The removal of salinity from produced formation water by conventional and electrochemical methods

Abstract

The produced formation water (PFW) which is extracted together with the petroleum is highly saline. In this study the removal of the ions causing salinity, namely Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, SO42- and HCO3- has been investigated. For this purpose electrochemical methods such as electrodialysis and electrocoagulation have been applied. Conventional methods such as chemical precipitation and adsorption have been employed as a pretreatment to increase the removal efficiency of the electrochemical methods. The experiments accomplished by a combined system consisting of electrochemical and conventional methods have shown that the salinity in the produced formation water could be removed successfully.