Disposal constraints drive creative research into water treatment, reuse

Using the hot exhaust from compressors to evaporate produced water can cut the volume that needs to be managed and therefore the costs associated with transporting water to saltwater disposal wells. According to Heartland Water Technology, this technique can offer compelling economics in areas with limited disposal capacity and few water  pipelines, such as the Marcellus.

On average, Permian Basin wells lift three or four barrels of water for every barrel of oil. For some wells, the ratio of water to oil is 12 to 1. Although produced water can be treated and used in hydraulic fracturing operations, the vast majority of it goes into saltwater disposal wells.

To decrease reliance on SWDs and provide much-needed water to arid regions, private companies, academic institutions and government organizations are investigating ways to treat and reuse produced water in applications outside the oil and gas industry, notes Mark Patton, president of Hydrozonix. He says it is vital to expand destinations for recycled water.

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Recycling produced water will be critical to mitigating water scarcity in the Permian Basin, says George Nnanna, who heads the Texas Water and Energy Institute at the University of Texas Permian Basin and serves as technical committee co-chair for 2024 at the Produced Water Society. “Given our location, we are looking at produced water as a new source of water for both agriculture and industrial applications,” he relates. “This will free freshwater to be used in other sectors.”

Before reusing produced water in many applications, its salt content will need to be removed. “In the Permian, produced water often has 200,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved salt,” Nnanna notes.

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Nnanna stresses that the industry must embrace a variety of approaches to produced water management. He points out that UTPB is a member of the Permian Energy Development Lab, a two-state coalition launched by the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation to promote innovation in several areas, including water treatment, use and conservation.

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