Rapid, field-ready boron analysis

The objective of this Phase II SBIR proposal is to develop a prototype boron measurement system for use with oil and gas produced water. Oil production is water intensive, requiring large volumes of fresh water for production, and producing even larger volumes of contaminated water. In some older California oilfields, nine barrels of contaminated water are produced for every barrel of oil. Producers have three options for this contaminated water: it can be trucked to a water treatment facility, impacting typically rural communities with heavy truck traffic, stressing local water treatment facilities, and providing the producer with a significant expense; it can be disposed by injection in a different geologic structure or by evaporation and percolation in a surface pond, placing ground and/or surface water supplies at risk; or it can be treated and reused. Water reuse is the ideal outcome, both for the oil producer in decreased costs and also for the local, typically rural, communities in decreased local environmental, health, and societal impacts. The high contaminant concentrations in the produced water make reuse difficult without advanced treatment and monitoring technologies. Unlike existing laboratory-based analysis methods that may take weeks to complete a test, OndaVia & #39;s chemical testing system ideally addresses the high-frequency, rapid-turn testing needs of oil and gas producers with a sub-five-minute, on-site test. With frequent and more quickly obtained data, these companies can improve the efficiency of water treatment, reuse, and even extraction of petroleum, making water conservation a profitable activity. In addition to reduced heavy-industry stress on rural communities, increased water reuse will reduce competition for fresh water sources while producing a clean waste product suitable for irrigation.