Formation water: The green panacea to restore the wastewater disposed during crude oil excavation and processing

Source: The post is based on the article “The green panacea to restore the wastewater disposed during crude oil excavation and processing” published in the PIB on 1st June 2023

What is the News?

A recent study found that a mixture consisting of plant-based biomaterial, biosurfactant, and NPK fertilizer can help in efficient restoration of formation water.

What is formation water?

Formation water is disposed in huge volumes during crude oil excavation and processing.

Composition of formation water: It consists of oily components, brine solutions, and solvents that are used during various phases in the oil industry.

How formation water impacts the environment?

It is usually drained off and reaches the rivers and streams, ultimately deteriorating the water quality and threatening the existing aquatic life.

The larger animals’ consumption of fish and plants collected from such contaminated sites can transfer and even magnify the associated risks.

Thus, the formation water needs to be treated before it is released to the environment.

What scientists have discovered to treat formation water?

Scientists of the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST) have worked towards developing a green approach for the treatment of formation water.

They formulated a mixture consisting of plant-based biomaterial, biosurfactant, which are secondary metabolites of microbes, and NPK fertilizer, to efficiently restore the formation water.

This “wonder mixture” can help prevent pollution of the environment from formation water and render it reusable for maintaining the green revolution. This can help enhance crop production to meet the ever-growing food demand.