WATER RESOURCES, USE, TREATMENT, AND REUSE IN THE EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION OF NEW OIL AND GAS FIELDS

The United States and many countries around the world are rapidly expanding exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas resources, including shale gas and oil, tight sands, and coalbed methane{Wang, 2013 #8015}. Each year, the oil and gas industry generates approximately 870 billion gallons of produced water and frac flowback wastewater in the United States, and nearly 3 trillion gallons globally.

As production increases and new formations become economically feasible, water demands for well development and the volume of wastewater generated during exploration and production (e.g., drilling muds, hydraulic fracturing flowback water, produced waters) will increase significantly. High salinity, decentralized operations, the presence of free and emulsified hydrocarbons, silts and clays leached from producing formations, and process additives common in oil and gas drilling wastewater and produced water render many conventional treatment technologies ineffective. Current disposal of these waste streams through deep well injection is consumptive and unsustainable, and recent injection-induced earthquake are threatening stable operation and development of oil and gas fields.

Treatment oil and gas wastewater for internal reuse or other beneficial uses in a cost effective and environmentally sound manner is critical for sustainable industrial development and to meet increasingly stringent regulations. This presentation will discuss challenges of water treatment and reuse in the upstream oil and gas industry, research needs, collaborative research between academia and industry, and examples from ongoing research and development of advanced, hybrid physical and biological processes for treatment of produced water and frac flowback wastewater.