American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2024 - 79

produced by wind and solar, and manufacturing
electric vehicles, microchips,
solar panels and wind turbines. " Texas
should follow suit and establish its own
strategic water supply for the beneficial
reuse of produced water.
The most sustainable, long-term objective
is to render produced water sufficiently
clean or near-potable for agricultural
and livestock use-what we could
term the best of beneficial reuse. That
likely will require clearing a public relations
hurdle, but severe water scarcity
across the Western United States is already
driving this application forward.
California is the most populous state
and the sole source of many specialty
crops, such as almonds, artichokes and
broccoli. It's also one of the most waterstressed
states in recent years. The state's
Central Valley Food Safety Panel has
sponsored research into using produced
water to irrigate food crops. In a 2021
white paper, the panel candidly explained
that " concern that severe drought may
become more common in the future has
increased interest in using unconventional
water sources for irrigation. "
California's program is still in its preliminary
stage of limited use in a specific
region with continued testing and research,
but so far, the results are promising:
" There were no findings from crop sampling
to indicate a food safety or public
health concern related to the reuse of produced
water for irrigation in this region. "
The Central Valley study is supported by
Duke University researchers, who " found
that produced water reused for irrigation
by Cawelo Water District is of comparable
quality to the local groundwater, and that
the majority of chemicals do not exceed
irrigation or drinking water standards. "
Desalination And Mineral Extraction
Other solutions to the over-abundance
of produced water are desalination and
mineral extraction, two distinct processes
Thanks partly to improvements in automation and remote monitoring capabilities, the
footprint and costs associated with managing produced water continue to fall. Today, it is
frequently more economic to recycle produced water in completions than to send it to a
saltwater disposal well.
that are often paired because the latter
generally involves the former (Figure 1).
Desalination of seawater has long been
viable and even necessary in regions
where water is scarce, such as the Middle
East, but produced water poses additional
challenges. With research and development
accelerating over the past couple years,
the hope is that new techniques will be
affordable and scalable enough to significantly
reduce the strain on freshwater
supplies in water-stressed regions.
Lastly, extracting minerals from produced
water may well prove to be the
Rosetta Stone with respect to monetizing
what is today considered a waste stream.
While mineral content varies from basin
to basin, water in the Permian has been
found to contain worthwhile levels of
calcium, lithium, magnesium, potassium
and strontium, all of which are commercially
useful and needed. The
FECM's funding for water management
research-which since 2021 amounts
to $27 million-includes recovering
critical minerals from produced water.
Combining beneficial reuse of treated
water with mineral recovery would be
an economic win-win.
The Texas Produced Water Consortium
identifies six technologies for extracting
minerals from produced water: (1) reverse
osmosis; (2) multistage flash evaporation;
(3) multi-effect distillation; (4) mechanical
vapor compression; (5) membrane
distillation; and (6) thermal processes.
No single technology will be the 'oneand-all'
solution given the varied composition
of produced water and the atscale
costs of extraction. But as one
may expect, a race of sorts is on to improve
these technologies, and the progress
so far is very encouraging.
Federal funding for research is key to
bringing down mineral extraction's costs,
but ultimately the burden of proof, as it
were, lies with the scientists who are developing
solutions in the lab and testing
their efficiency and economics in the
field. They have their work cut out for
them, but history is on their side. It shows
that with hard work, resources, ingenuity
and a pressing need, people can overcome
any obstacle.
❒
JON
MALONE
Jon Malone is director of business development at TETRA Technologies. With nearly 25
years of experience in the oil and gas industry, he has held roles in domestic and international
operations management, as well as sales and commercial management. Malone holds an M.S.
in geology and earth science from Ohio University and a B.S. in geology and earth science
from St. Francis Xavier University in Canada.
JUNE 2024 79

American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2024