Browsing by Author "Al-Marri, M."
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Item Open Access Ceramic membrane filtration of produced water: impact of membrane module(Elsevier, 2016-04-01) Zsirai, T.; Al-Jaml, A. K.; Qiblawey, Hazim; Al-Marri, M.; Ahmed, A.; Bach, S.; Watson, S.; Judd, Simon J.Produced water (PW) generated from oil exploration requires rigorous removal of suspended matter (free oil and particulate solids) as tertiary treatment (downstream of hydrocyclone and gas flotation) if it is to be re-injected into low-permeability reservoirs. The viability of membrane filtration for this duty is largely dependent on sustaining a high membrane flux to minimise the process footprint. A pilot-scale study of PW filtration using crossflow multi-channel ceramic membrane technology has been conducted to identify the appropriate membrane characteristics for sustaining the flux whilst maintaining the required treated water quality. Membranes based on two materials (silicon carbide, SiC, and titanium dioxide, TiO2) and two different pore sizes were challenged with real PW samples taken from oil platforms operating on the Arabian Gulf. The membranes were characterised according to the overall permeability decline rate and the end permeability. Results suggest that SiC membranes outperform TiO2 ones with respect to sustainable permeability under the same operating and maintenance conditions. The SiC microfiltration membrane provided anomalously high permeabilities but also the highest fouling propensity. Results suggest that whilst the high fluxes (1300–1800 L m−2 h−1) are attainable for the technology, this is contingent upon the application of an effective chemical clean.Item Open Access Cleaning of ceramic membranes for produced water filtration(Elsevier, 2018-03-09) Zsirai, T.; Qiblawey, Hazim; Buzatu, Pompilia; Al-Marri, M.; Judd, Simon J.The application of ceramic microfiltration membranes to the tertiary treatment of produced water from an Arabian Gulf oilfield has been studied using a dedicated pilot plant. Studies were based on a previously published protocol in which the retentate stream was recycled so as to successively increase the feed concentration throughout the experimental run. Chemical cleaning in place (CIP) was applied between each run and the flux and permeability recovery recorded for various cleaning protocols studied, the CIP being based on the combination of caustic soda (NaOH) and citric acid. Surface analysis of the membrane, and specifically its hydrophilicity, was also conducted. Results indicated the main influencing factor on permeability recovery from the CIP to be the employment of backflushing during the CIP itself. A final flux of 700 L m−2 h−1 was sustained through the application of 6 wt% NaOH with 6 wt% citric acid combined with backflushing at approximately twice the rate of the filtration cycle flux. A consideration of the impact of this flux value on the viability of two commercially-available ceramic membrane technologies indicated the footprint incurred to be slightly lower than that of the upstream induced gas flotation technology and corroborated a previously published estimate. The flux was sustained despite surface analysis indicating a loss of the innate hydrophilicity of the ceramic membrane.