Fracture Water Treatment Method and System

Abstract

A method and system for treatment of flow-back and produced water from a hydrocarbon well in which fracturing operations are carried out using a phase separation and creating of positive charge in the water.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for treating hydrocarbon well fracture water from a hydrocarbon well, a system comprising:
 means for separating solids from fracture water, wherein a flow of water with suspended solids results;   means for separating the flow of water into a plurality of flows of water;   means for generating positive charge in the plurality of flows of water, wherein a plurality of flows of positively-charged water results; and   means for comingling plurality of flows of positively-charged water.   
     
     
         2 . A system as in  claim 1 , wherein said means for separating comprises a three-phase, four material separator. 
     
     
         3 . A system as in  claim 2 , wherein said means for separating further comprises a second two phase separator, the two-phase separator comprising an input for receiving water flow from the three-phase gas oil separator, and an output for the flow of water with suspended solids. 
     
     
         4 . A system as in  claim 2 , further comprising:
 means for monitoring an oil/water interface level; and   means for controlling the oil/water interface level in the first and second separator.   
     
     
         5 . A system as in  claim 1 , wherein the means for separating the flow of water into a plurality of flows of water comprises a manifold having an input port to receive the flow of water with suspended solids and a plurality of output ports, each of which has a cross-sectional area that is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the input of the manifold; and
 wherein the sum of the cross-sectional areas of the output ports is greater than the cross-sectional area of the input ports, whereby the flow rate exiting the manifold is less than the flow rate entering the manifold.   
     
     
         6 . A system as in  claim 1 , wherein the means for separating the flow of water into a plurality of flows of water comprises a water truck having a plurality of compartments, each compartment being positioned to receive a portion of the flow of water. 
     
     
         7 . A system as in  claim 1 , wherein said means for generating positive charge comprises means for treating each of the plurality of flows of water with electromagnetic flux. 
     
     
         8 . A system as in  claim 7 , wherein the means for treating each of the plurality of flows of water with electromagnetic flux comprises:
 a pipe; and   at least one electrical coil having an axis substantially coaxial with the pipe.   
     
     
         9 . A system as in  claim 1 , wherein said means for co-mingling comprises a manifold having input ports for a plurality of flows of positively-charged water and an output port. 
     
     
         10 . A system as in  claim 9 , wherein said means for co-mingling further comprises a well fracturing water and proppant blender. 
     
     
         11 . A system as in  claim 1 , wherein the majority of the suspended solids are less than about 100 microns. 
     
     
         12 . A system as in  claim 11 , wherein substantially all the suspended solids are less than about 100 microns. 
     
     
         13 . A system as in  claim 12 , wherein the majority of the suspended solids are less than about 10 microns. 
     
     
         14 . A system as in  claim 1 , wherein said means for separating comprises a two-stage separator. 
     
     
         15 . A system as in  claim 14 , wherein said two-stage separator comprises:
 a three-phase separator having a water output coupled to an input of a two-phase separator.