Produced water characterization in Kuwait and its impact on environment

Abstract

Kuwait is a major oil producer in the Middle East with an oil production reaching three million barrels/day. The increased oil production will certainly result in more produced water that requires handling and treatment. The full picture of the produced water and its impact on the environment is yet to be fully realized due to the lack of data available on produced water characterization. In this paper a review of published work on the characterization of Kuwait oil-produced water is presented. From the review of published data there is clearly a big gap in the physical and chemical analysis of produced water. The choice of treatment methods considered and implemented was limited and driven primarily by economics, with little consideration to the environment. There was considerable research and data published on the environment mainly on the pollution of coastal regions from desalination plants and other causes, but hardly on the effect of produced water. Scarcity of water is a real issue acknowledged in the reviewed literature; however the consideration of recovering and treating produced water for domestic consumption and irrigation is yet to be realized. Finally, recommendations are proposed for handling and treatment of produced water taking into consideration future industrial development, environment and new treatment technologies available.

Keywords:

• Desalination
• Produced water
• Environment

View correction statement:

Produced water characterization in Kuwait and its impact on environment∗

Notes

Presented at the International Conference on Desalination for the Environment, Clean Water and Energy, European Desalination Society, 23–26 April 2012, Barcelona, Spain This version has been corrected. Please see Corrigendum (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2012.726325)