Systems and methods have been developed for reclaiming water contaminated
with the expected range of contaminants typically associated with
produced water, including water contaminated with slick water, methanol
and boron. The system includes anaerobically digesting the contaminated
water, followed by aerating the water to enhance biological digestion.
After aeration, the water is separated using a flotation operation that
effectively removes the spent friction reducing agents and allows the
treated water to be reclaimed and reused as fracturing water, even though
it retains levels of contaminants, including boron and methanol, that
would prevent its discharge to the environment under existing standards.
The treated water may further be treated by removing the methanol via
biological digestion in a bioreactor, separating a majority of the
contaminants from the water by reverse osmosis and removing the boron
that passes through the reverse osmosis system with a boron-removing ion
exchange resin.