A Study on Treatability of Desalter Unit Wastewater by Solar Still Method

The aim of this study is desalination and reuse of produced water by using basin solar still distillation to meet agricultural irrigation standards. The produced water is one of the main obstacles in oil and gas industries. The produced water contains high dissolved solid، oil and hydrocarbons، and other pollutants. Conventional treatment methods are not applicable and advanced technology and spending more money is needed for the treatment of the produced water. Availability of sufficient areas، high solar radiation، and a high number of sunny days in the south of Iran are suitable parameters for solar distillation by using basin solar stills. In the current work، to achieve the above aims، three basin solar stills with an area of about one square meter and different bottom surface covers were made and installed in Research Institute of Petroleum Industry. Water and the produced water entered the three basin solar stills with different water depth. Then، with running some tests، optimum water depth and bottom surface cover for the production of more treated water were determined. The results showed that the basin solar still with a 30-degree slope for glass surface، dark bottom cover، 2-centimeter depth of produced water، and positioned to the south geographical side can treat the produced water according to agriculture irrigation standards except for oil content. In the spring season، the amount of treated water was about 3 to 4 liters per square meter of basin solar still area.