Production of ultra-high-density brines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10167218-B2
Application number	US-201615041977-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2016
Priority date	Feb 11, 2015
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

Water treatment systems and associated methods are generally described. Certain embodiments of the water treatment systems and methods described herein may be used to treat water comprising one or more contaminants (e.g., oil, grease, suspended solids, scale-forming ions, volatile organic material) to remove at least a portion of the one or more contaminants. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the treated water may be used directly in certain applications (e.g., oil and/or gas extraction processes). In some embodiments, at least a portion of the treated water may undergo desalination to produce substantially pure water and/or concentrated brine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for forming concentrated brine, comprising:
supplying a saline water input stream comprising an amount of suspended solids to a suspended solids removal apparatus;
removing, within the suspended solids removal apparatus, at least a portion of the suspended solids from the saline water input stream to produce a suspended-solids-diminished stream having a lower amount of suspended solids relative to the saline water input stream and a suspended-solids-enriched stream having a higher amount of suspended solids relative to the saline water input stream;
supplying at least a portion of the suspended-solids-enriched stream to a filtration apparatus and removing at least a portion of liquid within the suspended-solids-enriched stream to form a filter cake; and
adding an acid to the filter cake to form a brine solution comprising a dissolved salt and having a density of at least 9 pounds/gallon.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the concentration of the dissolved salt in the brine solution is at least 90,000 mg/L.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the concentration of the dissolved salt in the brine solution is at least 200,000 mg/L.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the acid comprises hydrochloric acid and/or nitric acid.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the dissolved salt comprises calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) and/or calcium nitrate (Ca(NO 3 ) 2 ).

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the brine solution has a density of at least 11.7 pounds/gallon.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the brine solution has a density of at least 13.2 pounds/gallon.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising adding an amount of an additional salt to the brine solution and dissolving the additional salt in the brine solution.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the suspended solids removal apparatus comprises a filter, a gravity settler, and/or a coagulant-induced flocculator.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the filtration apparatus comprises a filter press.

11. A method for forming concentrated brine, comprising:
supplying a saline water input stream comprising an amount of suspended solids to a suspended solids removal apparatus;
removing, within the suspended solids removal apparatus, at least a portion of the suspended solids from the saline water input stream to produce a suspended-solids-diminished stream having a lower amount of suspended solids relative to the saline water input stream and a suspended-solids-enriched stream having a higher amount of suspended solids relative to the saline water input stream;
supplying at least a portion of the suspended-solids-enriched stream to a filtration apparatus and removing at least a portion of liquid within the suspended-solids-enriched stream to form a solid material; and
adding an acid to the solid material to dissolve at least 70%, by weight, of the solid material to form a brine solution comprising a dissolved salt.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the concentration of the dissolved salt in the brine solution is at least 90,000 mg/L.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the concentration of the dissolved salt in the brine solution is at least 200,000 mg/L.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the acid comprises hydrochloric acid and/or nitric acid.

15. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the dissolved salt comprises calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) and/or calcium nitrate (Ca(NO 3 ) 2 ).

16. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the brine solution has a density of at least 11.7 pounds/gallon.

17. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the brine solution has a density of at least 13.2 pounds/gallon.

18. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising adding an amount of an additional salt to the brine solution and dissolving the additional salt in the brine solution.

19. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the suspended solids removal apparatus comprises a filter, a gravity settler, and/or a coagulant-induced flocculator.

20. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the filtration apparatus comprises a filter press.

Assignees

• Gradiant Corp

Inventors

• St John Maximus G
• Lam Steven
• Govindan Prakash Narayan

Classifications

• C02F2101/322

  Volatile compounds, e.g. benzene · CPC title

• C02F2101/32

  Hydrocarbons, e.g. oil · CPC title

• C02F5/02

  Softening water by precipitation of the hardness · CPC title

• C02F9/00 Primary

  Multistage treatment of water, waste water or sewage · CPC title

• C02F2103/18

  from the purification of gaseous effluents · CPC title