Issue 2, 2017

Enhanced water recovery in the coal seam gas industry using a dual reverse osmosis system

Abstract

Mining of brines produced in the coal seam gas industry for water and salts is of major concern globally. This study focussed on the use of a dual stage reverse osmosis system to achieve high water recovery rates. It was our hypothesis that an intermediate nanofiltration stage was required to stabilize the performance of the second reverse osmosis stage. The second stage RO membrane was found to be fouled by silica and aluminosilicates when used with any intermediate brine treatment. Theoretical predictions using PHREEQC software supported the experimental outcomes in terms of identifying species with high scaling potential. Coagulation of the coal seam brine using aluminium chlorohydrate was found to remove up to 70.5% of dissolved silica and thus this method may be useful for prevention of fouling of downstream membranes. ROSA software was also employed to enable selection of possible nanofiltration membranes to treat the coal seam brine sample. Tighter membranes were found to exhibit significantly higher rejection of ions responsible for scale formation during brine concentration operations. Albeit, the flux rates were less than the looser membrane types. A pressure of 20 bar was suggested to be practical for the nanofiltration stage as the flux rate more than doubled from the flux estimated at 15 bar. An intermediate nanofiltration stage perhaps combined with a coagulation step is recommended for use in a dual stage RO system to concentrate coal seam brines.

Graphical abstract: Enhanced water recovery in the coal seam gas industry using a dual reverse osmosis system

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 ذو الحجة 1437
Accepted
17 ربيع الأول 1438
First published
17 ربيع الأول 1438

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2017,3, 278-292

Enhanced water recovery in the coal seam gas industry using a dual reverse osmosis system

D. Blair, D. T. Alexander, S. J. Couperthwaite, M. Darestani and G. J. Millar, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2017, 3, 278 DOI: 10.1039/C6EW00266H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements