Clean treatment and resource utilization of oilfield wastewater using supercritical water gasification

Unconventional oil and gas resources are expected to be recovered efficiently by multi-component supercritical thermal fluid (MCSCTF) which is generated based on supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of oilfield wastewater and hydrogen oxidation technology. In this paper, SCWG experiments of oilfield wastewater were performed under 550–750 °C, 2–15 min, 21–29 MPa, and feedstock concentration of 2–10 wt%. High temperatures, extended residence times, and low concentrations encouraged the production of gases. There was no significant change in SCWG as the pressure changed. The highest H₂ yields and carbon gasification efficiency (CE) were 52.31 mol/kg and 97.59%, respectively. The SCWG mechanism was summarized to describe the conversion details. The SCWG of oilfield wastewater has the fastest initial rate to present a trend of deceleration and the activation energy of CE was calculated as 135.7 kJ/mol. The reason for gasification deceleration was explained by the proposed gaseous product kinetics. Small molecules and saturated hydrocarbons etc. (Int 1) can be quickly decomposed while the decomposition of phenols and aromatic hydrocarbons etc. (Int 2) is slower. Inhibition of Int 2 generation and enhanced Int 2 decomposition is the key to total gasification. This work is useful for reactor design and process intensification.