On-site treatment capacity of membrane distillation powered by waste heat or natural gas for unconventional oil and gas wastewater in the Denver-Julesburg Basin

•Waste heat is insufficient to power MD for long-term treatment of UOG wastewater.•Waste heat from hydraulic fracturing meets partial thermal energy demand of MD.•Natural gas is a consistent thermal energy source for MD treatment of UOG wastewater.•Using both waste heat and natural gas has potential for on-site UOG wastewater treatment. Leveraging waste heat has been considered to have significant potential for promoting the economic feasibility of wastewater treatment in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) production. However, its availability near well sites has not been fully understood and other energy sources may be also feasible. In this work, we quantitatively investigate the viability of using waste heat and well-pad natural gas to power on-site wastewater treatment by membrane distillation (MD) for twenty randomly selected wells located in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin, U.S. Results show that waste heat produced from on-site electrical loads is insufficient for MD treatment of all the wastewater generated during UOG production (2.2–24.3% of thermal energy required for MD treatment). Waste heat from hydraulic fracturing, which persists only for a short timeframe, is able to meet the full or partial energy requirement during the peak period of wastewater production (17–1005% of thermal energy required for MD treatment within the first two months of production), but this scenario varies among wells and is dependent on the energy efficiency of MD. Compared to waste heat, natural gas is a more consistent energy source. The treatment capacity of MD powered by natural gas at the well pad exceeds full wastewater treatment demands for all the twenty wells, with only two wells requiring short-term wastewater storage. Our work indicates that although waste heat has the potential to reduce the electricity consumption and cost of UOG wastewater treatment, it is unlikely to supply sufficient thermal energy required by MD for long-term treatment. Natural gas can serve as an alternative or complementary energy resource. Further investigations, in particular techno-economic analyses, are needed to identify the best suitable energy source or combination for on-site UOG wastewater treatment.