Ozonation Treatment for Offshore Produced Water Effluents

To meet increasingly stringent guidelines for offshore wastewater disposal, new technologies are being considered by Canada’s petroleum industries for the treatment of produced water (PW) effluents. The purpose of the proposed project is to test the effectiveness of ozonation and enhanced approaches for treating PW effluents. Lab-scale, bench-top experiments using a specially designed bubble column as the reaction chamber will be used to test the efficiency of ozonation and the influencing factors (e.g., bubble size, dosage, time), as well as enhanced options by UV irradiation. The reaction dynamics will be studied by determining the kinetics order and reaction rate to understand the mechanisms involved and to improve performance. The toxicity of treated effluent and the influence of ozonation on
biodegradability will be examined. Results will provide the offshore petroleum industry with valuable information about the effectiveness of enhanced ozonation as a cost-effective treatment option for PW effluents and will improve their waste management capacity.

Faculty Supervisor:

Bing Chen

Student:

Partner:

Petroleum Research Newfoundland & Labrador;Suncor Energy Inc (St. John's, NL)

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Mining; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Program: