title: Low-energy hydraulic fracturing wastewater treatment via AC powered electrocoagulation with biochar.
abstract: Produced and flowback waters are the largest byproducts associated with unconventional oil and gas exploration and production. Sustainable and low cost technologies are needed to treat and reuse this wastewater to avoid the environmental problems associated with current management practices (i.e., deep well injection). This study presents a new process to integrate AC-powered electrocoagulation (EC) with granular biochar to dramatically reduce energy use and electrode passivation while achieving high treatment efficiency. Results show achieving a 99% turbidity and TSS removal for the AC-EC-biochar system only used 0.079 kWh/m(3) or 0.15 kWh/kg TSS, which is 70% lower than traditional DC-EC systems and orders of magnitude lower than previous studies. The amount of biochar added positively correlates with energy saving, and further studies are needed to improve organic carbon and salt removal through system integration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, United States.
authors.forename: Fernanda Leite
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Lobo
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, United States.
authors.forename: Heming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, United States.
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huggins
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, United States.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosenblum
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, United States.
authors.forename: Karl G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Linden
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, United States. Electronic address: zhiyong.ren@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Zhiyong Jason
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D002606:Charcoal / Q000737:chemistry*; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques; D000067071:Hydraulic Fracking; D007220:Industrial Waste; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002606:Charcoal; D007220:Industrial Waste; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C540010:biochar
keywords: Biochar; Electrocoagulation; Hydraulic fracturing; Low energy wastewater treatment; Produced water