Spatial Analysis of Membrane Distillation Powered by Waste Heat from Natural Gas Compressor Stations for Unconventional Oil and Gas Wastewater Treatment in Weld County, Colorado

Abstract

The effective treatment of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) wastewater is a promising and potentially necessary strategy of wastewater management in the UOG industry. While tremendous efforts have been focused on the development of treatment technologies, logistical considerations such as wastewater transportation have been rarely studied in the literature. In this study, we applied spatial analysis tools based on geographic information systems to quantitatively investigate the effects of transportation distance and cost on centralized wastewater treatment (CWT) and deep-well injection (DWI) in Weld County of Colorado, a major UOG-producing state in the United States. CWT using membrane distillation technology powered by waste heat from natural gas compressor stations (NGCSs) was used as the model wastewater treatment approach in our analysis. By analyzing 7583 active UOG production wells, we demonstrate that the distance and cost of wastewater transportation for CWT are comparable to those for DWI in Weld County and that the comparison between CWT and DWI is dependent on the scale of analysis. We also correlated the waste heat availability with the potential UOG wastewater treatment demand at 35 NGCSs. Our analysis shows that the abundance of available waste heat does not always match wastewater treatment demand at NGCSs, requiring a diversion of wastewater that further increases the transportation distance and cost. Our work indicates the importance of logistical considerations in evaluating the viability of CWT for UOG wastewater management. The spatial analysis framework demonstrated in this study is a critical component complementary to the current efforts of treatment technology development, in order to better evaluate the viability and facilitate wide adoption of UOG wastewater treatment via a systems engineering approach.

Modeling and Life Cycle Assessment of a Membrane Bioreactor–Membrane Distillation Wastewater Treatment System for Potable Reuse

“…Due to the small scale of the MBR-MD system, it was assumed that the system could be located close to a power plant that would supply the needed waste heat. This assumption is in line with the literature, as several different studies have investigated the performance and feasibility of MD operated with power plant or natural gas compressor station waste heat streams [45][46][47][48]. For this study, literature values for waste heat available at power plants were scaled to the effluent flow of OCWD to demonstrate that adequate waste heat can be reasonably obtained to operate MBR-MD in a hypothetical full-scale system.…”

Assessment of groundwater contamination and the role of hydraulic fracturing operation in Weld County, USA

“…Weld County is the richest agricultural county in the United States with 2.5 million acres of which 75% is devoted to farming and rearing livestock, the county is Colorado's main producer of beef and grain (County, 2021). At the same time, Weld County is one of the most important oil producers in the United States (Robbins et al, 2021). Due to the intensity of unconventional oil and gas extraction using fracturing technology in Weld County, many surface spills occurred (Gross et al, 2013).…”