New Mexico oil production generates a significant amount of produced water annually with total dissolved solids (TDS) up to 40%. The intention of this study was to investigate rarely examined power potential of highly saline produced water under pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO). Synthetic brines with TDS up to 10% were used to establish the PRO salinity gradients for model verification. Peak power density was shown to increase with the salinity gradient and data were found to be in good agreement with the model simulations. Internal concentration polarization induced by high membrane structure parameter and salt permeability was the main limiting factor for further power density improvement. Simulations suggested that significant increase of the peak power density from 1.4 to 7.3 W/m2 could be realized for a synthetic produced water pair of 10% and 1.3% TDS if the membrane properties were improved. For oilfield-produced water obtained from a waterflooding operation, an average power density of 3.2 W/m2 was observed for a similar salinity gradient. The deviation was attributed to the additional contribution of osmotic pressure from the organic acids in the oilfield-produced water. Based on observed power density, gross PRO output for the oilfield-produced water was estimated to be ∼630 W for PRO flow rates of 400 m3/day, representing a minor portion of energy consumption at the waterflooding operation. To increase the PRO energy output substantially, significantly higher flow rates of produced water are needed.
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