High Polymer Produced Water Treatment: Challenges and Solutions by SINOKLE
In the process of oilfield development using polymer flooding technology, the produced fluids often contain significantly elevated concentrations of polymers, resulting in a special type of industrial wastewater—high polymer produced water.
Key Characteristics of High Polymer Produced Water:
1. High Polymer Content: The polymer concentration in this water is far higher than that in the wastewater produced by conventional waterflooding.
2. Difficult Oil-Water Separation: The presence of polymers makes it more challenging to separate oil from water, which not only causes crude oil wastage but also significantly increases wastewater treatment costs.
3. Damage to Reservoirs: If this type of wastewater is reinjected into the reservoir, it can clog the pore spaces of the oil layer, reduce the reservoir's water absorption capacity, and, consequently, affect oil production.
Main Risks Posed by High Polymer Produced Water:
1. Environmental Pollution Risk: If discharged, its chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) may exceed permissible levels, negatively impacting the environment.
2. Increased Economic Costs: The treatment of this wastewater is difficult and expensive, and the treated water often fails to meet the required reinjection or discharge standards, putting continuous economic pressure on oilfield enterprises.
Current Treatment Technologies and Challenges:
A variety of technologies, including gravity oil removal, coarse particle removal, filtration, flotation separation, microbial treatment, and membrane separation, have been studied worldwide to treat high polymer produced water. However, these methods still face significant limitations:
1. Difficult Polymer Degradation: Existing technologies struggle to effectively degrade polymers, which affects the final water quality.
2. Low Oil-Water Separation Efficiency: Due to interference from polymers, the oil-water separation process is often inefficient and unstable.
3. High Treatment Costs: Advanced processes and equipment are often required, leading to high capital and operational costs.
The treatment of high polymer produced water remains a key challenge in the oilfield environmental protection field, and more targeted, efficient, and stable process breakthroughs are urgently needed.
SINOKLE's Advanced Solution:
Facing this long-standing industry challenge, Shenzhen Clear Science & Technology Co., Ltd (SINOKLE) has launched a high-efficiency treatment process based on the CDOF (Cyclonic Dissolved Ozone Flotation Unit) and CDFU (Cyclonic Dissolved Gas Flotation) devices. This process not only significantly improves treatment efficiency but also stabilizes water quality to meet discharge standards, providing reliable support for oilfield environmental protection efforts.
Core Advantages of the Process:
1. Efficient Polymer Degradation: The CDOF device utilizes ozone advanced oxidation to rapidly break polymer molecular chains, greatly reducing the difficulty of subsequent treatment and lowering overall energy consumption.
2. Physical Demulsification, Reduced Sludge Generation: The process uses efficient dissolved gas flotation technology instead of traditional gravity settling. By leveraging microbubbles for physical demulsification, it significantly reduces the volume of oily sludge and lowers sludge disposal costs.
3. Compact Process, Space-Saving: The overall process design is simple and compact, with high treatment efficiency and short residence time, making it suitable for oilfield sites with limited space.
4. Intelligent Operation, Stable and Reliable: The device is designed for modular, automated operation, supporting unmanned, fully automated control. This reduces the complexity of manual operation while ensuring long-term system stability.
5. Strong Shock Resistance, Stable Water Quality: The process has good resistance to fluctuations in water quality, ensuring that the effluent remains consistently within the required standards even when the influent conditions vary.
Application and Value in Oilfield Projects:
The process has been successfully implemented in multiple oilfield wastewater treatment projects, demonstrating significant environmental and economic benefits. Its high efficiency, stability, and energy-saving features make it a major technological advancement in the treatment of high polymer produced water.
With continuous innovation as its driving force, SINOKLE is committed to providing more advanced and cost-effective solutions for oilfield environmental protection, contributing to the industry's green and sustainable development.
