Tainted water that's used in oil and gas drilling could be treated
on-sight, reducing costs and limiting environmental risk. (Image credit:
Temple University)
Safer fracking may be possible. Biofuel start-up OriginOil has
devised a new process to treat water that’s been tainted by gas and oil
drilling, reducing production costs and limiting environment harm.
A noxious brew of chemicals, mineral, or petroleum, mixes with
drilling water whenever oil and gas companies use a drilling technique
called hydraulic fracturing, or “hydro-fracking.” This waste is
typically pumped out and trucked off to disposal wells for storage, or
is eventually treated.
The industry’s term for the brew is “flowback water”, and it’s aptly
named. Handling it harms the bottom line of energy companies as well as
the environment. Transporting flowback water adds US$2-5 cost per barrel
of oil, said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginOil. “There’s nothing
pretty about that.”
“Permits for disposal wells not being granted anymore,” Eckelberry
added. Energy companies are “looking for a fig leaf” as public scrutiny
increases, he said. “The fact is we really do help. They need the petro
fully recovered and water cleaned.”
Recent Environmental Protection Agency studies found that hydro-fracking tainted an aquifer in Wyoming.
OriginOil is applying its algae harvesting process to the problem.
Third party PACE Engineering showed that the technology was able to
remove 98% of hydrocarbons from a sample of West Texas oil well flowback
water in the first stage of its treatment, the company says.
Arm & Hammer didn’t invent baking soda to keep refrigerators
smelling fresh. It seized the business opportunity, and so to has
OriginOil by repurposing its intellectual property. The process uses
less energy than traditional treatment methods and is chemical free. Oil
service companies would license the technology, paying royalties to
OriginOil.
Three proof of concepts for oil drilling applications are planned to
begin within the next several weeks, and Eckelberry expects that the
technology will be proven by the end of this summer. Cleaning up natural
gas fracking operations will happen further into the future, he noted.
“I totally think we can help with gas fracking; we just haven’t
tested it yet,” Eckelberry said. The process can remove undesirable
organics such as arsenic and polymers that are using to extract gas, he
explained. ”The perception is that natural gas is upsetting biofuels. It
helps for us to have role in fracking, which grew 64% from 2010-2011.
This will only make algae interest stronger.”
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