FILTRATION & SEPARATION
TURNING OILFIELD WASTEWATER INTO A NEW RESOURCE
Is this Q&A, Brent Halldorson, Produced Water Expert, United States at LiqTech International, explains why variability, reliability, and downstream equipment protection are redefining wastewater treatment in some of the industry’s harshest operating environments
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s operators push produced water reuse beyond reinjection and for hydraulic fracturing fluid, filtration is becoming central to the future economics and sustainability of oil and gas production.
Q: What are the typical challenges oil & gas processors are facing in wastewater treatment applications?
The biggest challenge in oilfield produced water is variability. The water composition changes continuously, hour by hour, day by day, and well by well. Operators are effectively dealing with a constantly shifting mixture of wastewater coming back from hundreds or even thousands of wells, each using different completion chemistries, operating conditions, and production techniques. There has been some progress through the growth of the water midstream industry in regions such as Texas, where produced water from multiple operators is aggregated, blended, and moved through dedicated pipeline infrastructure. That helps smooth out some of the fluctuations, but the inconsistency never truly disappears.
The industry still faces frequent upsets. Slugs of oil can suddenly enter the stream, incompatible waters can mix and trigger precipitation or scaling, and bacteria can develop resistance to biocides, leading to corrosion and equipment damage. The reality is that steady-state operation rarely exists in produced water treatment. That creates a major challenge for technology
providers because the target is constantly moving. A treatment system may be performing perfectly one day, then encounter completely different chemistry or contamination levels the next. Designing systems that can maintain reliable performance despite those fluctuations is one of the defining technical challenges facing the industry today. Q: What solutions does LiqTech International offer? LiqTech specialises in ceramic crossflow ultrafiltration systems designed to remove suspended solids and hydrocarbons from industrial wastewater streams. Those two contaminants, oil and suspended solids, are among the biggest challenges in produced water treatment, making ceramic ultrafiltration an excellent fit for oilfield applications. One of the differentiators for LiqTech is that the company both manufactures the silicon carbide ceramic membranes and designs the filtration systems around them. Many ultrafiltration providers purchase membranes from third-party suppliers and integrate them into packaged systems. LiqTech combines membrane expertise with process and system design expertise, optimising the entire filtration process around the specific behaviour of the ceramic membrane itself.
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The company now has more than 300 systems installed globally across demanding industrial applications including marine scrubbers, phosphoric acid, landfill leachate, steel production water, and oilfield produced water. In produced water applications, the filtration
approach differs significantly from traditional chemistry- driven treatment systems. Conventional flotation and chemical treatment solutions require continuous operator intervention because chemical dosing must constantly be adjusted as water chemistry and temperature change.
Ceramic ultrafiltration functions as an absolute barrier system. Rather than relying on chemical reactions or flotation performance, contaminants physically cannot pass through the membrane unless they meet specification. That enables fully automated, unmanned operation while maintaining consistent effluent quality even under highly variable feed conditions.
If a major upset occurs, such as a slug of oil entering the system, the membrane may foul temporarily, but the system can be remotely cleaned and restored without requiring operators on site. That combination of automation, resilience, and process stability is becoming increasingly important as operators look to reduce manpower requirements and improve operational reliability.
Q: What advantages does LiqTech International’s product line offer over competitors, and what are the advantages of ceramic over other materials? Most ultrafiltration systems operating today use polymeric membranes. Those systems can work effectively in relatively stable environments, but
PROCESS & CONTROL ENGINEERING | JUNE 2026
hydrocarbon service is extremely demanding, and that is where polymeric materials often struggle. Silicon carbide ceramic membranes are exceptionally rugged. They are chemically inert and can tolerate the full pH range from less than one to fourteen, allowing operators to use aggressive cleaning chemistries that would damage polymeric systems. LiqTech even has installations operating in highly acidic environments such as phosphoric acid service. The ceramic material itself also offers important performance advantages. Silicon carbide is naturally hydrophilic, meaning it is “water loving” while also coated in a layer that rejects oil, thereby improving separation performance in oily water streams. The membrane pore spacing is extremely fine at 60 nanometres, enabling removal of virtually all suspended solids larger than one micron, including bacteria that can present challenges for oilfield operators. Interestingly, the pore size was not selected purely for filtration quality. The development team discovered that 60nm spacing delivers exceptional anti-fouling behaviour when operated in a crossflow configuration. Operating in a crossflow configuration is critical to the performance of the system. As water flows across the membrane surface at high velocity, shear forces continuously remove particles before they can accumulate and foul the membrane. Back-pulsing further assists by dislodging any material beginning to build up on the surface.
That combination of back-pulsing and crossflow allows LiqTech systems to operate for extended periods between cleaning cycles, even in extremely dirty water. In many oilfield applications, systems can run for one to two weeks before requiring cleaning, which is highly
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