Treatment of shale gas drilling flowback fluids (SGDFs) by forward osmosis: Membrane fouling and mitigation

Gang Chen; Zhouwei Wang; Long D. Nghiem; Xue Mei Li; Ming Xie; Baolong Zhao; Mengxi Zhang; Jianfeng Song; Tao He

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2015.02.025

Treatment of shale gas drilling flowback fluids (SGDFs) by forward osmosis: Membrane fouling and mitigation

Gang Chen, Zhouwei Wang, Long D. Nghiem, Xue Mei Li, Ming Xie, Baolong Zhao, Mengxi Zhang, Jianfeng Song, Tao He

Department of Chemical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

117 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

A polyamide thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane was fabricated and compared to a commercially available cellulose acetate (CTA) membrane for treating shale gas drilling flow-back fluids (SGDFs). The polyamide TFC membrane outperformed its CTA counterpart in terms of pure water flux and reverse salt flux when synthetic brine was used as the feed. More severe fouling was observed for the polyamide TFC membrane as compared to the CTA counterpart when treating SGDF. Very quick buildup of fouling was identified for TFC membrane but not significant for CTA membrane. Ultrafiltration pre-treatment delayed but did not alleviate fouling formation. Surface modification of the TFC membrane by poly(ethylene gycol) (PEG) grafting resulted in reduced membrane fouling and marginal decrease in water flux.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	113-120
Number of pages	8
Journal	Desalination
Volume	366
Early online date	18 Feb 2015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2015.02.025
Publication status	Published - 15 Jun 2015

Keywords

Forward osmosis
High salinity water
Membrane fouling
PEGylation
Shale gas

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
General Chemical Engineering
General Materials Science
Water Science and Technology
Mechanical Engineering

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10.1016/j.desal.2015.02.025

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title = "Treatment of shale gas drilling flowback fluids (SGDFs) by forward osmosis: Membrane fouling and mitigation",

abstract = "A polyamide thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane was fabricated and compared to a commercially available cellulose acetate (CTA) membrane for treating shale gas drilling flow-back fluids (SGDFs). The polyamide TFC membrane outperformed its CTA counterpart in terms of pure water flux and reverse salt flux when synthetic brine was used as the feed. More severe fouling was observed for the polyamide TFC membrane as compared to the CTA counterpart when treating SGDF. Very quick buildup of fouling was identified for TFC membrane but not significant for CTA membrane. Ultrafiltration pre-treatment delayed but did not alleviate fouling formation. Surface modification of the TFC membrane by poly(ethylene gycol) (PEG) grafting resulted in reduced membrane fouling and marginal decrease in water flux.",

keywords = "Forward osmosis, High salinity water, Membrane fouling, PEGylation, Shale gas",

author = "Gang Chen and Zhouwei Wang and Nghiem, {Long D.} and Li, {Xue Mei} and Ming Xie and Baolong Zhao and Mengxi Zhang and Jianfeng Song and Tao He",

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AU - Chen, Gang

AU - Wang, Zhouwei

AU - Nghiem, Long D.

AU - Li, Xue Mei

AU - Xie, Ming

AU - Zhao, Baolong

AU - Zhang, Mengxi

AU - Song, Jianfeng

AU - He, Tao

PY - 2015/6/15

Y1 - 2015/6/15

N2 - A polyamide thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane was fabricated and compared to a commercially available cellulose acetate (CTA) membrane for treating shale gas drilling flow-back fluids (SGDFs). The polyamide TFC membrane outperformed its CTA counterpart in terms of pure water flux and reverse salt flux when synthetic brine was used as the feed. More severe fouling was observed for the polyamide TFC membrane as compared to the CTA counterpart when treating SGDF. Very quick buildup of fouling was identified for TFC membrane but not significant for CTA membrane. Ultrafiltration pre-treatment delayed but did not alleviate fouling formation. Surface modification of the TFC membrane by poly(ethylene gycol) (PEG) grafting resulted in reduced membrane fouling and marginal decrease in water flux.

AB - A polyamide thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane was fabricated and compared to a commercially available cellulose acetate (CTA) membrane for treating shale gas drilling flow-back fluids (SGDFs). The polyamide TFC membrane outperformed its CTA counterpart in terms of pure water flux and reverse salt flux when synthetic brine was used as the feed. More severe fouling was observed for the polyamide TFC membrane as compared to the CTA counterpart when treating SGDF. Very quick buildup of fouling was identified for TFC membrane but not significant for CTA membrane. Ultrafiltration pre-treatment delayed but did not alleviate fouling formation. Surface modification of the TFC membrane by poly(ethylene gycol) (PEG) grafting resulted in reduced membrane fouling and marginal decrease in water flux.

KW - Forward osmosis

KW - High salinity water

KW - Membrane fouling

KW - PEGylation

KW - Shale gas

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DO - 10.1016/j.desal.2015.02.025

M3 - Article

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VL - 366

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JO - Desalination

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ER -

Treatment of shale gas drilling flowback fluids (SGDFs) by forward osmosis: Membrane fouling and mitigation

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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