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Reusing oil and gas produced water for irrigation of food crops in drylands

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  • Echchelh, Alban
  • Hess, Tim
  • Sakrabani, Ruben

Abstract

Water scarcity severely affects drylands threatening their food security, whereas, the oil and gas industry produces significant and increasing volumes of produced water that could be partly reused for agricultural irrigation in these regions. In this review, we summarise recent research and provide a broad overview of the potential for oil and gas produced water to irrigate food crops in drylands. The quality of produced water is often a limiting factor for the reuse in irrigation as it can lead to soil salinisation and sodification. Although the inappropriate use of produced water in irrigation could be damaging for the soil, the agricultural sector in dry areas is often prone to challenges in soil salinity. There is a lack of knowledge about the main environmental and economic conditions that could encourage or limit the development of irrigation with oil and gas effluents at the scale of drylands in the world. Cheaper treatment technologies in combination with farm-based salinity management techniques could make the reuse of produced water relevant to irrigate high value-crops in hyper-arid areas. This review paper approaches an aspect of the energy-water-food nexus: the opportunities and challenges behind the reuse of abundant oil and gas effluents for irrigation in hydrocarbon-rich but water-scarce and food-unsecured drylands.

Suggested Citation

  • Echchelh, Alban & Hess, Tim & Sakrabani, Ruben, 2018. "Reusing oil and gas produced water for irrigation of food crops in drylands," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 124-134.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:206:y:2018:i:c:p:124-134
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2018.05.006
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    1. Echchelh, Alban & Hess, Tim & Sakrabani, Ruben, 2020. "Agro-environmental sustainability and financial cost of reusing gasfield-produced water for agricultural irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    2. Haneen Abdelrazeq & Majeda Khraisheh & Hafsa Mohammed Ashraf & Parisa Ebrahimi & Ansaruddin Kunju, 2021. "Sustainable Innovation in Membrane Technologies for Produced Water Treatment: Challenges and Limitations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, June.
    3. Echchelh, Alban & Hess, Tim & Sakrabani, Ruben & de Paz, José Miguel & Visconti, Fernando, 2019. "Assessing the environmental sustainability of irrigation with oil and gas produced water in drylands," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Aein, Reza & Alizadeh, Hosein, 2021. "Integrated hydro-economic modeling for optimal design of development scheme of salinity affected irrigated agriculture in Helleh River Basin," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    5. Ahmad Hamidov & Katharina Helming, 2020. "Sustainability Considerations in Water–Energy–Food Nexus Research in Irrigated Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, August.
    6. Echchelh, Alban & Hess, Tim & Sakrabani, Ruben & Prigent, Stephane & Stefanakis, Alexandros I., 2021. "Towards agro-environmentally sustainable irrigation with treated produced water in hyper-arid environments," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).

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