Article

Designing the conceptual scheme of a pilot-industrial plant for desalination of coal, oil and gas-fields produced water by gas hydrate method

Педченко, М.М.

The growing scarcity of fresh water on the planet is driving intensified research to improve desalination technologies for unlimited seawater and underground reservoir water resources. In addition, the process of extracting hydrocarbon minerals is accompanied by the forced extraction of associated reservoir waters. For the most part, these waters have a high level of mineralization. However, based on the capabilities of existing technologies, the effective desalination of such water is technically impossible or economically unfeasible. In contrast, the promising desalination technology based on gas hydrates is not burdened by these drawbacks. However, for widespread implementation, improvements and adaptations of technological operations to industrial application conditions are required. Based on the results of this study, a conceptual scheme for a plant for the desalination of produced water from coal, oil, and gas fields is proposed. The proposed scheme is unique because it uses a free-jet apparatus as the main element of the reactor unit. The advantages of jet technology ensure the efficient implementation of the following operations: mixing of the reactor contents, gas injection into the liquid, removal of heat of hydrate formation from the reaction zone, feeding the process with water, and removal of the produced gas hydrate from the reactor to the separation unit. In addition, to simplify the design of the equipment and increase its reliability, it is proposed to implement the process under thermobaric conditions close to equilibrium at a gas hydrate concentration in the mixture that does not exceed 15 wt%. % to prevent complications associated with the solid phase of the gas hydrate. The possibility of a one-stage gas hydrate desalination process without additional washing of the gas hydrate mass and a 79.4 % reduction in the level of water mineralization, on average, was demonstrated.

English

2025-07

gaseous hydrate

Energy Conversion and Management: X

Designing the conceptual scheme of a pilot-industrial plant for desalination of coal, oil and gas-fields produced water by gas hydrate method / М. Pedchenko, I. Zezekalo, L. Pedchenko, D. Yelatontsev, A. Mukhachev, V. Shevchenko, I. Luts // Energy Conversion and Management: X. – 2025. – Vоl. 27, 101148. – Р. 1-10. – DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecmx.2025.101148