Issue 7, 2018

A combined ultrafiltration–reverse osmosis process for external reuse of Weiyuan shale gas flowback and produced water

Abstract

The management of large volumes of flowback and produced water (FPW) generated in shale gas extraction is of great concern due to the high concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS), scale forming constituents, and organics. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a combined ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) process for treating FPW from the Weiyuan shale gas play, China. Under a constant pressure of 4.5 MPa, the RO process decreased the concentrations of TDS, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and Cl to 192, 7.5 and 97 mg L−1 from 18 900, 530 and 11 000 mg L−1 in the feed, respectively. The effluent of the combined process met the requirements for surface water discharge and agriculture irrigation in China. The total fouling index of the UF membrane over a range of permeate fluxes suggests a critical flux of around 19 L m−2 h−1; operation at a low flux was effective for UF fouling control. The operating pressure and recovery of the RO system significantly affected the permeate flux and quality, with both the flux and rejection increasing with increasing operating pressure but decreasing with increasing recovery. Moreover, CaCO3 and BaCO3 crystals were identified on the RO membrane surface at high recovery. The rejection data for TDS and COD by the RO membrane were consistent with the Spiegler–Kedem membrane transport model.

Graphical abstract: A combined ultrafiltration–reverse osmosis process for external reuse of Weiyuan shale gas flowback and produced water

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Jan 2018
Accepted
04 May 2018
First published
05 May 2018

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2018,4, 942-955

A combined ultrafiltration–reverse osmosis process for external reuse of Weiyuan shale gas flowback and produced water

C. Guo, H. Chang, B. Liu, Q. He, B. Xiong, M. Kumar and A. L. Zydney, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2018, 4, 942 DOI: 10.1039/C8EW00036K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements