments performed on a cold winter night show that the IO4-/freezing system for water treatment can be operated without external electrical energy.

Sodium Hydroxide Production from Seawater Desalination Brine: Process Design and Energy Efficiency

Abstract: The ability to increase pH is a crucial need for desalination pretreatment (especially in reverse osmosis) and for other industries, but processes used to raise pH often incur significant emissions and nonrenewable resource use. Alternatively, waste brine from desalination can be used to create sodium hydroxide, via appropriate concentration and purification pretreatment steps, for input into the chlor-alkali process. In this work, an efficient process train (with variations) is developed and modeled for sodium hydroxide production from seawater desalination brine using membrane chlor-alkali electrolysis. The integrated system includes nanofiltration, concentration via evaporation or mechanical vapor compression, chemical softening, further ion-exchange softening, dechlorination, and membrane electrolysis. System productivity, component performance, and energy consumption of the NaOH production process are highlighted, and their dependencies on electrolyzer outlet conditions and brine recirculation are investigated. The analysis of the process also includes assessment of the energy efficiency of major components, estimation of system operating expense and comparison with similar processes. The brine-to-caustic process is shown to be technically feasible while offering several advantages, that is, the reduced environmental impact of desalination through lessened brine discharge, and the increase in the overall water recovery ratio of the reverse osmosis facility. Additionally, best-use conditions are given for producing caustic not only for use within the plant, but also in excess amounts for potential revenue.

New Insights into the Application of Lithium-Ion Battery Materials: Selective Extraction of Lithium from Brines via a Rocking-Chair Lithium-Ion Battery System.

Abstract: Lithium extraction from high Mg/Li ratio brine is a key technical problem in the world. Based on the principle of rocking-chair lithium-ion batteries, cathode material LiFePO4 is applied to extract lithium from brine, and a novel lithium-ion battery system of LiFePO4 | NaCl solution | anion-exchange membrane | brine | FePO4 is constructed. In this method, Li+ is selectively absorbed from the brine by FePO4 (Li+ + e + FePO4 = LiFePO4); meanwhile, Li+ is desorbed from LiFePO4 (LiFePO4 - e = Li+ + FePO4) and enriched efficiently. To treat a raw brine solution, the Mg/Li ratio decreases from the initial 134.4 in the brine to 1.2 in the obtained anolyte and 83% lithium is extracted. For the treatment of an old brine solution, the Mg/Li ratio decreases from the initial 48.4 in the brine to 0.5 and the concentration of lithium in the anolyte is accumulated about six times (from the initial 0.51 g L-1 in the brine to 3.2 g L-1 in the anolyte), with the absorption capacity of about 25 mg (Li) g (LiFePO4)-1. Additionally, it displays a great perspective on the application in light of its high selectively, good cycling performance, effective lithium enrichment, environmental friendliness, low cost, and avoidance of poisonous organic reagents and harmful acid or oxidant.

Highly Efficient Separation of Magnesium and Lithium and High-Valued Utilization of Magnesium from Salt Lake Brine by a Reaction-Coupled Separation Technology

Abstract: Lithium extraction from salt lake brines is one of the most important pathways for obtaining Li-related products, e.g., Li2CO3 and LiOH, and for further fabricating electric energy-storage products, e.g., lithium ion batteries. The high Mg/Li ratio and high Mg content are remarkable characteristics of the salt lakes in the Qaidam Basin in China, making the Mg/Li separation and Li extraction rather difficult. Herein, we proposed a reaction-coupled separation technology for Mg/Li separation from brine with a high Mg/Li ratio. The core idea of this technology is that the Mg2+ cations were reacted to form a solid via a nucleation–crystallization separation method. The solid product was MgAl-layered double hydroxide (MgAl-LDH), a widely used and high-valued product in the family of LDHs. The Li+ cations were left in the solution after Mg2+ cations were reacted with alkali solution, accompanied by foreign Al3+ cations. That is to say that the Mg2+ cations can be incorporated into the layers of MgAl-LDH while Li...

Selective Separation of Dyes and Brine Recovery from Textile Wastewater by Nanofiltration Membranes

Abstract: The present study investigates the selective separation mechanisms of three textile dyes with 2000 ppm of NaCl solution by nanofiltration membranes during brine recovery at three different pH medium pH-3, pH-7 and pH 10 respectively. Tests were performed with the purpose of relating flux decline, brine recovery and dye rejection behavior to membrane characteristics (Molecular weight cutoff, contact angle, zeta potential), charge of the dye molecules, and solution chemistry. Salt-organic separation factor was estimated in order to rank and choose the most suitable NF membranes for brine recovery with high degree of flux. Out of these membranes tested in this study, only NF-270 was capable of operating up to 56-70% brine recovery with high flux ranging from 78.07 to 114.80 Lh-1m-2.

