Saltwater injection systems often suffer problems including poor oil recovery from the inlet water, plugging of the final filter before injection, and plugging downhole from bacterial growth. These problems plaguing saltwater disposal systems can be avoided or at least alleviated by utilizing good design practices.

The high value of crude oil makes recovery of any residual oil in the produced water attractive and environmental regulation of oil in salt water disposal from oil and gas operations are becoming more stringent also. Many of the current methods such as gunbarrels which are used for recovery are older designs and not very efficient.

This paper will present design methods and suggestions to alleviate these problems:

• Design suggestions on piping and pumps
• Methods for removing residual oil and solids
• Methods to minimize operating and maintenance costs.

Both the design of new systems and revisions to existing systems will be discussed with photographs and examples.

Primary Author / Conference Presenter:
Kirby Mohr
Consultant
Mohr Separations Research, Inc.
Lewisville, Texas, USA