| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 623192 | Desalination | 2015 | 6 Pages |
•We tested boiler feed water from a Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage facility that produces oil sands in Alberta Canada.•The testing was a proof of concept.•The main criteria were the removal of water soluble organics, mainly naphthenic acids (NAs).•The NAs were completely removed using the tubular ceramic membranes.•Selection of the pore size of the ceramic membrane was concluded.
The presence of fine solids and dissolved organics in produced water from Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) process can potentially block pressure vessels and cause fouling and corrosion in steam boilers. Ceramic membranes in tubular configurations with pore sizes of 20 kDa, 50 nm and 100 nm were investigated for the removal of solids and dissolved organics from boiler feed water (BFW). The original BFW sample contained 125, 1300 and 20 mg/L of oil and grease (O&G), naphthenic acids (NAs) and total suspended solids (TSS), respectively. It was found that lowering the pH of the BFW to 4 prior to membrane treatment increased the permeate flux and also eliminated operating drawbacks such as foam formation. Among all the investigated membranes, the Al2O3 membrane with 100 nm pore size showed the best performance in terms of flux and removal efficiencies as no detection of total suspended solids was observed in the permeate streams while achieving a high removal efficiency of 80% and 95% for O&G and NA, respectively.
