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UnCo H2O Treatment Solution
Sour Water
An Ever-Increasing cost in the Oildfield
The problem for oil/gas producers:
- More water is pulled from a well than oil.
- The water produced in oil fields corrodes carbon-steel parts in wells.
- In recent years, there has been a significant spike of sour water (H2S) in the Permian Basin while producing oil and gas.
- Because of this spike, the cost of changing out parts has increased from $50,000/year to $200,000/year.
- Traditionally, chemicals were used to neutralize the sour water which was then reinjected into the ground.
- Now, even the strongest chemicals can’t keep up with rising sour water levels without reaching excessive levels of their own.
- Another alternative was fiber-glass or resin-coated parts, but rising costs mean they are no longer cost-effective.
Electro-Oxidation:
Chemical-Free Treatment
Several technologies have been developed using electro-oxidation:
- The industry is already challenged with increasing environmental standards regarding water contamination, limited water resources, and greenhouse gas emissions. This innovation adds value and generates savings while maintaining regulatory compliance.
- By simply using electricity, these are a safe, efficient, environmentally responsible approach to cleaning the water.
- This high voltage electrolysis quickly disintegrates all contaminants without adding additional that can harm people or the environment.
- High volumes of water can be sterilized, processed, and treated.
Limitations:
Where Other Companies Come Up Short
Other companies offer treatment by electro-oxidation, but:
- No companies cater specifically to the oil industry. Most focus on waste water from factories and plants.
- None has provided a cost-effective product for the oil industry. High machinery costs eat into the profits from the wells.
Chemical-Free Technology
Pilot program in the Latan field in the Permian Basin:
- Machinery completely removed H2S without using chemicals.
Discovered several issues that needed to be addressed:
- Cells must be cleaned every week.
- “Burn up” plates have to be replaced every 6 months vs. 24 months.
- Efficiency degrades down to 50%.
- Construction and design were adequate for a small field but would be unsustainable for a large application.
Plug & Play Third Party Add-Ons
- Add gas nano-bubbler injectors
- Add precipitators and filtering devices to capture valuable materials
Successfully tested in the oil fields in California
Initial test case: will reduce their $243k/month expense to $80k/month
Treatment Capability
Water treated with this technology:
- Breaks down and eliminates both organic and inorganic contaminants
- Eliminate bacteria, parasites and viruses
- Oxidizes heavy metals
- Reduces scale formation, bio-films and algae
- Reduces total dissolved solids – converting them to TSS
- Improves water color
- Eliminates foul odor: Hydrogen Sulfide, Ammonia, etc
- Replenishes
- dissolved oxygen
- Eliminates volatile and semi-volatile hydrocarbons
Benefits
Electro-oxidation provides several benefits over using alternative treatment methods:
- Treated effluent immediately ready for recycle and re-use
- Environmentally friendly: no chemicals, no waste stream
- Safe and easy to use
- Advanced automation – Low maintenance – Self cleaning
- Handles a high flow rate: up to 30BPM
- Low energy usage, powered solely by electricity.
- Compact units with small footprint – space efficient
- Mobile units: Self contained – quick to deploy to otherwise inaccessible sites
- No fresh water required
- Cost efficient, no wastewater removal necessary
Possibilities Beyond The Permian Basin
While this technology has proven to be a cheaper, safe, effective process, it has further potential applications far beyond the fields of the Permian Basin.
- Water Recycling
- International applications
- Middle-Eastern fields produce the sourest water in the world.
- Technology agreement with manufacturer to win Saudi Aramco contracts
- Compressible Water -pressurize nano-bubbles of gases into water
- Hydraulic Fracturing
- Waterflooding
- Municipal Water Cleaning
- Emulsification to Clean Tanks and Recover Fuels
Possibilities Beyond The
Permian Basin (CONT.)
While this technology has proven to be a cheaper, safe, effective process, it has further potential applications far beyond the fields of the Permian Basin.
- Metal Reclaim
- Precipitate and reclaim metals
- Superfund Site Cleanup
- General Water Treatment
- Cooling towers, agriculture, food production, aquaculture, hospitals, livestock yards,
- Produce Potable Water
- Change plate-spacing to produce true fresh water (< 500 ppm)
- Aquifer recharge
- Distillation using transmutation (future process)
