SBIR Phase II: Modified Finned Tube Heat Exchangers for Economically Purifying Produced Water

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will improve the use of water for the oil and gas (O&G) industry, especially during hydraulic fracturing, transforming the industry into a producer of fresh water and changing produced water from its current status as a waste product to a commodity. The proposed technology creates two reusable products: purified water and heavy brine. In addition to the high cost, disposal of produced water through deep injection wells has recently been linked to seismic activity and may impact groundwater quality, prompting policy solutions. The O&G industry competes with other water uses, especially in US arid regions where significant O&G production occurs. Produced water, contaminated with salts, hydrocarbons, and metals, is generated each year through O&G production, costing $37B to manage in the U.S. Current demand for global fresh water resources for agricultural, industrial or domestic purposes is increasing, primarily due to reduction of water supplies in areas affected by drought, climate change, population growth, and expanding industries, as well as degradation of water quality due to contaminants from industry, flooding, or runoff. The proposed project will provide a new treatment for water used in O&G production, creating a renewable source of fresh water from otherwise unusable wastewater or impacted water sources. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to advance the development of an innovative thermal distillation treatment system for produced water generated during O&G production. Current treatment technologies, like reverse osmosis, cannot handle the high-total dissolved solids (TDS) content of most produced water, and thus only a small portion may be reused currently. Disposal is generally through permitted deep injection wells, with water transportation typically serving as the largest disposal cost component. The proposed system accomplishes the entire thermal distillation process in one piece of equipment - a technological advance over state-of-practice thermal distillation units requiring separate energy sources, heat transfer, distillation, separation, and condensation units. It reduces manufacturing and maintenance costs, and it uses less energy in operation. The system can be set up on-site at the well, eliminating the need to transport produced water off-site for disposal. The proposed treatment process yields two reusable products: (1) purified water, which may be sold for use at the well site, sold for agriculture/industrial uses, or discharged to surface waters; and (2) heavy brine, which may be sold as a drilling fluid. 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.