Forming drilling fluid from produced water

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11655409-B2
Application number	US-202017030128-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2020
Priority date	Sep 23, 2020
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

A system and method for generating water concentrated in calcium bromide from produced water, to provide for drilling fluid having the calcium bromide. The technique includes flowing the produced water through a bed of ion-exchange resin to sorb bromide ions from the produced water onto the ion-exchange resin, and then regenerating the ion-exchange resin to desorb the bromide ions for combination with calcium ions to acquire an aqueous solution with calcium and bromide.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of generating calcium bromide in solution in water from produced water for a drilling fluid having the calcium bromide, the method comprising:
processing produced water comprising bromide ions to recover the bromide ions, wherein the produced water is discharged from an oil well, a gas well, or an oil and gas well, wherein the processing comprises flowing the produced water through a vessel having resin comprising bromine-specific ion-exchange resin, sorbing bromide ions from the produced water onto the resin, desorbing chloride ions from the resin into the produced water, and discharging the produced water as processed from the vessel;
flowing a regenerant comprising calcium chloride in solution in water through the vessel for regenerating the resin, wherein the regenerating comprises desorbing bromide ions from the resin into the water and sorbing chloride ions from the calcium chloride in the water onto the resin;
discharging the water from the vessel from the regenerating, the water as discharged comprising calcium ions from the calcium chloride and the bromide ions desorbed from the resin into the water giving calcium bromide in solution in the water via the regenerating;
concentrating the calcium bromide in solution in the water; and
forming a drilling fluid from the calcium bromide in solution in the water as concentrated, wherein the drilling fluid comprises the calcium bromide.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
producing hydrocarbon along with underground water comprising bromide ions from a subterranean formation, wherein the hydrocarbon comprises crude oil or natural gas, or both, wherein the produced water discharged from the oil well, the gas well, or the oil and gas well comprises the underground water; and
separating the underground water as produced from the hydrocarbon as produced to give the produced water comprising bromide ions, and wherein the drilling fluid is for drilling a borehole with a drill bit.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising drilling a borehole in a subterranean formation via a drill bit with the drilling fluid at a well site, completing a wellbore in the subterranean formation with the drilling fluid as a completion fluid at the well site, or implementing workover of the wellbore with the drilling fluid as a workover fluid, or any combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the produced water comprises bromide ions in a range of 231.1 parts per million (ppm) to 857.5 ppm, and wherein processing the produced water to recover the bromide ions is performed at the well site.

5. A method of generating calcium bromide in solution in water from produced water for a drilling fluid having the calcium bromide, the method comprising:
flowing produced water discharged from a subterranean formation and comprising bromide ions through a bed of resin comprising bromine-specific ion-exchange resin;
sorbing the bromide ions from the produced water onto the resin and discharging the produced water from the bed of resin without the bromide ions sorbed onto the resin;
giving calcium bromide in solution in water via regenerating the resin with regenerant comprising calcium cations, chloride anions, and the water, wherein regenerating the resin comprises flowing the regenerant through the bed of resin, desorbing bromide ions from the resin into the water, and sorbing chloride ions from the water onto the resin;
discharging the calcium bromide in solution in the water from the bed of resin, the calcium bromide comprising the calcium cations that entered the bed of resin in the water and the bromide ions desorbed from the resin; and
concentrating the calcium bromide in the water to give the water concentrated in the calcium bromide in solution for the drilling fluid having the calcium bromide in solution.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising producing the produced water from the subterranean formation via an oil well, a gas well, or an oil and gas well, wherein the regenerant comprises calcium chloride in solution in the water, and wherein the calcium chloride gives the calcium cations and the chloride anions.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the produced water as discharged from the subterranean formation comprises bromide ions in a range of 231.1 parts per million (ppm) to 857.5 ppm, and wherein regenerating the resin with the regenerant comprises replacing the bromide ions on the resin with the chloride anions from the water.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein flowing the regenerant through the bed of resin comprises contacting the resin with the regenerant and releasing the bromide ions from the resin into the water via the contacting of the regenerant with the resin.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein regenerating the resin with the regenerant comprises desorbing the bromide ions from the resin into the water, and wherein giving the calcium bromide via regenerating the resin comprises giving the calcium bromide in solution in the water as the calcium cations from the water and the bromide ions desorbed from the resin.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the produced water discharged from the subterranean formation is discharged through a wellbore in the subterranean formation, and wherein sorbing bromide ions from the produced water onto the resin comprises replacing anions comprising chloride anions on the resin with the bromide ions.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the produced water discharged through the wellbore discharged in combination with hydrocarbon comprising crude oil or natural gas, or both, from the subterranean formation, and the produced water separated from the hydrocarbon, wherein the drilling fluid comprises calcium-bromide drilling fluid or calcium-bromide based drilling fluid, and wherein the drilling fluid comprises drilling mud for drilling via a drill bit a well, completion fluid for completing the well, or workover fluid for workover of the well, or any combinations thereof.

12. A method of generating calcium bromide in solution in water from produced water for a drilling fluid, the method comprising:
operating in a first mode comprising:
sorbing bromide ions from produced water comprising bromide ions onto ion-exchange resin in a vessel, wherein the ion-exchange resin comprises bromine-specific ion exchange resin; and
discharging the produced water from the vessel without the bromide ions sorbed onto the ion-exchanger resin;

operating in a second mode comprising:
regenerating the ion-exchange resin in the vessel with regenerant comprising calcium cations and water, wherein the regenerating comprises releasing the bromide ions from the ion-exchange resin into the water in the vessel;
forming the calcium bromide in solution in the water in the vessel, the calcium bromide comprising the bromide ions released into the water from the ion-exchange resin and the calcium cations;
discharging the calcium bromide in solution in the water from the vessel; and
concentrating the calcium bromide in solution in the water for the drilling fluid comprising the calcium bromide in solution in the water.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising receiving the produced water from a well site comprising a wellbore in a subterranean formation through which the produced water was produced, wherein the well site comprises an oil well site, a gas well site, or an oil and gas well site, wherein the produced water comprises bromide ions in a range of 231.1 parts per million (ppm) to 857.5 ppm.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
forming the drilling fluid comprising the calcium bromide in solution in the wat

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Alghunaimi Fahd Ibrahim
• Choi Young Chul
• Vilagines Regis Didier Alain
• Al-Harbi Khalid A

Classifications

• E21B43/34

  Arrangements for separating materials produced by the well · CPC title

• C02F1/42

  by ion-exchange (ion-exchange in general B01J) · CPC title

• C09K8/04

  Aqueous well-drilling compositions · CPC title

• C02F2103/10

  from quarries or from mining activities · CPC title

• C09K8/05 Primary

  containing inorganic compounds only, e.g. mixtures of clay and salt · CPC title