An Effective and Economical Solution for Oil Production Sites
Introduction while the heat lowers its viscosity. After BPC's Solution to Client's Need BioPetroClean has successfully completed this water is cooled and as much of the oil The BPC solution in this project involved a project for produced water treatment. is extracted, the remaining wastewater three stages. First, a feasibility study and One of India's governmental companies requires cleaning to eliminate all of the extensive analyses of wastewater for oil excavation and production was additional oils and other organic and samples from the clients site were searching for a wastewater purification inorganic compounds. The annual volume performed at BPCs laboratory. Next, process that will allow re-injection of of produced water is currently estimated based on the lab results, BPC designed produced water and will also be cost- at 77 billion barrels (bbl) and is expected and implemented a pilot system that effective and easily operated. The BPC- to grow exponentially in the coming included a BPC-ACT bioreactor and a ACT treatment was straightforward and years. These high quantities represent the cascade of post-treatments. Finally, simple, resulting in a significantly lower overwhelming majority of the volume of based on the on-site experience, BPC was sludge level, which allowed a more waste streams produced by the oil and able to design a full-scale process, which effective and economical post-treatment gas industry. was submitted to the client for approval. and disinfection of the produced water. BPC's innovative, efficient and cost- Preliminary Lab Analysis effective technology is a potent solution BPC received samples of the clients for produced water purification. wastewater and analyzed them Prior to implementing BPC's suggested extensively in order to develop an solution, the client utilized a heater- optimal biodegradation process. treater followed by a simple chemical Following basic characterization of the treatment. water (which included measurements of BPC's Technology the carbon and nitrogen load, as well as BPC's cutting-edge biological method for the pH and salinity and other wastewater treatment offers an elegant parameters), the water underwent and simple solution to overcome the several stages of biological treatments. existing challenges of conventional These cycles allowed for optimization the biological methods. The method, known bacterial cocktail that was later used for as Automated Chemostat Treatment the pilot experiment. The preliminary (ACT), is based on maintaining a pre- water characterization and the biological selected bacterial cocktail tailored for treatment performed in BPC's labs are Figure 1: BPC installation for purification of the wastewater type at a stable and low presented in the table below. produced water concentration while monitoring the Pilot Configuration and Produced water, also known as drilling system with a fully automated control water, is wastewater created by the unit. The control unit measures the Implementation process of petroleum extraction from various parameters of the influent, After completing the lab analysis and underground reservoirs. Large quantities including COD, TPH, salinity, turbidity and demonstrating the viability of ACT as an of high pressure, very hot water are pH, among others. The control unit is effective bioremediation solution, BPC pumped into the petroleum reservoir able to adjust the conditions in the proceeded with an on-site pilot project. during the mining process. The water The pilot system included the BPC-ACT bioreactor in order to maintain a stable pressure forces the petroleum upward, bioreactor, followed by a clarifier, output and prevent system upsets. ultrafiltration and de-contamination with biocides for fine-tuning of the water quality. The pilot system operated for a period of eight weeks. The system was dedicated to the treatment of produced water sourced from the clients regional oil production sites. Produced water underwent biological treatment in the BPC-ACT bioreactor using the pre- selected bacterial cocktail. Following the bioremediation process, the treated water was sent first to a mixer then a clarifier. The upper phase then Produced Water- Case Study An Effective and Economical Solution for Oil Production Sites TM underwent ultrafiltration and was finally of the BPC-ACT bioreactor along with a ACT control unit in order to maintain a treated with biocides in order to series of post-treatments yielded highly steady state inside the bioreactors and eliminate any traces of sulfate reducing purified water that could later be re- allow a stable process. The biologically bacteria (SRB). injected into the oil well. The experience treated water will be filtered and treated Pilot Results that BPC has gained by performing the with biocides prior to its re-injection. During the pilot trials, the water was pilot at the actual drilling site allowed us The Valuable Contribution of BPC sampled and analysed by both BPC staff to design a full-scale system that is most BPC's solution for treating the produced and the local Institute of Reservoir water is highly advantageous for the Studies (IRS). As shown in the table following reasons: below, the BPC treatment process 1. High efficiency- The BPC-ACT resulted with very satisfying results. It is treatment of produced water can indicated in the table provided by the IRS bring highly contaminated water to a that the turbidity was reduced from 181 purity level that allows for its re- NTU to 0.33-0.93 NTU, while the desired injection. The treatment process is value was <1 NTU. Similarly the TSS levels completed with a relatively short exceeded the desired values with less retention time. than 2.5 ppm in the end of the treatment 2. Cost savings- resulting with process. The SRB levels were negligible, extremely low biomass levels, BPC- as required and the filterability of the Figure 2: BPC layout of the full scale installation ACT significantly reduces the amount water was high. Throughout the pilot, the suitable to the field conditions as well as of biocides required prior to re- pH was in the range of 6.5-8.5, as the client's needs. The permanent system injection and also reduces the expected. is expected to work in a continuous mode ultrafilters wear over time. The Next Step- Permanent System and include a cooling tower followed by 3. Simple construction- the process Following completion of this successful two consecutive bioreactors with a total infrastructure is mainly based on residence time of approximately 40 currently available infrastructure, pilot, the client was very pleased with the system's performance. The combination hours. The bioreactors will be thus considerably reducing the time continuously monitored by the BPC- and costs required for the system's installation. 4. Simple operation- the system is completely automated, leading to a simple and straightforward operation and eliminating the need for highly skilled operators. Summary BPC offers a simple and efficient solution for purification of produced water to a level that will allow its re-injection into the oil-well. An on-site pilot in a drilling water gathering station in India resulted with TSS, turbidity, filterability and SRB levels that exceeded the client's requirements. Based on the information gathered during the pilot, BPC has performed a preliminary plan for a full- scale system. The on-site treatment demonstrated that implementing the BPC-ACT technology leads to highly purified water in a simple and cost effective way.