Kinetics-Controlled Separation Intensification for Cesium and Rubidium Isolation from Salt Lake Brine

Abstract: The separation efficiency of cesium (Cs(I)) and rubidium (Rb(I)) from a synthetic brine solution containing potassium (K(I)) was improved via a kinetics-controlled strategy. Specifically, 4-tert-butyl-2-(α-methylbenzyl) phenol (t-BAMBP) dodecane solution was partially saponified by NaOH solution first and then was directly used in extraction without adjusting the pH of the feed solution to exceed 13. Compared to the traditional process, much higher separation factors of Cs(I) and Rb(I) over K(I) (βCs/K = 1550.7, βRb/K = 45.2) were gained due to the enhanced kinetics differences during ion exchanges. In addition, the consumption of NaOH was reduced by 70–97%, and a large amount of strong alkaline wastewater was avoided because of the recyclability of NaOH saponifying agent. For synthetic brine solution containing high concentration K(I), 99.1% Cs(I) and 86.5% Rb(I) were recovered after three-stage extraction. The novel process showed a bright prospect for the extraction of Cs(I) and Rb(I).

Coalescence of Crude Oil Droplets in Brine Systems: Effect of Individual Electrolytes

Abstract: To better understand mechanisms of enhanced oil production by smart waterflooding, the coalescence time of crude oil droplets in different brines was measured. Sulfate ions were found to hinder the coalescence of crude oil droplets, whereas magnesium ions significantly enhanced coalescence of the crude oil droplets. To shed light on the observed effect of an individual types of water-soluble inorganic ions in brine on coalescence of crude oil droplets, interfacial shear rheology of crude oil–brine interfaces was measured at both ambient and elevated temperatures. ζ potential of crude oil in brine emulsions was measured at ambient temperature. The major objective of these measurements is to investigate interactions of individual water-soluble inorganic ions with the crude oil–water interface and study their impact on the coalescence of crude oil droplets. Interfacial shear rheology results showed significantly higher viscoelastic moduli for brines comprising of sulfate ions, while the brines with sodium, c...

Sustainable Electrochemical Extraction of Lithium from Natural Brine for Renewable Energy Storage

Abstract: An electrochemical reactor for the extraction of lithium from natural brine has been designed. It comprises two 3D porous packed bed electrodes and a porous separator filled with electrolyte. The electrodes are filled with conducting petroleum coke particles covered respectively with LiMn 2 O 4 selective to lithium ions and polypyrrole selective to anions. It operates in two steps: First, the porous electrodes and the separator are filled with natural brine to extract Li + and Cl - by intercalation and adsorption. Then, after rinsing with water the reactor is filled with a dilute LiCl recovery solution and LiCl is recovered by reversing the electrical current. A mathematical model for the reactor comprising the Nernst-Planck equation and the battery intercalation model has been developed. The model was solved using the finite element method under the COMSOL Multiphysics environment in order to obtain the electrostatic potential and the ion currents and concentrations across the system. Unlike the asymmetric LiMn 2 O 4 /activated carbon super-capacitor, in the lithium extracting reactor the total LiCl concentration decreases in the extraction step and increases in the recovery step. A good agreement between the experimental and simulated potential difference vs. time at constant current validates the model of the reactor. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by ECS.

Design of CO2-in-Water Foam Stabilized with Switchable Amine Surfactants at High Temperature in High-Salinity Brine and Effect of Oil

Abstract: The design of surfactants for CO2-in-water (C/W) foams in carbonate reservoirs above 100 °C has been limited by thermal instability of surfactants, surfactant adsorption to mineral surfaces, and challenges in generating and stabilizing the foams. Here, we have identified a diamine surfactant, C12–14N(CH3)C3N(CH3)2 (Duomeen CTM), with good thermal stability (>1 month at 135 °C), that stabilizes viscous C/W foam with an apparent viscosity of up to ∼35 cP at 120 °C in 22% total dissolved solid (TDS) brine. Strong foams with excessively high viscosity were reported to be generated with longer-tailed C16–18N(CH3)C3N(CH3)2 (Duomeen TTM) that formed a viscoelastic aqueous phase. Here, the tail length was shorter for C12–14N(CH3)C3N(CH3)2 and thus a viscoelastic aqueous phase was not formed, resulting in a weaker CO2 foam with a more appropriate viscosity for the proposed applications. Moreover, at the lowest superficial velocity studied (4 ft/day), the apparent viscosity for C12–14N(CH3)C3N(CH3)2 was ∼20 fold lo...

Low Salinity Surfactant Nanofluids For Enhanced CO2 Storage Application At High Pressure And Temperature

Abstract: Summary CO2 storage and its containment security are key concern of a large-scale CCS project. One of the most important parameters affecting the CO2 storage potential is CO2/brine interfacial tension. In this work, we use low salinity surfactant nanofluids to demonstrate its potential application for CO2 storage at high pressure and temperature conditions by significantly lowering CO2/brine interfacial tension. The present work gives novel insight on the use of nanoparticles in CO2 storage application. We use Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) surfactant and ZrO2 nanoparticles for our formulation. Determination of interfacial tension were carried out using pendent drop method at 20 MPa and 70 °C and drop shape analysis were carried out using pendant drop plugin of Image J software.