PRODUCED WATER TREATMENT WITH A SURFACTANT MODIFIED ZEOLITE/VAPOR PHASE BIOREACTOR SYSTEM: BTEX REMOVAL IN THE VAPOR PHASE BIOREACTOR

Kerry A. Kinney*
Lynn E. Katz
Soondong Kwon
University of Texas at Austin
Dept. of Civil Engineering
ECJ 8.6
Austin, TX 78712
Voice: 512-232-1740
Fax: 512-471-5870
E-mail: kakinney@mail.utexas.edu

Robert S. Bowman
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Socorro, NM

Enid J. Sullivan
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM

Vast quantities of produced water from oil and gas operations are contaminated with organic pollutants including BTEX compounds. Although direct biological treatment of briny produced water is extremely difficult, biological destruction of the pollutants is possible if the organic contaminants are removed from the produced water prior to the biological treatment step. To this end, we developed a sequential process whereby surfactant modified zeolite (SMZ) is used to remove the organic pollutants from the produced water and a vapor phase bioreactor (VPB) is used to destroy the volatile organic pollutants removed from the SMZ during regeneration. This paper reports results from the VPB portion of the treatment system for BTEX degradation. An 11.75 L VPB was packed with polyurethane foam that was inoculated with a BTEX-degrading microbial consortium. The design residence time was one minute and the total inlet BTEX concentration was 130 ppmv. A modified hydrocarbon minimal medium was supplied as an external nutrient source twice a day via a nutrient spray system. After the system stabilized, a BTEX removal efficiency of greater than 99% was achieved and the reactor recovered quickly from periodic shutdowns.