CRM Membrane for Produced Water Treatment

Background 
At present, most of the oil fields nearly use the water injection (produced water/ frac water) development method for extraction of oil, but the injected water (produced water/ frac water) is always taken out along with the crude oil. As this way is repeated, the injected water (produced water/ frac water) content in the produced liquid gradually increases, and some oil fields even reach as high as 90%. Therefore, the amount of waste water generated by the oil field is very large. If such a large amount of produced water is directly discharged, it will cause very serious environmental pollution problems and at the same time waste valuable water resources.
If the oily wastewater is treated, re-injection of the formation to supplement the pressure of the formation will not only avoid environmental pollution, but also save a lot of water resources. The treatment and re-injection (produced water/ frac water) of oily wastewater is an important way for oilfields to achieve sustainable development and improve the economic benefits of oilfields. 
Traditional Produced Water Treatment Process

The quality of the produced water changes with the development of the oilfield, and the composition becomes more complicated. The conventional treatment method can no longer meet the high requirement for re-injection water quality compliance. After a series of studies, CRM membrane technology has become a superior process for produced water treatment. 

CMX- UF for oilfield Produced Water Treatment
The quality of re-injection water lies in three aspects: oil content, suspended solid content and median diameter of particle. This requirement can be met by selecting ceramic membrane with suitable pore size. For different kind of project,the specification of water is different. Thus different pretreatment process is required before water goes into membrane system. TANGENT has developed an integrated CMX ceramic membranes UF membrane technology, which has been proved to be viable and efficient for produced water treatment by several project cases.


Main characteristics of CRX membranes:
Narrow mean pore-size distribution
High rejection of dissolved hydrocarbon
Strong acid & alkali resistance
Solvent resistance
Oxidant resistance
Corrosion & abrasion resistance
Insensitive to bacterial action
Backwash allowable
Long lifetime
High permeate flux
High temperature resistance

Process Advantages 
High quality of filtrate with high rejection of oil
Filtrated water can be re-injected
Stable performance in high flux
A green process without chemical agent
Low operating cost
Long membrane worklife
Benefit for post treatment
Reduce solid waste discharge
Low labor and maintenance cost

Performance of CMX membrane for Produced Water