Use of multiple treatment agents to reduce hardness of an oilfield produced water

摘要

A process is provided for treating a water to reduce its hardness by performing a series of sequential stages including a primary chemical reaction stage, a secondary chemical reaction stage and a scale removal stage. The primary chemical reaction stage includes the steps of adding a first hydroxide ion donor in the form of lime to an initial water having an initial hardness and reacting the first hydroxide ion donor to form a first portion of a scale and an intermediate water having an intermediate hardness substantially less than the initial hardness. The secondary chemical reaction stage includes the steps of adding a second hydroxide ion donor in the form of caustic to the intermediate water and reacting the second hydroxide ion donor to form a second portion of the scale and a product water having a product hardness substantially less than the intermediate hardness. The reduction contribution of the primary chemical reaction stage to total hardness reduction is substantially greater than the reduction contribution of the secondary chemical reaction stage. The scale removal stage includes the steps of separating the scale from the product water to form a sludge and disposing the sludge.