Green Ferrate(VI) for Multiple Treatments of Fracturing Wastewater: Demulsification, Visbreaking, and Chemical Oxygen Demand Removal

Fracturing wastewater is often highly emulsified, viscous, and has a high chemical oxygen demand (COD), which makes it difficult to treat and recycle. Ferrate(VI) is a green oxidant that has a high redox potential and has been adopted for the efficient oxidation of fracturing wastewater to achieve triple effects: demulsification, visbreaking, and COD removal. Firstly, optimal conditions were identified to build a model for fast and efficient treatment. Secondly, wastewater treatment using ferrate oxidation was investigated via demulsification, visbreaking, and COD removal. Finally, a mechanism for ferrate oxidation was proposed for the three effects using Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The theoretical and experimental data demonstrated that the ferrate oxidation achieved the three desired effects. When ferrate was added, the demulsification efficiency increased from 56.2% to 91.8%, the total viscosity dropped from 1.45 cp to 1.10 cp, and the total removal rate of COD significantly increased to 74.2%. A mechanistic analysis showed that the strongly-oxidizing ferrate easily and efficiently oxidized the O/W interfacial film materials, viscous polymers, and compounds responsible for the COD, which was a promising result for the triple effects.