Chevron U.s.a. Inc.

Prakhar Prakash

Randall B Pruet

Evan Shigeto Hatakeyama

James Craig Pauley

Michael Sean Driver

Shabbir Husain

Zunqing He

Paul Bryan

Gini Yash Shah

Gini Chauhan

A system for treating high temperature produced water includes an electrocoagulation unit, a membrane distillation unit in communication with the outlet of the electrocoagulation unit having a hydrophobic membrane with a feed side for receiving the produced water stream and a product side for receiving a deionized water stream. A heat recovery heat exchanger is in communication with the membrane distillation unit for receiving two streams, one from each side of the hydrophobic membrane, such that heat is exchanged between the two streams. A line leaving the heat exchanger returns a heated stream from the heat exchanger to a location in a line upstream of the membrane distillation unit. A brine tank in communication with the membrane distillation unit receives a portion of a stream from the membrane product side and contains a concentrated brine solution containing the portion of the stream from the membrane product side and sodium chloride.

Systems for producing regenerant brine and desalinated water from high temperature produced water

A process treats high temperature produced water by passing a stream to an electrocoagulation unit and then to a membrane distillation (MD) unit where the stream contacts a hydrophobic membrane on a feed side and deionized water contacts the membrane on a product side. A distilled water stream is recovered and collected with the product side stream to form a volume-depleted exit produced water stream on the feed side of the hydrophobic membrane. The exit product side stream is passed through a heat exchanger to form a stream that is returned to a location upstream of the MD unit for an additional pass through the MD unit, thereby recovering additional water. The stream can be returned multiple times to achieve high recovery and to form a final stream leaving the MD unit having a temperature from 40-60 &#xb0; C., a total oil and grease content no greater than 500 mg/L, and a suspended solids content no greater than 200 mg/L. A portion of the distilled water stream from the membrane distillation unit can be used to form a brine solution used to regenerate used ion exchange resin in a water softening system.

Systems and methods for producing regenerant brine and desalinated water from high temperature produced water

The invention relates to the treatment of water, including for example treatment in connection with hydrocarbon production operations. Silica in water produces undesirable scaling in processing equipment, which causes excess energy usage and maintenance problems. Electrocoagulation (EC) at relatively high water temperature, followed by any of membrane distillation or forward osmosis (FO), may be combined with a subsequent process of ceramic ultra-filtration (UF filtration) employed to treat water. Water to be treated may be produced water that has been pumped from a subterranean reservoir. The treated water may be employed to generate steam. The treatment units (e.g., EC, forward osmosis, UF filtration, etc) can be configured into one system as an on-site installation or a mobile unit for on-site or off-site water treatment.

Apparatus and process for treatment of water

The invention relates to the treatment of water, including for example treatment in connection with hydrocarbon production operations. Silica in water produces undesirable scaling in processing equipment, which causes excess energy usage and maintenance problems. Electrocoagulation (EC) at relatively high water temperature followed by ultra-filtration (UF filtration) may be combined with forward osmosis (FO) to treat water. Water to be treated may be produced water that has been pumped from a subterranean reservoir. The treated water may be employed to generate steam. The treatment units (e.g., EC, forward osmosis, UF filtration, etc) can be configured into one system as an on-site installation or a mobile unit for on-site or off-site water treatment.

In some embodiments, the present invention relates to an enrichment process that involves a separation and/or fractionation and/or enrichment of monounsaturated fatty acid/ester molecules from polyunsaturated fatty acid/ester molecules or, correspondingly, monounsaturated molecules from saturated molecules. Such processes are at least partially based on &#x3c0;(pi)-complexation between metal ions and unsaturated bonds of the extractible molecules (fatty acids/esters), wherein a greater degree of unsaturation provides for greater coordinating (bond) strength and corresponding selectivity in the associated &#x3c0;-complexation with metal ions.

Enrichment of monounsaturated acids/esters in vegetable oil&#x2014;or animal fat-based feedstock using metal salts dissolved in ionic liquids

An energy-efficient process for dewatering an aqueous organic solution includes using freely available solar energy to concentrate a draw solution within a reservoir. The draw solution is used in conjunction with a membrane to remove water from the organic solution in a forward osmosis process. The draw solution is diluted by the osmosis process, and returned to the reservoir to be re-concentrated and reused in the osmosis process.

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Bakersfield, CA, United States of America

Prakhar Prakash