Oil production is shifting from shallow wells (0-650 ft water depth) to off-shore, deep-water operations (2,600 ft.). Production from these operations is now approaching 20%. By 2007, it is projected that as much as 70% of the U.S. oil production will be from deep-water operations. The crude oil from these deep wells is more polar, thus increasing the amount of dissolved hydrocarbons in the produced water. Early data from Gulf of Mexico (GOM) wells indicate that the problem with soluble organics will increase significantly as deep-water production increases. Existing physical/chemical treatment technologies used to remove dispersed oil from produced water will not remove dissolved organics. GOM operations are rapidly moving toward design of high-capacity platforms that will require compact, low-cost, efficient treatment processes to comply with current and future water quality regulations. This project is an extension of previous research to improve the applicability of ozonation and will help address the petroleum industry-wide problem of treating water containing soluble organics. The goal of this project is to maximize oxidation of water-soluble organics during a single-pass operation. The project investigates: (1) oxidant production by electrochemical and sonochemical methods, (2) increasing the mass transfer rate in the reactor by forming microbubbles during ozone injection into the produced water, and (3) using ultraviolet irradiation to enhance the reaction if needed. Industrial collaborators include Chevron, Shell, Phillips, BP Amoco, Statoil, and Marathon Oil through a joint project with the Petroleum Environmental Research Forum (PERF). The research and demonstration program consists of three phases: (1) Laboratory testing in batch reactors to compare effectiveness of organics destruction using corona discharge ozone generation methods with hydrogen peroxide generated sonochemically and to evaluate the enhancement of destruction by UV light and micro-bubble spraying; (2) Continuous-flow studies to determine the efficacy of various contactors, the dependency of organics destruction on process variables, and scale-up issues; and (3) Field testing of a prototype system in close collaboration with an industrial partner to generate performance data suitable for scale-up and economic evaluation.
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