An operator used an oil-water separator, advanced regenerative water treatment media, and advanced media polisher filters to remove fluctuating high concentrations of asphaltene-laden oil, diesel-range organics, and suspended solids from produced water. Cleaning the water enabled its reinjection and use for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Deploy robust three-stage advanced media technology solution

SLB recommended that the operator include advanced media technology in the treatment train to reduce oil content from the original 2,500 ppm to less than 10 ppm. The system included three stages of decontamination:

• The primary stage incorporated an oil-water separator to coalesce and recover heavy oil droplets ranging from 100 to 2,500 ppm.
• The secondary stage used the advanced regenerative water treatment media to treat dispersed and emulsified heavy oil present at 1,000 ppm and TSS up to 800 mg/L.
• The tertiary stage used the advanced media polisher filters to reduce oil contamination to less than 10 ppm.

The advanced media technology system included automatic controls to respond to fluctuations in flow rates and pressure drop. Because of the risk of corrosion posed by the produced water, anodic protection was used to maintain system integrity.

Achieved 2-ppm water filtration for reinjection

By using advanced media technology, the operator effectively and consistently removed contaminants from the produced water to achieve a 2-ppm level for reinjection use—lower than the 10-ppm level that was specified. This performance was well maintained during large fluctuations of asphaltene and diesel-range organics in free, dispersed, and emulsified phases. Inlet oil levels varied between 100 and 2,500 ppm, and the system outlet showed oil reduced to 10 ppm or less throughout use of the system.