An Integrated Framework for Treatment and 

Management of Produced Water 

! Task 3 - Assessment of Management Options

• Explored through cost/benefit analyses the multiple conditions 

that have to be fulfilled in order to establish beneficial use from a 

technical, regulatory, political, environmental, economic, and 

legal standpoint: 

Beneficial Use Screening Module (BSM)

• Developed a structured decision process that identifies, 

evaluates, and (where possible) quantifies benefits, risks, and 

costs of each management option: 

Beneficial Use Economic Module (BEM) 
Integrated Framework Screening Tools 
Water Quality Module (WQM) 

! Objectives 

" Establish CBM produced 

water quality database 

" Basins, formations, wells 

" Output comprehensive 

constituent list for the 

Treatment Selection Module 

" Format into ExcelTM based 

macro enabled workbook 

" Downloadable from the 

RPSEA project website 
Water Quality Module (WQM) 
Water Quality Module (WQM) 
Treatment Selection Module (TSM) 
TSM: Development Challenges 

! Very large number of permutations 

" 32 treatment processes 

" 46 water quality parameters 

" Intelligent process selection 

# On-the-fly data trimming 

! Data, Selection Criteria, Validation 

" Treatment Technology Assessment 

Document 

" Input from academia & industry 

" Beta testing 

8 corners, 12 edges 

> 3 billion combinations 


TDS: 11,400 ppm 

TSS: 110 ppm 

Main Constituents: 

Na+, Cl-, Ca2+, 

SO4

2-, HCO3- 

Micro-constituents: 

H3BO3, Fe2+, Al, As, 

Br, Cr, Cu, CN, F, 

Mg2+, Hg, K+ 

Quantity: 0.4 MGD 

TSM – Example from San Juan Basin 

CBM PW 

Quality/Quantity 

Desalination Selection 

o Energy: 8 kWh/kgal 

o Chemical demand 

• Na4EDTA 

o Product water 

• 85% water recovery 

• TDS: 230ppm 

o Brine TDS: 67,000ppm 

Pretreatment Selection 

o Energy: 0.7 kWh/kgal 

o Chemical demand 

• H2SO4, Na4EDTA

o Product water 

• Hardness removed by IX 

• TSS removed by MF 

Beneficial 

Use 

Need to 

Treat? 

Desalination 

Selection 

Suggested Pretreatment 

• Microfiltration 

• Ultrafiltration 

• Media Filtration 

• Ion Exchange 

• Chemical Softening 

Pretreatment 

Selection 

Post Treatment 

Suggestions 

Post Treatment/ Brine 

o Deep well injection 

Suggest Desalination 

• Reverse Osmosis 

• Membrane Distillation 

• Vapor Compression 

• Electrodialysis 

!

!

!

Assess 

Technologies 

capabilities 

and site 

conditions 

Assess 

Technologies 

capabilities 

and site 

conditions 

Require 

Desal? 

Beneficial Use Screening Module (BSM) 
Outputs 

! Qualitative weighted assessment of screening criteria 

Example for illustrative purposes only 
Beneficial Use Economic Module 
Beneficial 

Use 

Economic 

Module 

(BEM) 

Beneficial Use Economic Module (BEM) 

Outputs: 

! Engineer’s planning 

level estimate of 

probable costs for 

selected BU 

! Summary of range of 

potential costs and 

values for selected BU 

! Comparison of 

multiple BU project 

scenarios or variation 

of one BU project 

Inputs: 

! Select BU 

! Project life 

! Long-term interest 

rate 

! Project details 

(conveyance, terrain, 

location, energy type, 

storage, other 

infrastructure) 

! Current disposal 

details 

! User unit costs 

(if available) 
Project Website 

http://aqwatec.mines.edu/produced_water 
An Integrated Framework for Treatment 

and Management of Produced Water 

! Task 4 - Field Validation of Viable Treatment 

Processes for CBM Produced Water 

" Bench/pilot-scale treatment trains were designed, 

constructed, and tested at representative production site 

for field-scale validation 

" Data is being analyzed to determine the effectiveness, 

robustness, and ease of operation of treatment strategies 

" Testing results will provide validation of the integrated 

decision making framework 
Case Studies 

! Two Case Studies were analyzed 

" Powder River Basin 

" San Juan Basin 

! Components investigated 

" Water Quality Module 

" Treatment Selection Module 

" Beneficial Use Selection Module 

" Beneficial Use Economic Module 
Shortcomings of the First Generation Tool 

! CBM produced water only 

! Low resolution of Expert Ranking matrix 

! User input does not provide enough flexibility 

" Treatment technologies 

" Decentralization 

" Tailored water (system capable of producing water of 

different quality by changing operating conditions) 

