Oil and Gas

A combination of horizontal drilling and the dramatic improvements in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technology has unlocked supplies of oil and gas trapped in shale formations across the United States in such states as North Dakota, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The fracking process has created an energy boom in fossil fuel. The result is an abundance that has put the United States on track to overtake Russia as the world’s largest oil and gas producer and to become the world’s largest oil producer in just seven years, surpassing Saudi Arabia, with the potential to become a net exporter of crude oil a decade later.

While this tremendous opportunity is welcomed, it has also incurred new operational and environmental expenses that to-date, have been un-addressed.  Fracking involves using enormous volumes of water with a consequence being the depletion of local fresh water reserves and the introduction of contaminated water disposal.

oil pump jack

The Oil and Gas Fracking Industry – (For more information on this industry, click here.)

It is clear that the best solution to solve the water problems of the fracking industry is to reduce the use of fresh water and increase the use of recycled water. The obvious and best source of potential recycled water   is wastewater, which returns during the course of the fracking process and which represents 35% of the total water cost involved in the process. This wastewater contains a variety of hydrocarbons, salts, iron concentrates, and chemicals that is designated as contaminated wastewater and is typically disposed of by transport to offsite locations.

ESSI has tackled this problem with a novel and patent pending system we call our Unitized Single-Pass System (USS™).

For more information on our patent pending USS, click here.

It surpasses all industry, local and federal requirements for cleaning and decontaminating this used fracking water.  As a result, oil companies can save approximately 35% of their fresh water acquisition and wastewater disposal costs.

To date, our USS™ has been field tested and is scheduled for a complete and final systems check in Idaho and full operational deployment at a pre-designated fracking well sites in North Dakota this summer 2014.  Upon successful completion of this full production line testing, ESSI will begin full-scale production and fabrication of the USS™ system for marketing and deployment with select drillers through EFI.

Performance To Be Expected of the USS™:

  • Removal of oil globules down to 20-micron size
  • Removal of oil content to 10mg/ltr
  • Removal of even non-permanent emulsified oil and traps solids
  • Removal of iron concentrates
  • Removal of dissolved salts (all five salt groups), iron, chemicals and very fine solids (2-4-microns)
  • Overall removal factor of all contaminants 99% to out-put volume
  • Pre-treatment mini-blender system that adjust pH levels and adds and blends chemicals per protocol prior to reuse

Features of the USS™:

  • Continual flow 100% one-pass treatment
  • Adjustable pass through whereby production can be adjusted to meet required protocols not requiring 100% pass-through
  • Flow rates 400-450 gpm
  • Mobile trailer mounted system enabling on-site treatment and recycling
  • Standard system is powered by portable generators in the 500 KW range
  • Full-control panels, sensors, gauges, computerized analytical read-out and chemical adjustment devices
  • Hach brand analytical monitoring instruments
  • Corrosion resistant throughout

 

An Overview of our Frack Water Treatment and Recycling Technology

Download (PDF, 950KB)

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