Basic Understandings of Flowback and Produced Water
Oct 20th, 2008 by Kyle Mackey
Flowback water is generated from drilling and is traditionally hauled to a disposal site. Flowback water is what gets produced from the first 5% of water returned after a well is started. It’s simple to recycle and sometimes be done on-site for reuse.
Produced water is wasted water that accompanies oil extraction and is high in saline. The standards for produced water disposal are governed by State, National and international regulatory bodies and new technologies are constantly bringing new options for less environmental impact.
With a lot of production in Texas and around the world, there are facilities that help to handle the flow back water from nearby gas wells. It’s very regulated and requires many considerations for homes, churches, schools, and other sensitive structures that would otherwise be irrelevant if the flowback water could be handled on site.
Years of experience building portable mobile water filtration that are quiet and cost effective to recycle flowback water are much needed. Extensive testing is important to evaluate how these technologies can replace non-environmentally friendly operations.
Offshore platforms can have a major impact on the environment if the waste water is not handled properly or recycled. But environmental regulations are becoming more commonplace including Asia and we’re seeing the concern for produced water contaminants become less of an issue with the option of cleansing the waste water.
Treatment is a non-pollutant with the use of sulfonated gelling agent polymers. The flowback water treating fluids of the present may exhibit decreased sensitivity to low pH. A treating fluid may contain a higher concentration of solubles compared to the treated water.
Production wells have the capacity to run for several months on end and the use of an on-site recycling center is a great alternative to flowback and produced water. Getting and using a system is easy with mobile systems that can be trucked in once and left alone to run non-stop throughout the production period for drilling operations. With massive volumes of fresh water necessary the recycled water is essential to provide the most cost effective production over time.
The largest volume of water waste arises from production operations for the oil and gas industries and recycling produced water is part of an environmental solution to keep drilling without damaging the world around us.