! Economic/Energy 

" Low resolution 

" Cost/benefit not optimized 

" Resource recovery not incorporated 

! Environmental and social costs/benefits not 

optimized 
Decision Support Tool (DST) for 

Characterization, Treatment, and 

Beneficial Use of Unconventional Gas 

Frac Flowback and Produced Water 

Prof. Mengistu Geza Prof. Pei Xu Prof. Tzahi Cath 

Phase 2 
New Features of the 2nd Generation DST 

! Enhanced database for both CBM and Shale Gas 

" Quality, quantity, and distribution 

" Fracturing flowback water 

" Produced water 

" Potentially drilling muds 

! Technologies 

" Add more treatment technologies, including for energy, 

resource recovery, and residual management 

" Enable user-defined technologies 

" Increase resolution of all process parameters (Expert 

Ranking) 
New Features of the 2nd Generation DST 

! Add decentralization capabilities 

" Well head treatment 

" Well cluster treatment 

" Basin treatment 

! Tailored water (quality) 

" Improvement of beneficial use module 

" Define range of water quality for specific treatment trains 

! Improve optimization techniques 
Summary and Concluding Remarks 

! CSM will continue the development of the DST for a 

wider range of waste streams 

! The first generation DST successfully simulated 

logical treatment trains and cost/benefits 

! Second generation DST will have higher resolution 

and stronger capabilities dealing with different feed 

streams, beneficial reuse, and resource recovery 

" More robust Expert Ranking matrix 

" Improved User Ranking module 

" More robust Economic Module that takes into consideration 

costs and benefits (economic, social, environmental, 

ecological) 

" Ability to optimize several treatment plants within a basin 
New Treatment Technologies 
Technology Requirements 

! Robustness, flexibility (quantity/quality), modularity 

! Desalination 

" Many of the desalination technologies are well established 

" Minimal effort to adapt in the field, but need 

PRETREATMENT 

! Integrated membrane systems provide many benefits 

" Selective removal of contaminants by size 

" Selective removal of contaminants by chemistry 

" Can be relatively easily tailored/hybridized with other 

physical, or chemical, or biological processes 

" Easily scalable 

" Yes, they have limitations! so more R&D is needed!
The Future of Membrane Processes 

in O&G E&P 

! Current commercial membrane processes have 

some limitations: 

" Fouling/scaling 

" Limited pressure (at high salinity) 

" High energy (myth?) 

" But they are still, and will be the workhorse!

! Membrane processes that might benefit the O&G 

industry: 

" Ceramic membranes 

# Microfiltration and ultrafiltration 

# Nanofiltration 

" Engineered Osmosis 

" Membrane Distillation 

" Biological processes (MBRs) 
RO a Strong Technology 

! But Has Notable Limitations 

Energy, kWh/m

3

1% 2% 3% 4% 5%

6

8

10

% Total Dissolved Solids 

4

High Efficiency RO 

(HERO) 

Operating pressure upper limit ~80 bar 

(~1,200 psig) 

2

NF 

BWRO & LPRO 

SWRO 

8%

True if feed water 

is of good quality 

• TSS? 

• Low solubility salts? 

• Algae? 

• Boron? 

0

Source: GWI, vol. 13 (1), 2012 
Osmotically Driven Membrane Processes 

!P=!"

Brine Feed 

Osmotic Dilution 

or Concentration

Selective Mixing 

Cath, Hancock, et al. 2009 

Image: Hydration Technology Innovations 
Forward Osmosis – Reverse Osmosis 

Desalination 

! NaCl draw solution 

! Constant concentration 

! No pretreatment required 

! New generation 

Limited by RO 

reconcentration 

Forward Osmosis 

(FO) 

“engineered osmosis”

RO Brine 

Reconcentration Draw 

Solution Feed
Forward Osmosis Advantages 

Treating Tough Waste Streams!
Oil & Gas Exploration and Production

Grit/Solids 

Removal 

Oil 

Separation 

Coagulation/

Flocculation/

Sedimentati

on 

Biological 

Treatment 

Air Stripping 

Advanced 

Oxidation 

Filtration 

(MF, UF) 

