Produced Water Treatment And Oil Recovery
Esmil Industrial Group and Esmil together with our partners have conducted much research and constructed many plants gaining vast experience in the Oil industry. From bench scale studies right the way through to full scale plant operations we strive to offer BAT (Best Available Technology) using state of the art membrane separation and dewatering processes.
Range Of Technologies
Our wastewater treatment technology for Oil industry is based on combination of conventional physicochemical pre-treatment methods such as Corrugated Plate Interceptors (CPI) or Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) followed by Membrane Technologies and polishing methods such as Ion Exchange and Activated Carbon to meet the most challenging discharge requirements.
Among technological equipment used in Esmil technology are:
Corrugated Plate Interceptors (CPI)
- Efficient gravity separators
- Removal of gross solids and free oil
- >75% free oil removal
Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF)
- Highly efficient air assisted separators
- Treatment of effluent from CPI’s
- >95% free oil removal
Membrane systems
- Optimum emulsified oil recovery
- < 1ppm oil in permeate/treated water
- Low capital and operating costs
Esmil Technology Application In Oil Industry
Esmil offer a range of solids removal and oily-water separation process technologies applicable across the entire range of effluents from upstream, midstream and downstream oil operations including:
- Produced Water – separated during the separation of crude oil
- Desalter Water – generated during crude oil washing
- Ballast Water – for incoming sea tankers
- Terminal and Refinery Process Drainage – oil spills and general oily waste waters
Esmil offer systems for both onshore and offshore installations. Services include project management, design and engineering, specification and procurement, delivery and installation.
Process Example For Produced Water Treatment
The Esmil philosophy for Produced Water Treatment utilises conventional separation processes for the removal of bulk contaminants, followed by state of the art membrane separation and absorption processes to achieve very low levels of contaminants in the treated effluent. This philosophy enables the plant to function reliably, even with wide range of variations in feed quality.
Conventional pre-treatment, such as Corrugated Plate Separation, Hydrocyclones, Air Flotation or Sand Filtration is used to remove the bulk of the oil and suspended solids. The ‘clarified’ water is physically polished by membrane ultrafiltration, which reduces oil concentration to less than 0.3 mg/l, and suspended solids to below the limits of detection.
The oil and suspended solid free water is treated using membrane Nanofiltration, which removes the bulk of heavy metals and organic compounds. Trace organics and heavy metals in the Nanofiltration permeate are removed by Activated Carbon absorbers and selective Ion-Exchange resin. The pre-treatment by Nanofiltration significantly increases the bed life of these two media.
Oil Recovery
Ultrafiltration reject is recycled to the front end of the process and the concentrated oil from CPI unit is reclaimed on site. The various sludge and aqueous waste streams are combined before undergoing precipitation, flocculation and filtration, to produce a ‘cake’ for landfill, and a filtrate that can be recycled through the process.
The degree of treatment is designed to meet client specified limits such that the treated water is suitable for re-use on site or discharge to water course.
References
Esmil have installed over 50 installations over the past 25 years, including:
- CPI Unit, 220 m3/h Oil Refinery, Kuwait National Petroleum Company, Kuwait
- CPI Unit, 420 m3/h Oil Refinery, M W Kellogg, Shell Oil, UK
- DAF Unit, 140 m3/h Oil Refinery, Hydrotechnik GmbH, Al Madain, Iraq
- CPI and Membrane, 240 m3/h Produced Water, Petrofac Ltd, Siberia
- DAF Units, Belt Filter Presses, 120 m3/h, Oil Refinery, Vankor Field, RF
