Development of innovative Produced Water sampling and measurement technology for the oil industry

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The opportunity is an innovative technology that will revolutionise the measurement of oilconcentration and other impurities in produced water.Produced water is water trapped in underground formations that is brought to the surfacealong with oil. This results in harmful oils & contaminants being dumped into theenvironment that include crude oil carcinogens e.g. Xylene and Benzene - as well as theunnecessary loss of valuable oil.Approximately 2450 bn gallons of produced water are generated pa worldwide - by far thelargest volume of waste stream associated with oil exploration and production.It has been in contact with the hydrocarbon-bearing formation for centuries - it contains someof the chemical characteristics of the formation and the oil itself. May also include waterfrom or injected into the reservoir, and any chemicals added during the production &treatment processes. The physical, chemical properties of produced water varies considerablydepending on the location, the geological host formation, and the type of oil being produced.Produced water properties and volume can also vary throughout the lifetime of a reservoir.The nature of the problem is that the cost of managing produced water is a significant factorin the profitability of oil production.Also, in order to dispose of produced water economically and with the least environmentaldamage it is essential to be able to accurately measure the oil & contaminants present inproduced water. This is also vital so that process control can be monitored and optimised andto determine whether any oil can be extracted from the produced water.The problem with existing measurement technology is that, being lighter, any oil will rise tothe top of the process flow thereby missing any oil in water measurement devices. Themonitors will under measure oil content and over estimate the true efficiency of theseparation process – these measurements can be wildly inaccurate.