I-Corps: Microbial Energy Systems for Sustainable Oil/Gas Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater Management

通过水力压裂进行的前所未有的石油和天然气开发极大地改善了美国的经济，使其成为世界上最大的石油和天然气生产国。2013年最大的能源生产国。然而，每年在水力压裂过程中产生的大量废水被认为是最大的环境障碍，每年花费该行业50亿美元来处理。由于对深井注入和长距离运输的公共健康和环境关注的增加，现场处理和再利用这种废水成为一种新兴的需求。 该项目旨在开发和应用一种新的微生物脱盐技术，并将其用于生产水管理。在该项目中，该团队将开发一个拖车原型示范系统，该系统处理废水的能力为100桶/天（4，200加仑/天），这是业界对功能和可投资原型的期望。该系统将具有更低的每桶水处理成本，并将通过低成本3D打印技术和基于微控制器的自动化系统的集成来显着降低制造和监控成本。该系统还将通过实时监测和控制操作参数，如保留时间、加载速率和补充的预/后处理单元，适应不同的水条件。

The unprecedented oil and natural gas development through hydraulic fracturing greatly improves U.S. economy and made it the world?s biggest energy producer in 2013. However, the numerous barrels of wastewater produced every year during fracking are considered the single greatest environmental impediment, costing the industry $5 billion per year to dispose. Due to increasing public health and environmental concerns about deep well injection and long distance transportation, on site treatment and reuse of such wastewater becomes an emerging need. This proposal aims to develop and apply a new microbial desalination technology with energy production for produced water management.In this proposal, the team will develop a trailer prototype demonstration system that treats wastewater at 100 bbl/day (4,200 gallon/day), which is industry's expectation on functioning and investable prototypes. This system will have much lower cost per barrel water treated, and will significantly reduce the manufacturing and monitoring cost through the integration of low-cost 3D printing technique and microcontroller based automation system. The system will also be adaptable to different water conditions through the real-time monitoring and control of operational parameters, such as retention time, loading rates, and supplemental pre/post treatment units.