The invention relates to a system for use in the treatment of produced water, e.g., water treatment in connection with hydrocarbon production operations. Silica in produced water produces undesirable scaling in processing equipment, which causes excess energy usage and maintenance problems. Electroc
The invention relates to a system for use in the treatment of produced water, e.g., water treatment in connection with hydrocarbon production operations. Silica in produced water produces undesirable scaling in processing equipment, which causes excess energy usage and maintenance problems. Electrocoagulation (EC) at relatively high water temperature, followed by any of membrane distillation (MD) or forward osmosis (FO), may be combined with a process of ceramic ultra-filtration (UF filtration) to treat water. Water to be treated may be produced water that has been pumped from a subterranean reservoir. The treated water may be employed to generate steam. The system comprises a plurality of units (e.g., EC, forward osmosis, membrane distillation unit, UF filtration, etc) which can be configured as an on-site installation or a mobile unit for on-site or off-site water treatment.
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1. A system for treating produced water containing contaminants selected from the group of dissolved organics, free oil and grease, and TDS as silica and hardness ions, the system comprising: an electrocoagulation unit for treating the produced water to remove silica and hardness ions from the produ
1. A system for treating produced water containing contaminants selected from the group of dissolved organics, free oil and grease, and TDS as silica and hardness ions, the system comprising: an electrocoagulation unit for treating the produced water to remove silica and hardness ions from the produced water as suspended solids to generate a pre-treated produced water stream having a LSI from −3 to 3;a filtration unit employing at least a membrane to remove free oil and grease from the pre-treated produced water at a temperature of at least 50° C., generating a filtered water stream with a reduced concentration of free oil and grease;a membrane distillation unit for removing at least 90% of dissolved organic content from the filtered water stream with a reduced concentration of free oil and grease;a forward osmosis unit for removing at least 90% of dissolved organic content from the filtered water stream with a reduced concentration of free oil and grease;wherein the units are configured in a permutable fashion for the units to be interconnected and interchangeable for the water treatment system to operate in: a sequential mode with the individual units running sequentially; a parallel mode with at least two of the units running in parallel; a combination of parallel and sequential mode; all units online; at least one unit online and at least one unit being idle; and combinations thereof. 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a solid separation unit to remove at least a substantial portion of the suspended solids from the pre-treated produced water stream for further treatment in the filtration unit, the solid separation unit is selected from floatation device, sedimentation device, incline plate settler, settling tank, centrifuge, hydrocyclone, enhanced gravity separation device. 3. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a strainer unit from removing large particles from the produced water prior to treatment in the electrocoagulation unit. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is mobile. 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the units in the system are located on a floating vessel. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the floating vessel is for treating produced water from a FPSO. 7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the units in the system is located on a mobile trailer. 8. The system of claim 1, wherein all of the units in the system are located on a plurality of mobile trailers, wherein the units on the plurality of mobile trailers are interconnected forming the water treatment system. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is for use in treating produced water at a production facility generating less than 300,000 barrels of produced water per day 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the filtration unit employs at least a ceramic membrane to remove free oil and grease from the pre-treated produced water. 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the filtration unit removes at least 70% of the TOC as free oil from the pre-treated produced water. 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the filtration unit employs at least a polymeric membrane to remove at least 70% of the TOC as free oil, wherein the polymeric membrane comprises a material selected from sulfonated polyether ether ketone (PEEK), sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene based fluoropolymer-copolymer, poly(phthalazinone ether sulfone) (PPES), poly(phthalazinone ether ketone) (PPEK) and poly(phthalazinone ether sulfone ketone) (PPESK). 13. The system of claim 1, wherein the electrocoagulation unit employs sacrificial electrodes. 14. The system of claim 1, wherein the forward osmosis unit employs a draw solution comprising at least one of polyvalent osmotic ions, monovalent osmotic ions and combinations thereof. 15. The system of claim 1, wherein the draw solution comprises any of NaCl, Na2SO4, AlCl3, MgSO4, NH4HCO3, MgCl2 and mixtures thereof. 16. The system of claim 1, wherein the filtered water stream with a reduced concentration of free oil and grease is of steam-generation quality. 17. A method of treating produced water containing contaminants selected from the group of dissolved organics, free oil and grease, and TDS as silica and hardness ions using the system of claim 1. 18. A method for installing a water treatment system to treating produced water containing contaminants selected from the group of dissolved organics, free oil and grease, and TDS as silica and hardness ions, the method comprising: providing an electrocoagulation (EC) unit, a filtration unit, a membrane distillation unit, and a forward osmosis unit, wherein each unit is modular and transportable;transporting the units to a location which generates the produced water to be treated;interconnecting the units forming in a water treatment system capable of treating the produced treated to generate steam-generation quality water having less than 10 mg/L TOC, less than 50 ppm silica, and less than 10 ppm hardness ions. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the units are interconnected in a permutable fashion for the water treatment system to operate in any of: a sequential mode with the individual units running sequentially; a parallel mode with at least two of the units running in parallel; a combination of parallel and sequential mode; all units online; at least one unit online and at least one unit being idle; and combinations thereof. 20. The method of claim 18, where providing an EC unit comprises providing an EC unit capable of treating the produced water to remove silica and hardness ions from the produced water as suspended solids to generate a pre-treated produced water stream having a LSI from −3 to 3. 21. The method of claim 18, where providing a membrane distillation unit comprises providing a direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) unit employing at least a hydrophobic hollow fiber membrane. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the membrane fibers have a length ranging from 1 to 200″, a wall thickness ranging from 2 to 100 p.m. 23. The method of claim 18, where providing a membrane distillation unit comprises providing a direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) unit employing at least a composite membrane comprising a hydrophilic polymer layer and a hydrophobic polymer layer. 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the hydrophilic polymer comprises any of polysulfone, polyether sulfone, polyetherimide polyvinylidenefluoride, and cellulose acetate. 25. The method of claim 23, wherein the hydrophobic polymer layer comprises fluorinated surface-modifying macromolecule (SMM).
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