Rapid Characterization and Degradation of Dissolved Organic Matter for Improving the Quality of Boiler Feed Water in Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Process

Abstract

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in boiler feed water (BFW) for steam assisted gravity drainage process (SAGD) leads to numerous operational problems including fouling of downstream equipment surfaces, pipelines, and clogging of injection wells. Regulations governing produced water require 90% of the water to be recycled. Current treatment practices in the industry for recycling of produced water mainly target inorganics, separable oil and bitumen. Effective treatment for removal of DOM is not available as the characteristics of DOM in BFW not been well understood. In this study, I present rapid and efficient methods for degradation of DOMs in BFW after extensively characterizing on them. DOM characterization includes fractionation into hydrophobic acid, hydrophobic base, neutral and hydrophilic fractions. I investigated treatment with UV/H2O2 and UV/TiO2 for the degradation of fractionated hydrophobic acids and actual BFW. Experiments were conducted in LED and Rayonet reactors to identify suitable reactor configuration for treatment process.