Produced Water Treatment Using a New Designed Electroflotation Cell

Abstract

A novel continuous electroflotation cell, about 0.6 liter volume capacity, using aluminum electrodes was designed for oil produced water treatment. The treating performance of a novel continuous electroflotation cell for oil produced water was investigated. The pH, current density, and feed water flow rate as affecting parameters of electroflotation process were studied. The results show that the removal efficiency decreased with increasing feed flow rate. However, it increased with increasing current density. The AC current was preferred because DC current causes passivation of the anode with time. The maximum removal for all types of pollutants is achieved at pH6. The designed electroflotation cell could remove different constituents of oil produced water with range 87.5 - 99.5 % at 25°C, 5V, pH7 and AC current density of 80A/m2 through a bipolar connection of the 8 electrodes with feed water flow rate of 60ml/min (3.6l/hr). The energy consumption was about 1.38Kwh/m3 and the operating cost (cost/m3) was about 0.3US$/m3 for the produced water treatment.

Keywords

• electroflotation
• produced water
• water treatment
• cell design