Development of Surrogate Methods for Energy Production Process Water Characterization

TL;DR

This paper presents detailed characterization of process water contaminated with organics in energy production and develops surrogate methods to enable more efficient, continuous water quality monitoring and improvement.

Contribution

It introduces new surrogate methods based on detailed analysis, reducing the need for laborious traditional testing in energy production water management.

Findings

Detailed characterization of organic contaminants in process water.

Development of efficient surrogate testing methods.

Potential for improved, continuous water quality monitoring.

Abstract

Effluent streams of process water used in energy production are contaminated with organic compounds which limits reusability of the water streams. Energy producers develop expensive monitoring and treatment methods to limit impact of the contamination on production. Standard methods for quantifying dissolved organics is process-affected water is laborious and time-consuming. Results from detailed characterization of process water with high concentration of dissolved organics are presented. Methods applied to characterize effluent stream include gravimetric analysis, elemental analysis, and LCMS. The results are used to develop efficient surrogate methods that may be used in continuous improvement in energy production operations.