Produced Water Treatment Utilizing Process Heat from High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (HTGR) in Permian Basin
Journal Title: International Journal of engineering Research and Applications - Year 2018, Vol 8, Issue 8
Abstract
When settlers first occupied west Texas in the 1800‟s they believed that the underlying “Ogallala Aquifer” had the capacity to provide a more than an adequate supply of the residents‟ fresh water needs. The Ogallala is beneath the surface in the following: West Texas Panhandle, far eastern New Mexico, Oklahoma Panhandle, western Kansas, eastern Colorado, western Wyoming, southern South Dakota, and most of Nebraska. Large-scale extraction of water from the “Ogallala Aquifer” for agricultural purposes started after World War II, due partially to the development of the “centre pivot” irrigation technology and the adaptation of automotive engines for pumping water from groundwater wells.[1] Today about 27% of the irrigated land in the entire United States lies over this Ogallala Aquifer, which yields about 30% of the ground water used for irrigation in the United States.[2] However, the Aquifer is presently at risk for both over-extraction and pollution. Currently used horizontal drilling techniques and subsequent “fracking” are enhanced production methods that are efficient in extracting hydrocarbons. But they have a significant “down-side” in that they require the use of an average of 3 to 4 million gallons of “fresh” water per well for horizontal drilling and about 5 million gallons of water per well for fracking!” In fact, this water use significantly contributes to the current state of the Permian Basin‟s “water stress.” Degradation of the fresh water supply in Permian Basin has become a reality as we have discovered that when we produce increasing amounts of hydrocarbons, it is at the expense of our clean water reserve! The concept presented in this paper is transformational since it is utilizing two gigantic/effective energy entities in addressing and ascertaining energy security for the US. It is a model which integrates “oil and gas” and nuclear entities to address the water management issue in US and globally. The U.S. and international nuclear energy industry are a capable generator of electricity. In addition, it also has the capacity to treat 1) produced water from oil and gas (O&G) production, and 2) brackish ground water, to “drinking water quality” standards at a cost of ~$0.35 per “barrel” (or less than a half a cent per gallon). This would not only improve the efficiency of the O&G production industry through the utilization of “clean” water sources, it would also re-establish the fresh water resources that have been polluted by the O&G industry and agriculture over the past 50 years or so. The attractive economic aspects of this process indicate a significant cost reduction in the treatment of O&G “produced water” and a potential path to recharge fresh-water aquifers in the west Texas Permian Basin that have been polluted by agriculture and the oil and gas industry. This facility can create clean drinking quality water for either human consumption and/or industrial applications (1e, O&G production). Technical studies and analysis throughout the world have also determined that this “High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor” (HTGR) design to be used for this facility, is designated as being “Inherently safe” by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission because the reactor is safely controlled by the “laws of physics” rather than decisions and/or reactions made by man! The $1.5 to $2.0 billion-dollar facility will use the 1700o F “process” heat from gas-cooled nuclear reactors to treat “produced water.” This treatment, or cleansing, of the produced water will make it more effective for use in hydraulic fracturing and drilling purposes. In addition, this process can also increase the supply of potable water (water for human consumption and other high-temperature industrial applications) in arid regions like the Permian Basin of west Texas. This technology should also substantially decrease the amount of produced water injected into disposal wells in the Permian Basin, thus mitigating the potential risk of induced seismic activity in the region. The table below summarizes the economics developed by industry and the DOE. In each case the output stream is “drinking quality” water plus brine and “waste” (which would be sent to a “disposal well” in the O&G producing regions of the Permian Basin).We believe that the above estimated costs make this technology a profitable solution to either a) create a sustainable fresh water supply for human consumption from brackish water, and/or b) treat produced water from regional O&G operators to enhance the quality and efficiency of the fracking and subsequent production process in the oil and gas industry.
Authors and Affiliations
Hossein Hossein, James Wright
Keywords
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- EP ID EP395049
- DOI 10.9790/9622-0808027591.
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