Abstract
Steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is an energy and water intensive oil recovery technology for in-situ extraction of oil sands bitumen. It is essential to recycle the SAGD produced water (PW) to reduce water consumption and improve the energy effciency of the process. This work investigated the removal of residual organic matter (ROM) in the SAGD-PW by the ceramic nanofltration (NF) membrane process. The overall removal effciency of ROM in the SAGD-PW was infuenced by their polarities, membrane pore size, and membrane material. Non-polar oil components including saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons were completely removed;; meanwhile, approximately 80% of polar components were removed by the membrane nanofltration. Membrane nanofltration signifcantly altered the chemical composition of the SAGD-PW by removing 95.0-98.3% of total solvent extracted material (TSEM). The chemical fngerprints of the solvent extracted materials in the feed and permeate samples were characterized. The profle of polar components such as naphthenic acids (NAs) in the permeate samples is signifcantly different from that in the feed samples.
NSTL