As energy production from sources such as hydraulic fracturing re-gains momentum rapidly in the US, there is an increasing demand placed on water resources as well as a need to sustainably manage the water that is displaced by these operations.

Legislation on water use and reuse in the fracking industry are evolving and there is increasing focus on technologies such as reverse osmosis, thermal distillation, precipitative softening, etc. to treat produced and flowback water.

The goal of this presentation is to review water treatment technologies, particularly precipitative softening, that allow for optimal treatment and reuse, as well as provide some economic advantages of reuse.

References and case studies including technical results will be presented for specific sites that have utilized precipitative softening to reach their treatment goals. One such site is in the Niobrara shale in Colorado where produced and flowback water was treated for oil, alkalinity, iron and sulfate removal in order to allow for reuse in new well drilling. Precipitative softening with a high reactivity, low viscosity calcium hydroxide slurry allowed for all treatment targets to be achieved and the resulting water to be employed in new well developments, thus minimizing fresh water use and optimizing costs.

Primary Author / Conference Presenter:
Narahari Kramadhati
Water and Wastewater Treatment Director
Lhoist
City of Industry, California, USA

Co-Authors:
Lauren Marlatt, Lhoist, Houston, TX
Mike Schantz, Lhoist, Boulder, CO