Effect of Salts on TBAB Semi Clathrate Hydrate Formation: Application to Produced Water Desalination

摘要

Produced water (PW) is the water associated with crude oil production. It presents a huge environmental and economic problem in the oil and gas industry. Currently, the landfill is the primary disposal method. However, due to stringent environmental regulations, produced water needs to be treated before disposal. Hydrate based produced water desalination is a promising technology for treatment. Currently, there is an ongoing effort to identify a suitable hydrate former that can enhance the kinetics and lower operating conditions. In this study, the use of tetra-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) as a hydrate former for water desalination was investigated, the phase equilibrium of TBAB hydrate was obtained at different concentrations of TBAB using the dominant salts in produced water. While sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and magnesium chloride suppress the equilibrium temperature of TBAB hydrate, sodium sulfate has minimal effect. Despite the decrease in the equilibrium temperature, TBAB looks promising for produced water desalination using the hydrate process.