International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Reverse osmosis (RO) desalination is considered a promising solution for Produced Water treatment and reuse in the oil and gas industry. However, scaling problem is one of the main challenges that face Produced Water RO desalination. In this paper, the use of new completely theoretical approach for assessing fouling propensity along a full scale reverse osmosis process is introduced to predict the onset of barite, celestite and gypsum scaling, as major scaling salts facing the RO desalination of Produced Water. Thus, the scaling propensity of barite, celestite and gypsum have been assessed and discussed. Moreover, the effect of applied pressure, initial cross flow velocity, feed salinity and feed temperature on scaling propensity of barite, celestite and gypsum have been examined and discussed. This procedure could be considered as a very important guideline, for any attempt to use RO in Produced Water treatment. It could provide help on the specific design of RO process as well as in simulation of the operating variables for optimization of RO system.

Index Terms—Barite, celestite, produced water desalination, reverse osmosis, scaling, scaling propensity.

Emad Alhseinat is PhD student with the Institute of Materials and Processes, School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, UK EH9 3JL (e-mail: e.alhseinat@ ed.ac.uk).
Professor Roya Sheikholeslami is Chair of Chemical Process Engineering at The University of Edinburgh, UK EH9 3JL (e-mail: Roya.Sheikholeslami@ed.ac.uk).

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Cite: Emad Alhseinat and Roya Sheikholeslami, "An Application for New Reliable Approach to Predict the Onset of Barite, Celestite and Gypsum Scaling during Reverse Osmosis Treatment for Produced Water ," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 454-459, 2011.