Texas oilfield wastewater could help data center cooling reduce freshwater demand

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin are exploring whether wastewater from the oil and energy industry can meet data centers' cooling needs. They say existing desalination technology can enable data centers to use brackish or contaminated water to reduce reliance on freshwater. Although there are multiple methods to separate salt from water, the researchers note that reverse osmosis is superior in energy efficiency; the technology uses pressure to push water through a semipermeable membrane. However, the technology has a drawback: it cannot effectively treat water saltier than seawater. Heating water into steam and then condensing it back into freshwater is another viable solution, but that method requires more energy.

According to data from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, large data centers can consume up to five million gallons of water per day. Some Texas oil fields produce wastewater volumes more than a thousand times that figure. According to a recent study published in the journal Water Research, if data centers can reduce pressure on local water resources without significantly increasing costs or overall energy demand, their water-use efficiency will improve. One of the study's leaders, Vaibhav Bahadur, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the university's Cockrell School of Engineering, said: "We are not waiting for future technology to solve this problem."

Permian Basin's wastewater potential

Bahadur notes that while desalination methods are feasible, they still come with a cost. However, compared with the most energy-intensive water treatment, those costs account for only a small fraction of a data center's total energy consumption.

Bahadur suggests turning attention to the Permian Basin. This geological region in West Texas generates about eight billion gallons of wastewater daily during oil and gas extraction. The researchers say this water could be put to better use rather than being transported elsewhere for disposal, which could pose long-term risks. He said: "The Permian Basin produces the equivalent of 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water each day, and that water is currently trucked long distances and injected underground. That is problematic in many ways, including the risk of inducing seismic activity."

Urgency of freshwater resources

He added: "We are also running out of places to bury this water, a problem that could emerge as early as 2030. We need to find ways to use this water, and cleaning it for data centers is a good solution."

The findings are significant because less than 4% of the water on Earth is freshwater, and only 0.5% of that is safe for human consumption. Moreover, according to projections from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, data center water consumption is expected to reach about 33 billion gallons by 2028 — nearly the equivalent of 50,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The study was published in the journal Water Research.

Data centers and the sustainability challenge of water resources

As data centers' water demand continues to rise, finding sustainable water sources becomes increasingly critical. Texas oilfield wastewater offers a potential solution that could ease pressure on freshwater resources. This not only helps data centers lower operating costs but also reduces environmental impact, especially as water resources grow scarcer. The research shows that using wastewater can not only improve water-use efficiency but also cut the risks associated with long-distance transport, which is vital for future water resource management.