Determination of heavy metals concentration in produced water of oil field exploration in siak regency

Abstract

Oil and gas industry exploration activities produce a lot of formation water called produced water with a total of up to millions of barrels per day. Produced water from oil fields has different chemical compositions depending on geographic location, formation depth, oil production methods, and age of oil production wells. Currently, produced water is still considered as industrial waste water containing heavy metals which are harmful to humans and the environment, and require special treatment to be able to dispose of it into the environment. To determine heavy metals content in produced water of oilfield exploration, laboratory tests were performed for Siak Regency of Riau Province. Laboratory testing parameters include arsen, barium, boron, cadmium, cobalt, chromium hexavalent, iron, copper, lead, manganese, selenium, mercury, and zinc using instrument inductively couple plasma (ICP-OES) Perkin Elmer 8300DV, spectrophotometer HACH DR2800, and LUMEX RA-915. The results show the heavy metal content of <0,01 - 1,0 mg/L, and only barium and boron have a concentration of more than 1.0 mg/l. Without advance treatment especially to eliminate heavy metal content, the produced water in Siak Regency is harmful as source of drinking water and other daily activity including for fisheri and crop plantation.