Water and salt recovery from shale gas produced water by vacuum membrane distillation followed by crystallization.

A vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) followed by crystallization (VMD-C) was developed for the recovery of water and salts from shale gas produced water (SGPW). Before VMD, the pretreatment of SGPW with Fenton oxidation-flocculation is applied, with the chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration reduction of 75% and the total removal of the total suspended solids (TSS), Ca, and Mg in SGPW. The pretreatment of SGPW mitigated the membrane fouling in the VMD and effectively prevented the reduction of membrane flux over time. The average flux of the PTFE membrane reached 12.1 kg m h during the separation of the pretreated SGPW at a feed flux of 40 L h and a feed temperature of 40 °C. The rejection rate of the membrane to TDS in SGPW was over 99%. Fresh water with a conductivity of below 20 μs cm was produced by VMD-C. The salts concentrated upstream of the membrane were recovered by a stirring crystallization process. The VMD-C system resulted in a 61% cost savings compared to conventional SGPW treatment.