Fresh Water in Dry Regions: Desalination Answers David Burnett, GPRI Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University Dr. C. Allan Jones, Director Dr. Bill Harris, Dr. Bill Fox, Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas A&M University Dr. Gene Theodori Program in Rural Sociology & Community Services Texas A&M University

A&M Water Resources: The State of Texas Program Rural Community Outreach “Drought proofing” projects Critical Habitat/ Rangeland – Grassland Protection Remediation, restoration of rangelands & wetlands Small Farm/ Ranching Operations High value use. Small volumes Dispersed water sites Oil and Gas Production Operations Oil Field Brine Desalination

State of Texas Partners Texas Water Development Board* Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Texas Railroad Commission *http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/Desalination

The A&M Program: What We Do Saline Water Injection into Oil and Gas Zones Desalination Brine disposal represents a significant fraction of the cost of operating a desalination facility. In the oil and gas industry, high salinity brines are routinely injected into formations for pressure maintenance and secondary recovery by water flooding. Gas Oil Surface Water Oil Gas Water Disposal Well Water For more Info see: http://www.tamu.edu/

Lack of Fresh Water Resources

Brine Desalination Process Centrifuge/ hydrocyclones TECHNICAL ISSUES Brine Desalination Process m filters Chemical addition Recycle Brine Water Concentrate RO System Pump Permeate Organoclay polish Centrifuge/ hydrocyclones RO Post Treatment

Filtration and Reverse Osmosis: Definitions TECHNICAL ISSUES Filtration and Reverse Osmosis: Definitions Micro Filtration (MF) (10-0.1mm) Bacteria, suspended particles Ultrafiltration (UF) (0.05-0.005mm) Colloids, macromolecules Nanofiltration (NF) (5e-3-5.e-4 mm) Sugars, dyes, divalent salts Reverse Osmosis (RO) (1.e-4-1e-5 mm) Monovalent salts, ionic metals Water

Short Courses & Workshops March 21-24, 2005 College Station, TX Original 15th Annual Practical Membrane & Separations Technology Short Course: Fundamentals, New Developments, Applications and Pilot Plant Demonstrations Organized by Separation Sciences Program Food Protein Research & Development Center Texas Engineering Experiment Station The Texas A&M University System College Station, TX 77843-2476 March 21-24, 2005 College Station, TX

Facilities: Separation Sciences Laboratory

Facilities: Waste Water Treatment Program

Facilities: Produced Water Treatment Program

Koch Portable RO Unit

Texas A&M Portable Desalination Rig

Texas A&M Mobile Test Truck For more Info see: http://foodprotein.tamu.edu/separations/equipmembrane.htm

Texas A&M Desalination: The “A” Team Texas A&M University System Texas A&M Engineering (TEES) A&M Ag Engineering Texas Water Resource Institute (TWRI) A&M Intl Agriculture Program Global Petroleum Research Institute (GPRI) State and Federal Partners Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC) Texas Water Development Board Texas Department of Agriculture U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Environmental Protection Council U. S. Department of the Interior (BLM)

Texas A&M Partners: How We Function Identifying the problems, setting goals Example: Roadmap of technology needs for cost effective oil field brine use Creating and managing the programs Example: TWDB Evaluation of Oil & Gas Industry Technology Working to solve community needs Example: Department of Rural Sociology Partnership with Howard Co. (Tx) Community College

Premise: Fresh water resources from desalination of wastewater including oil field brine. Advantages Demand for fresh water is increasing its value. Proximity of the water resource to the place of use. Disposal of waste brine into depleted oil & gas zones. Disadvantages Additional cost of demineralization of water. The (probable) salinity of the produced brine. Environmental compliance issues.

GPRI Field Operations at Burlington Resources Burlington Resources performs water fracs in the Barnett Shale using water from the Trinity River. Demonstration units are to be used to treat the frac water for re-use. For more info see: www.mcog.org/ barnettlinks.html

Task 2: Development in the Barnett Shale Fresh Water from the Trinity River used for Fracturing Treatments Devon Energy ~ 20 to 30/month Burlington Resources ~ 20 /month Other Operators ~ 30/month Each Treatment is ~ 25,000 Bbls Recovery Water Handling ~ 80,000,000 gal/m. . Data from Burlington Resources

Texas A&M Portable Desalination Rig

Texas A&M Portable Desalination Rig

Texas A&M Portable Desalination Rig

Oil Field Brine Conversion: Historic McFaddin Ranch & O’Connor Oil Field Test Site

Fresh Water from Oil Field Brine for Livestock Watering Test Site Test Site

Texas A&M Programs in San Angelo Area Evaluating Beneficial Use of Treated Produced Water in Arid and Semi-arid West Texas Pilot Testing Water Treatment Technologies in Semi-Arid Regions: Addressing Non-Point Source Pollution through Water Treatment an Ecological Restoration Low Power Water Purification Units for Remote Communities

Thank You to Our Supporting Agencies Texas A&M University Desalination Project Acknowledging GPRI Sponsoring Companies BP Burlington Recourses Key Energy Tarlton Mfg. Total Contractors Polymer Ventures Costner Industries Texas Agencies Texas Water Resources Institute Stripper Well Consortium Ground Water Protection Council Texas Water Development Texas Railroad Commission U. S. Department of Energy Photographs Courtesy CMGC Foundation