Patent ID: 8409442

Claim:
A system for treating fractionated water from an oil and gas well, the system comprising: a filter system, a diffusive membrane system, a plurality of membrane sensors, at least one membrane controller, and a connection, wherein the filter system is fluidly connected to the diffusive membrane system, wherein the filter system comprises a plurality of straining filter banks, wherein the diffusive membrane system comprises a plurality of membrane banks each having an inlet and an outlet, wherein the plurality of membrane sensors are positioned at the outlet of each of the plurality of membrane banks, and the plurality of membrane sensors are configured to detect the total dissolved solids level at the outlet of each of the plurality of membrane banks, wherein the at least one membrane controller is programmed to selectively disengage and isolate at least one of the plurality of membrane banks from fluid communication with the system upon detection if the total dissolved solids level at the outlet of one or more of the membrane banks is above about 20,000 ppm, and wherein the connection is configured to mix a bypassing fractionated water feed bypass with at least one permeated water stream from the plurality of membrane banks to produce a blended water stream having a total dissolved solids level ranging from about 20,000 ppm to about 30,000 ppm.