Treatment Plant for Oil and Gas Industry Produced Water, Case Study Romania

“Produced water” is a term used in the oil and gas industry for water which comes out of the reservoirs such as condensed water or injected water or water which has been in the reservoirs before. It is the largest waste stream generated in the oil and gas industry, and consists of a mixture of different compounds, both organic and inorganic. The object of this project was to reduce the pollutants contained in the produced water, in order to discharge the treated water into the river. The main issue with regard to the treatment of this produced water was the elimination of nondegradable COD. For this reason, adsorption using activated carbon technology was implemented and has been shown to be successful. The treatment plant consists of three stages: physical-chemical stage, biological stage, and adsorption on activated carbon. The plant effectively decreased the COD in the produced water by between 92% and 95%. Within the context of the aforementioned, this chapter presents a case study describing the design of a produced water treatment plant built by WABAG in Romania.