SBIR Phase II: Produced Water Treatment Using Animated Organosilicas that Rapidly and Reversibly Swell

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目将开发商业系统，以经济地净化产出的水流。产出水是从石油和天然气生产中共同提取的水，其体积往往是提取的碳氢化合物的十倍。第二阶段的工作将集中在扩大规模，制造每分钟200加仑的产出水处理系统，以有效地从流体中开采碳氢化合物。这一过程使用了一种新开发的纳米工程有机二氧化硅，当暴露在有机物质中时，它会迅速且可逆地膨胀，但它是疏水的，不吸水。有机硅材料的独特之处在于，它充当了纳米机械海绵，提取分散的和溶解的碳氢化合物。捕获的碳氢化合物可以从二氧化硅中回收，吸附材料可以重复使用。这些水净化系统的成功开发将允许一个全新的产出水管理机制。这一项目开发的更广泛的影响/商业潜力与处理目前难以处理或昂贵的大量产出水的能力有关，并在回收有价值的产品方面获得更高的产量。在世界各地的石油作业中，每年必须管理大约8000亿加仑的产出水。这一处理工艺将使现有的油气田能够以较低的总体成本达到现有或更高的环境排放标准。该系统还将减少在具有敏感环境问题的新兴市场排放产出水的影响或潜在影响。从经济影响来看，该系统将通过捕获有价值的碳氢化合物进行提炼，从而为许多油气田带来更高的产量，否则这些碳氢化合物将被作为废物处理。第一阶段的结果表明，典型的“废物”流中0.4-3.5%由潜在有价值的碳氢化合物组成，而现有技术无法回收这些碳氢化合物。这些碳氢化合物通常是最轻和最有能源价值的化合物，如甲苯和辛烷，回收这些碳氢化合物将增加使用该系统的每一口生产井的价值。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop commercial systems to economically purify produced water streams. Produced water is the water that is co-extracted from oil and gas production and is often ten times as voluminous as the extracted hydrocarbon. Phase II efforts will be focused on scale-up to fabricate a 200 gallon-per-minute produced water treatment system to effectively mine hydrocarbons from the fluid. The process uses a newly developed nano-engineered organosilica that rapidly and reversibly swells when exposed to organics, yet is hydrophobic and does not absorb water. The organosilica material is unique that it acts as a nanomechanical sponge extracting dispersed and dissolved hydrocarbons. The captured hydrocarbons can be recovered from the silica and the sorbent material re-used. Successful development of these water purification systems will allow for an entire new mechanism for produced water management.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project development is tied to the ability to treat numerous produced water streams which are currently difficult or expensive to treat, and to obtain a higher yield in the recovery of valuable products. Approximately 800 billion gallons of produced water must be managed annually in petroleum operations around the world. This treatment process will allow existing oil and gas production fields to meet existing or higher environmental discharge standards at a lower overall cost. The system will also reduce the impact or potential impact of the discharge of produced water in emerging markets with sensitive environmental concerns. From an economic impact the system will result in a higher yield for many oil and gas fields, by capturing for refinement valuable hydrocarbons which would otherwise have been disposed of as waste. Phase I results showed that 0.4-3.5% of a typical "waste" stream is composed of potentially valuable hydrocarbons which are not recoverable with existing technology. The recovery of these hydrocarbons, which are often the lightest and most energy-valuable compounds, such as toluene and octane, will increase the value of every producing well using this system.