Coalbed methane produced water screening tool for treatment technology and beneficial use

• Produced water is a large volume waste stream of the oil and gas industry.
• We used an available screening tool to evaluate two produced water case studies.
• The tool outputs treatment technologies and costs for beneficial water reuse.
• Beneficial uses included crop irrigation, on-site use, potable use, and others.
• Project costs were similar to or less than existing produced water disposal costs.

Produced water is a byproduct of oil and gas production and represents the largest volume waste stream in the oil and gas industry. Due to the high demand for water and the costs associated with current produced water disposal practices, energy companies and local water users are interested in cost-effective alternatives for beneficial use of produced water. The main objective of this study was to apply a previously developed and publicly available coalbed methane produced water screening tool to two simulated case studies to determine site-specific produced water treatment technologies and beneficial use options, as well as costs, using realistic conditions and assumptions. Case studies were located in the Powder River (Wyoming) and San Juan (New Mexico) Basins. Potential beneficial uses evaluated include crop irrigation, on-site use, potable use, and instream flow augmentation. The screening tool recommended treatment trains capable of generating the water quality required for beneficial use at overall project costs that were comparable to or less than existing produced water disposal costs, given site-specific conditions and source (raw produced) water quality. In this way, the tool may be used to perform a screening-level cost estimate for a particular site to determine whether the costs per barrel for beneficial use are more or less than site-specific disposal costs. The demonstrated technical and economic feasibility provide incentives to address the institutional and legal challenges associated with beneficial use of produced water.