Development of advanced polymeric membranes for SAGD produced water treatment

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Fluctuating oil prices and recent Federal and Provincial efforts to address climate change and protect water resources are motivating the oil sands industry to develop and deploy technologies that can reduce the operating cost per barrel of product and reduce the amount of energy and fresh water consumed during resource extraction. A significant amount of research and development is currently underway in the Canadian oil sands industry to improve water treatment processes in the steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process. In the SAGD process, steam is injected underground to decrease the viscosity of the bitumen and effect its extraction. An emulsion of steam condensate and heated bitumen is then pumped to the surface where the bitumen and water are separated, and the water is treated for reuse as boiler feed water.Membrane separation processes offer a promising alternative to current energy- and material-intensive water treatment processes such as ion exchange and lime softener by providing higher separation efficiency and a smaller footprint. Furthermore, more thermally tolerant membrane materials have the potential to improve heat integration in SAGD plants, thereby reducing boiler feed water heating requirements and greenhouse gas production. Hence, the goal of the proposed research project is to develop innovative membrane materials for the treatment of high temperature, chemically harsh SAGD produced water by integrating polymer science and engineering, nanoparticle synthesis, and colloids and interface science. The following will be investigated to optimize the sustainable use of water by the oil sands industry: (i) the preparation of porous membranes by the phase inversion technique using high-performance polymers; (ii) synthesizing thin-film composite membranes by interfacial polymerization reaction; (iii) applying novel NPs to make thin-film nanocomposite membranes; and (iv) changing membrane surface chemistry and topography to improve fouling and permeation properties. Applying the synthesized high-performance membranes will result in higher-purity boiler feed water, significantly reducing equipment fouling, and thus decrease operating costs.