(193b) A Silica-Based Approach to Remove Valuable Components from Produced Water
AIChE Annual Meeting
2022
2022 Annual Meeting
Environmental Division
Advanced Treatment Technologies for Water II
Monday, November 14, 2022 - 3:55pm to 4:20pm
Produced water is a waste stream that is generated during crude oil production. In some cases, produced water contains valuable components such as lithium and lanthanum. Produced water also contains other contaminants such as organics and salt that make recovery of the valuable components challenging. Our work focuses on recovering these valuable components from produced water using a silica-based approach. Our approach leverages the resilient properties of silica such as its high thermal stability and material strength. We evaluated several types of silica, including spherical, fumed, and ligand-modified, to adsorb lithium and lanthanum ions. We also evaluated the adsorption ability of silica in real produced water.