Abstract
Produced water associated with oil production is the largest oilfield waste. It is a mixture of inorganic and organic compounds that include oil, metals, chemicals, gases, microorganisms, etc. Treatment of produced water may therefore be required in order to meet pre-disposal regulatory limits.
During the production life of an oil reservoir, the water cut may increase to a high percentage. Most of the produced water is discharged or re-injected back into the reservoir. However, re-injection of produced oily water can cause formation damage due to flow path restriction and plugging effect caused by oil droplets. To minimize the formation damage, the produced oily water should be treated to minimize the oil droplets as well as the solid particles content.
Due to the restricted environment protection, the treatment of the produced water is necessary before discharging. Treatment of produced water is a benefit for many reasons such as extracting more oil from the produced water, using the treated water for irrigation, and finally for protecting the environment.
The objective of this study is to evaluate and test a new treatment material for its effectivity to remove the free and the soluble oil from produced water. The used material is cheap and widely available as new or recycled material. The results show the excellent ability of the polyester fiber to produce high quality water without using any emulsion breakers.