SBIR Phase I: Mobile Produced Water Recycling for Reducing Costs in Natural Gas Production

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to realize significant cost savings for domestic natural gas producers, enabled by recycling wastewater that would otherwise be disposed of via expensive transportation and permanent injection into the ground. While the domestic production of natural gas is a central pillar in the transition to a cleaner energy economy, a detrimental by-product is contaminated wastewater, known as produced water, which comes to the surface in large volumes mixed with the gas. In regions such as the Marcellus Basin, the largest natural gas reserve in the United States, the only viable option is to truck this water long distances to disposal wells, where it is re-injected, for a cost that comprises large portions of the operational budget. By developing a new technology for the treatment and re-use of this water at the well-site, this project aims to provide a low-cost, environmentally sustainable solution. Doing so would reduce water management costs as much as 50%, lowering gas production costs, and conserving billions gallons of water through re-use that would otherwise be lost. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Project aims to develop a new type of filtration membrane technology capable of removing critical contaminants from produced water, while providing the required durability, minimal footprint, mobility, and feasible cost to enable commercial water recycling for natural gas producers. Currently, no suitable technical solution exists for the economical recycling of produced water. This project focuses on a new type of ultra-durable silicon membrane that combines the filtration ability and low-cost of polymeric membranes with the resilience of ceramic. Through the strategic manipulation of the membrane fabrication approach, including catalyst deposition and chemical etching process parameters, efforts will focus on reducing pore size and increasing pore density in the membrane. The primary objective of the work is to enable the removal of critical contaminants from produced water, and to maximize filtration throughput in order to ensure a small footprint. Successful completion of the project will result in the advancement of the technology to the field-testing stage. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.