Electrocoagulation for oil-sands produced water treatment

由于油价下跌以及对石油生产环境影响的担忧，尤其是温室气体排放，油砂行业正面临越来越大的压力。对于现场油砂开采，通常向油层注入蒸汽，以降低粘度并使其能够生产。天然气燃烧用于产生蒸汽，导致比传统石油生产更高的温室气体排放。虽然大多数水被循环用于蒸汽产生，但提高循环率可以减少能源(和相关的温室气体排放)需求，并减少淡水需求和锅炉污染排污的处置。此外，实现水循环所需的水处理列车的资本和运营成本很高。该项目将利用样机进行现场测试，测试水处理技术--电凝聚在油砂采出水处理中的应用。原型将基于Caglary大学开发的创新技术，该技术可以有效地去除产出水中的关键污染物、二氧化硅和钙。以这种方式去除二氧化硅将能够增加水的循环利用，并减少现场油砂生产的能源消耗(从而减少对环境的影响)。此外，对新的操作条件进行了评估，这些操作条件可以提高处理性能，降低成本，并消除因电凝聚系统内的污垢而造成的操作问题。

The oil sands industry is facing increasing pressures due to lower oil prices and concerns about the environmental impact of oil production, especially GHG emmissions. For in-situ oil-sands production, typically steam is injected into the reservoir to reduce the viscosity and enable production. Natural gas combustion is used for steam generation, leading to higher GHG emmissions than conventional oil production. While most of the water is recycling to the steam generation, increasing recycle rates could reduce the energy (and associated GHG emmissions) requirements, as well as reduce fresh water demand, and disposal of contaminated blowdown from the boilers. In addition, the capital and operating costs for the water treatment train required to enable water recycle are high. This project will test the application of a water treatment technology, electrocoagulation, for treatment of oil-sands produced water using on-site testing with a prototype unit. The prototype will be based on the innovative technology developed at the University of Caglary, which is effective for removal of key contaminants, silica and calcium from the produced water. Removal of silica in this way will enable increased recycling of water and reduced energy consumption (and thus environmental impact) for in-situ oil-sands production. In addition, novel operating conditions were evaluated that could enhance treatment performance, reduce costs, and eliminate operational problems caused by fouling within the electrocoagulation system.