Flowback and produced waters are extremely complex matrices composed of geogenic water and chemical additives. The geogenic fraction may contain large amounts of total dissolved solids as well as various hydrocarbons, organic acids, alcohols, radionuclides, and metals. The additives may include surfactants, gels, scale inhibitors, biocides, and friction reducers. Recently, it has been suggested that these produced waters could potentially represent a new water source in areas of water scarcity. Before the use of these waters can be considered for applications outside the oil field, the chemical composition must be better characterized. However, due to the complex nature of these matrices, many methods originally designed for surface and groundwater matrices may not be suitable. In addition, many organic chemicals remain yet unidentified: targeted approaches for organic chemical analysis alone will be insufficient for complete organic chemical characterization. We assessed current trends and emerging technologies in analytical chemistry and reviewed and their applicability to flowback and produced waters. In addition, we propose under-utilized approaches that may serve as potential solutions to address the issues created by the complex matrices inherent to flowback and produced waters.

回流水和采出水是由地源水和化学添加剂组成的极其复杂的基质。地质部分可能包含大量的总溶解固体以及各种碳氢化合物，有机酸，醇，放射性核素和金属。添加剂可包括表面活性剂，凝胶，阻垢剂，杀生物剂和减摩剂。最近，有人提出这些产出水可能在缺水地区代表一种新的水源。在考虑将这些水用于油田之外的应用之前，必须更好地表征化学成分。但是，由于这些矩阵的复杂性，许多最初设计用于地表和地下水矩阵的方法可能不合适。此外，许多有机化学物质仍未确定：仅针对有机化学分析的针对性方法不足以进行完整的有机化学表征。我们评估了分析化学的当前趋势和新兴技术，并对其在回流和采出水中的适用性进行了评估。此外，我们提出了未充分利用的方法，这些方法可作为解决回流和采出水固有的复杂矩阵所产生问题的潜在解决方案。