Fate of radium on the discharge of oil and gas produced water to the marine environment

Faraaz Ahmad; Katherine Morris; Gareth Law; Kevin Taylor; Samuel Shaw

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129550

Fate of radium on the discharge of oil and gas produced water to the marine environment

Faraaz Ahmad, Katherine Morris, Gareth Law, Kevin Taylor, Samuel Shaw

Earth and Environmental Sciences - Academic & Research

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Understanding the speciation and fate of radium during operational discharge from the offshore oil and gas industry into the marine environment is important in assessing its long term environmental impact. In the current work, 226Ra concentrations in marine sediments contaminated by produced water discharge from a site in the UK were analysed using gamma spectroscopy. Radium was present in field samples (0.1 - 0.3 Bq g-1) within International Atomic Energy Agency activity thresholds and was found to be primarily associated with micron sized radiobarite particles (≤ 2 µm). Experimental studies of synthetic/field produced water and seawater mixing under laboratory conditions showed that a significant proportion of radium (up to 97%) co-precipitated with barite confirming the radiobarite fate pathway. The results showed that produced water discharge into the marine environment results in the formation of radiobarite particles which incorporate a significant portion of radium and can be deposited in marine sediments.

Original language	English
Journal	Chemosphere
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129550
Publication status	Published - 25 Jan 2021

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title = "Fate of radium on the discharge of oil and gas produced water to the marine environment",

abstract = "Understanding the speciation and fate of radium during operational discharge from the offshore oil and gas industry into the marine environment is important in assessing its long term environmental impact. In the current work, 226Ra concentrations in marine sediments contaminated by produced water discharge from a site in the UK were analysed using gamma spectroscopy. Radium was present in field samples (0.1 - 0.3 Bq g-1) within International Atomic Energy Agency activity thresholds and was found to be primarily associated with micron sized radiobarite particles (≤ 2 µm). Experimental studies of synthetic/field produced water and seawater mixing under laboratory conditions showed that a significant proportion of radium (up to 97%) co-precipitated with barite confirming the radiobarite fate pathway. The results showed that produced water discharge into the marine environment results in the formation of radiobarite particles which incorporate a significant portion of radium and can be deposited in marine sediments.",

author = "Faraaz Ahmad and Katherine Morris and Gareth Law and Kevin Taylor and Samuel Shaw",

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T1 - Fate of radium on the discharge of oil and gas produced water to the marine environment

AU - Ahmad, Faraaz

AU - Morris, Katherine

AU - Law, Gareth

AU - Taylor, Kevin

AU - Shaw, Samuel

PY - 2021/1/25

Y1 - 2021/1/25

N2 - Understanding the speciation and fate of radium during operational discharge from the offshore oil and gas industry into the marine environment is important in assessing its long term environmental impact. In the current work, 226Ra concentrations in marine sediments contaminated by produced water discharge from a site in the UK were analysed using gamma spectroscopy. Radium was present in field samples (0.1 - 0.3 Bq g-1) within International Atomic Energy Agency activity thresholds and was found to be primarily associated with micron sized radiobarite particles (≤ 2 µm). Experimental studies of synthetic/field produced water and seawater mixing under laboratory conditions showed that a significant proportion of radium (up to 97%) co-precipitated with barite confirming the radiobarite fate pathway. The results showed that produced water discharge into the marine environment results in the formation of radiobarite particles which incorporate a significant portion of radium and can be deposited in marine sediments.

AB - Understanding the speciation and fate of radium during operational discharge from the offshore oil and gas industry into the marine environment is important in assessing its long term environmental impact. In the current work, 226Ra concentrations in marine sediments contaminated by produced water discharge from a site in the UK were analysed using gamma spectroscopy. Radium was present in field samples (0.1 - 0.3 Bq g-1) within International Atomic Energy Agency activity thresholds and was found to be primarily associated with micron sized radiobarite particles (≤ 2 µm). Experimental studies of synthetic/field produced water and seawater mixing under laboratory conditions showed that a significant proportion of radium (up to 97%) co-precipitated with barite confirming the radiobarite fate pathway. The results showed that produced water discharge into the marine environment results in the formation of radiobarite particles which incorporate a significant portion of radium and can be deposited in marine sediments.

U2 - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129550

DO - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129550

M3 - Article

SN - 0045-6535

JO - Chemosphere

JF - Chemosphere

ER -

Fate of radium on the discharge of oil and gas produced water to the marine environment

Abstract

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