Veolia Water Technologies, Inc.

Karen Schooley

David E Gamache

Donald Boudreau

Donald A Boudreau, Jr

A process is provided for treating produced water resulting from an oil recovery operation. Produced water is subjected to a softening process wherein a caustic or other softening reagent is added to the produced water to increase the pH of the produced water. Downstream of softening, there is provided an evaporator for evaporating at least a portion of the produced water and producing steam and a concentrated brine. At least a portion of the concentrated brine is recycled upstream of the evaporator and mixed with the produced water and the softening reagent to enhance the softening process.

Oil recovery process including enhanced softening of produced water

An oil recovery process is provided where an oil-water mixture is recovered from an oil-bearing formation. Oil is separated from the oil-water mixture to yield produced water. The produced water is typically subjected to a pre-treatment process. After pre-treatment, the produced water is directed to an evaporator that evaporates at least some of the produced water and produces steam and an evaporator blowdown. The evaporator blowdown is directed to a dual stage crystallizer that concentrates the evaporator blowdown.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Karen Schooley