화학공학소재연구정보센터
Energy Sources, Vol.23, No.4, 327-336, 2001
Pollution of an aquifer by produced oil field water
Brine is produced from reservoirs as a waste material from crude oil and gas after processing. Waste water may be discharged at the surface or reinjected underground. When it is reinjected, it may be mixed with an underground fresh water source for several reasons. From this point of view, forecasting the pollutant concentrations by knowing the historical data at several locations on a field has great importance when planning the necessary precautions for environmental safety. Aquifer-M in Turkey, having the properties of potable water, is contaminated by oil field water that is injected for disposal purposes. A numerical model is used to determine the extent of pollution due to the injection of saline produced water into aquifer-M. Eight observation wells are drilled to take water and core samples in order to identify both rock and fluid properties of aquifer-M. Water samples taken from different intervals of aquifer-M are analyzed to determine the flow paths for the pollutant movement. The results are interpreted with the help of core property data obtained by computerized tomography (CT) analysis and routine core analysis. By using drilling records, log data, and CT analysis results, two subunits in aquifer-M with different lithological properties are identified. All data are used in a ground water pollution model. Aquifer-M has fresh water with salinity of 5-10 ppm, and the chlorine concentration of injected waste water is approximately 3410 ppm. Sincere there is a significant difference between these concentrations, the chlorine ion is selected as the indicative ion for locating the pollution front. the model study indicated that the contaminated water has propagated 18.7 km from the site of injection.