Membrane fouling in microfiltration of alkali/surfactant/polymer flooding oilfield wastewater: Effect of interactions of key foulants

Bing Zhang; Ruijun Zhang; Dongmei Huang; Yu Shen; Xu Gao; Wenxin Shi

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.02.104

Membrane fouling in microfiltration of alkali/surfactant/polymer flooding oilfield wastewater: Effect of interactions of key foulants

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Jun 15:570:20-30. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.02.104. Epub 2020 Feb 26.

Authors

Bing Zhang¹, Ruijun Zhang², Dongmei Huang¹, Yu Shen³, Xu Gao³, Wenxin Shi⁴

Affiliations

¹ National Research Base of Intelligent Manufacturing Service, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Catalysis & New Environmental Materials, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China.
² School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China.
³ National Research Base of Intelligent Manufacturing Service, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Catalysis & New Environmental Materials, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China; Chongqing South-to-Thais Environmental Protection Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., Chongqing 400060, China.
⁴ School of Environmental and Ecology, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China. Electronic address: swx@hit.edu.cn.

PMID: 32135265
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.02.104

Abstract

Hypothesis: Membrane filtration is a promising technology for the treatment of alkali/surfactant/polymer (ASP) flooding oilfield wastewater, which contains high concentration of salt, surfactant, polymer and crude oil. The interactions of key foulants may influence the degree of membrane fouling. By comparing flux decline and interfacial free energies, it should be possible to derive the foulants governing the interactions with the membrane.

Experiments: Polytetrafluoroethylene microfiltration membrane was employed to treat eleven types of model solutions to understand the effect of the interactions of key foulants on membrane fouling. The extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek theory was used to quantify the foulant-membrane and foulant-foulant interaction energies. The cake models were implemented to analyze the fouling form. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and contact angle were used to study the surface properties of various membranes.

Findings: Microfiltration experiments and thermodynamic analysis revealed that both ions and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate could mitigate membrane fouling caused by anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) and crude oil. Moreover, APAM would produce a "shielding effect" on crude oil fouling. In addition, complete pore blocking, which primarily occurred on the membrane surface and formed a fouling layer, was the dominant form of membrane fouling.

Keywords: ASP flooding oilfield wastewater; Membrane fouling; Microfiltration; Mutual interactions.