Original Research Article
Year: 2016 | Month: 02 | Volume: 1 | Issue: 01 | Pages: 28-37
Characterization of Produced Water in Selected Oil Wells in Ughelli Delta State Nigeria
Oghenegare E. Eyankware1, Jennifer C. Amadi1, Moses O. Eyankware2
1Department of Gas Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Port-Harcourt, P. M. B 5323, Rivers State, Nigeria.
2Department of Geology, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki,. P.M.B. 053. Ebonyi State.
Corresponding Author: Oghenegare E. Eyankware
ABSTRACT
The constituents of produced water that is being discharged to the environment has become of great concern in recent years due to its polluting effect. As such, this study assesses the presence of physiochemical parameters such as Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), presence of heavy metals, salinity, pH, temperature, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Bicarbonate, Chloride etc. in produced water samples from different oil wells. The range of the levels of the physiochemical parameters are as follows; TDS: 20000ppm - 51600ppm; TPH: 32.54385ppm - 34.84466ppm; BOD: 0.0163mg/l - 0.032mg/l; Zinc: 0.12ppm - 0.4ppm; Iron: 0.39ppm - 0.4ppm; Copper: 0.05ppm - 0.15ppm; Chromium:0.3ppm; Cadmium: 0.06ppm; Lead: < 0.001ppm; Nickel: 0.85ppm - 1.17ppm; Salinity: 4950g/kg - 3300g/kg; pH: 8.10 - 7.84; Temperature: 26.70C - 270C; COD: 341mg/l - 354mg/l; Bicarbonate: 85mg/l - 90mg/l; Chloride: 3000mg/l - 2000mg/l. It was noticed that the amount of some various constituents exceeded their permissible limits. From the above studies is hereby recommended that carbon and mechanical filters should be installed between the first and second semi-permeable membrane sheets that are convolutely wound round the collector tube of the invention of Ernest Price (1980) so as to remove contaminants such as heavy metals, TDS, chloride and salt in cases of excessive pressure in which produced water gets to the surface pressure in which produced water gets to the surface.
Keywords: Produced water, Environmental pollution, Constituents, Physiochemical, Discharge