Reuse 

Options 

Sludge Pits 

FO 

Membranes 

RO 
Oil & Gas Exploration and Production

Reuse 

Options 

Sludge Pits 

FO 

Membranes 

RO 

Membranes 
Oil & Gas Exploration and Production

Grit/Solids 

Removal 

Oil 

Separation 

Coagulation/

Flocculation/

Sedimentati

on 

Biological 

Treatment 

Air Stripping 

Advanced 

Oxidation 

Filtration 

(MF, UF) 

Reuse 

Options 

Sludge Pits 

FO 

Membranes 

RO 
Oil & Gas Exploration and Production

http://www.emeraldsurf.net/forward-osmosis-the-green-machine/ 
Oil & Gas Exploration and Production

Haynesville Basin – HTI Green Machine 

! Trailer mounted FO pressure 

vessels 

! 24x 8” spiral wound FO 

elements 

! Draw solution 

" ~6% NaCl initial 

concentration 

" ~4.6% NaCl final 

concentration 

! RO reconcentration system 

" 16x 8” spiral wound RO 

elements 

! ~85% water recovery 

! Minimized membrane fouling/

cleaning 

Operating Condition 

Feed and draw solution flow via pumping 

 (~60 psi hydraulic TMP) 
Oil & Gas Exploration and Production

Haynesville Basin – HTI Green Machine 

!"

#!!!"

$!!!!"

$#!!!"

%!!!!"

%#!!!"

&!!!!"

&#!!!"

!" #!" $!!" $#!"

!"#$%&'()*##"+,(

-.%&'(/"$0,(

'()"*+)(,"-(./0(12"3+4"

5,+6"7+89":/42"3+4"

!"

$"

%"

&"

;"

#"

<"

="

>"

!" #!" $!!" $#!"

1*2&0(3#$4'(5(%67(8069((

-.%&'(/"$0,(

5?"@0(,+3("54AB2"CDE"

~18% 

Decline 

Initial Feed Conductivity: ~6.8 mS/cm 

Final Feed Conductivity: ~32.5 mS/cm 

Achieves 85% recovery and 5x concentration of WW 
Demonstration Projects – Produced Water 

> 1,200 hours of operation > 400,000 liters of water treated 
@0(,+3("*+)(,"-(6/0(,FG"<!H"

0

1,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

Feed Brine Product

Concentration, ppm

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

Product Concentration, ppm

Not to Exceed

10# Brine

Brine Goal

Permian Case Study Data 
Marcellus Case Study 

(Raw | Product | Brine) 

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

Avg. Water Recovery: 65% 

0.01 

0.1 
Dealing With the Hypersaline Brines!
Membrane Distillation 

! Heated aqueous feed solution is 

brought into contact with the feed 

side of hydrophobic, microporous 

membrane 

! The hydrophobic nature of the 

membrane prevents penetration of 

aqueous solution into the pores 

! cold fresh water is in contact with 

the permeate side of the membrane 

! vapors diffuse through the pores 

and directly condense into the cold 

stream 

adapted from: http://www.water-technology.net/ 
Water and Minerals 

High-quality 

water 

Engineere

d System 

Impaired 

water 

 Water & Mineral Supply 

Fertilizers Road Salts 
:+.;*#(<="+"%.=(<>*#$*;"+(

! We have managed to successfully concentrated 

GSL water from 150K ppm TDS to >300K ppm 

TDS!!! 

! Natural evaporation 

" 2 ft/yr = 1.64 mm/day 

" 3 years for recovery of minerals (!) 

! Membrane distillation flux 

" 12 L/m2/hr = 288 mm/day 

" ~ 175 times faster 

" ~ 1 week instead of 3 years!
Comparing Natural Evaporation for 

Mineral Recovery to MD and FO 

8” 

~400 ft2 of membrane 

40” 

Natural 

Evaporation 

Membrane 

Distillation 

Forward 

Osmosis 

Water flux 0.6 m/yr 12 L/m2-hr 3 L/m2-hr 

Water flux, mm/d 1.644 288 (175x NE) 72 (44x NE) 

Time 1,100 days 6.5 days 25 days 

Foot print 1 acre (43,560 ft2) 250 ft2 990 ft2
Acknowledgement 

! My students and postdocs at CSM 

! Hydration Technology Innovations and Oasys Water 

! NSF/SRN 

! DOE/RPSEA 
Tzahi Cath, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor and AQWATEC Director 

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 

Colorado School of Mines 

Golden, Colorado 80401-1887 

Phone. (303) 273-3402 

Email. tcath@mines.edu 

Thank You