Improved Management of Produced Water from Wells in Nigeria’s Niger Delta

Management of produced water from Nigeria's Niger Delta wells was investigated, including a detoxification of the produced water using activated carbon adsorption system. The produced water was characterized based on the physicochemical properties of samples obtained from two different wells and relevant parameter values were experimentally determined. We found, for instance, that the range of pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Electric Conductivity (EC), bicarbonate (HC03) and Chloride (Cl- ) values are 7.42 – 7.46, 12171.50 – 28016.80, 183.21 – 270.49, 35.10 – 39.50, 488.87 – 601.3, and 7149.07 – 18495.44, respectively. These results suggest that not all parameter values were within specification recommended by Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and thus require some level of treatment and management of the produced water in order to either reduce or eliminate the detrimental effects of produced water disposal or use. Results obtained after treating the produced water show that activated carbon adsorption can be used to treat and manage produced water by removing heavy metals, colour, odour, solids (mainly suspended solids), and oil. However, the activated carbon detoxification process was not effective in handling dissolved solids, salt ions, chloride and bicarbonates. Thus, it may useful to combine the activated carbon adsorption process with other wastewater treatment techniques.