The Perspective and Challenge of Nanomaterials in Oil and Gas Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Oil and gas wastewater refers to the waste stream produced in special production activities such as drilling and fracturing. This kind of wastewater has the following characteristics: high salinity, high chromaticity, toxic and harmful substances, poor biodegradability, and a difficulty to treat. Interestingly, nanomaterials show great potential in water treatment technology because of their small size, large surface area, and high surface energy. When nanotechnology is combined with membrane treatment materials, nanofiber membranes with a controllable pore size and high porosity can be prepared, which provides more possibilities for oil–water separation. In this review, the important applications of nanomaterials in wastewater treatment, including membrane separation technology and photocatalysis technology, are summarized. Membrane separation technology is mainly manifested in ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO). It also focuses on the application of semiconductor photocatalysis technology induced by TiO2 in the degradation of oil and gas wastewater. Finally, the development trends of nanomaterials in oil and gas wastewater treatment are prospected.

Photocatalytic activity and mechanism of YMnO3/NiO photocatalyst for the degradation of oil and gas field wastewater

“…The catalyst content increase resulted in a further decrease in the degradation rate of the YMO@NO 3% photocatalyst. When the catalyst content is too high, the path length of light entering the oil and gas field wastewater is long, and the active species in the reaction solution decreases rapidly, thus reducing the photocatalytic activity of the YMO@NO 3% photocatalyst ( Liu X. et al, 2021 ; Durán et al, 2022 ). Combined with the experimental results, the optimum content of YMO@NO 3% photocatalyst for the degradation of oil and gas field wastewater is 1.5 g/L.…”

Nanomaterials and Technology Applications for Hydraulic Fracturing of Unconventional Oil and Gas Reservoirs: A State-of-the-Art Review of Recent Advances and Perspectives

“…Among them, photocatalytic technology is based on the photocatalytic characteristics of some nanoparticles, that is, using the pollutant oxidation and decomposition ability of nanophotocatalysts under light in order to purify fracturing flowback fluid. 136 Grzechulska et al 137 have prepared various titanates through mixed calcination of KOH [BA(OH) 2 or Ca(OH) 2 ] and titanium dioxide slurry with microcrystalline structure, which were used as photocatalysts to treat oily wastewater. Bessa et al 138 have used gas chromatography (GC) to evaluate the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of TiO 2 (anatase) on pollutants in water produced from an oil field in the Rio de Janeiro Campos Basin, Brazil, and analyzed and studied the reasons for the significant reduction in wastewater toxicity.…”

“…The applications of nanomaterials in fracturing flowback fluid treatment mainly include photocatalytic technology and membrane separation technology. Among them, photocatalytic technology is based on the photocatalytic characteristics of some nanoparticles, that is, using the pollutant oxidation and decomposition ability of nanophotocatalysts under light in order to purify fracturing flowback fluid . Grzechulska et al have prepared various titanates through mixed calcination of KOH [BA­(OH) 2 or Ca­(OH) 2 ] and titanium dioxide slurry with microcrystalline structure, which were used as photocatalysts to treat oily wastewater.…”

Fabrication of carbon-based materials derived from a cobalt-based organic framework for enhancing photocatalytic degradation of dyes

“…As a simple and controllable method, photocatalysis has broad application prospects in wastewater treatment. [3][4][5][6] The photodegradation of industrial pollutants is based on sunlight or ultraviolet light as the energy source and semiconductor materials with appropriate band gaps as photocatalysts to carry out photocatalytic redox reactions, decomposing toxic molecules into benign substances such as CO 2 and H 2 O. 7 At present, the photocatalysts used in the photodegradation of organic pollutants include metal oxides, 8 metal sul-fides, 9 metal nanoparticles, 10 carbon nitrides, 11 species quantum dots, 12 covalent organic frameworks (COFs), 13 metalorganic frameworks (MOFs) 14 and so on.…”