Water treatment method for heavy oil production
First Claim
1. A process for treatment of a produced water stream resulting from the production of oil from heavy oil reserves, said produced water stream comprising oil and dissolved solutes including hardness, alkalinity, and silica, wherein said process comprises:
- (a) removing oil from said produced water to produce a de-oiled produced water stream;
(b) evaporation of said de-oiled produced water stream at a concentration factor (CF) of about ten (10) or greater, to produce (i) an evaporator blowdown stream comprising water, dissolved solutes, and precipitates comprising hardness and silica, and, (ii) a distillate stream;
(c) providing said distillate stream to a steam generator to generate a steam stream and generating a steam generator blowdown stream.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A process for treating produced water to generate high pressure steam. Produced water from heavy oil recovery operations is treated by de-oiling the produced water to provide a de-oiled evaporator feedwater that is fed to an evaporator. The pretreated produced water stream is evaporated to produce (1) a distillate having a trace amount of residual solutes therein, and (2) evaporator blowdown containing substantially all solutes from the de-oiled produced water feed. The distillate may be directly used, or polished to remove the residual solutes therein, before being fed to a steam generator. Steam generation in a once-through steam generator, or in a packaged boiler such as a water tube boiler having a steam drum and a mud drum with water cooled combustion chamber walls, produces high pressure steam for down-hole use.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A process for treatment of a produced water stream resulting from the production of oil from heavy oil reserves, said produced water stream comprising oil and dissolved solutes including hardness, alkalinity, and silica, wherein said process comprises:
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(a) removing oil from said produced water to produce a de-oiled produced water stream; (b) evaporation of said de-oiled produced water stream at a concentration factor (CF) of about ten (10) or greater, to produce (i) an evaporator blowdown stream comprising water, dissolved solutes, and precipitates comprising hardness and silica, and, (ii) a distillate stream; (c) providing said distillate stream to a steam generator to generate a steam stream and generating a steam generator blowdown stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification