Development of Produced Water Management and Treatment Strategies

Jorg E. Drewes, Katie Benko, Tzahi Cath, and Pei Xu
Environmental Science and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO

Produced water management and treatment has the potential to substantially enhance production and reduce the overall cost of developing unconventional petroleum resources, while minimizing adverse environmental impacts. In many locations, unconventional gas production is limited because adequate water management strategies have not been developed. Significant volumes of produced water are generated in the arid regions of the Western United States, where treated produced water may be put to beneficial use to augment fully-allocated conventional water supplies. There is a clear need and strong economic drivers to develop integrated approaches to improve treatment, handling, disposal, and beneficial use of produced water at a cost that does not impede development of the associated gas resources.

Through this planned research effort, we will develop an integrated guidance framework that will link the composition of produced waters to beneficial use applications and identify the most cost-efficient, environmentally sound, beneficial strategies for management and treatment of produced water from CBM and gas shale operations by taking into account the typical conditions of a field operation. This will be accomplished by cost-benefit analyses and life-cycle assessments considering technical and non-technical factors. The study will identify potential combinations of treatment processes, which minimize residual brines by considering well established, as well as emerging, desalination technologies. The work will also bring together producers with the water industry, regulatory agencies, tribal interests, landowners, agricultural stakeholders and environmental groups to identify solutions to the institutional impediments to beneficial use and to improve treatment, handling and re-use of produced water from unconventional gas operations. Offering solutions in these critical areas will help overcome current and future limitations in improving production of unconventional resources within high priority existing and emerging production areas.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90092©2009 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section, July 9-11, 2008, Denver, Colorado