A review on oilfield produced water and its treatment technologies

Owing to the soaring urge to meet the demand for oil and gas on different frontiers, its exploration all over the world is of paramount importance. Exploration and production of oil calls for handling a huge volume of associated water, produced along with it, referred to as Oilfield Produced Water (OFPW). OFPW is considered a potential threat to the environment due to the presence of toxic constituents such as dissolved and dispersed oil compounds, dissolved formation minerals, production chemical compounds, production solids (formation, corrosion, scale, bacteria, waxes, and asphaltenes), dissolved gases. This review is intended to provide information on OFPW, its constituents, impact, and treatment technologies of OFPW from various oilfields across the world. It presents a meticulous analysis of the scope of reusing OFPW instead of freshwater for various processes such as well drilling and completion, re-injection to the reservoir for pressure maintenance, and water flooding process for secondary recovery of crude oil. The reuse of OFPW can reduce the demand for fresh water and turn the wastewater into usable water resources after proper treatment. The paper provides rigorous information on the importance of developing an eco-friendly treatment process for the proper reuse and management of OFPW.