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

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目具有更广泛的影响和商业潜力，将改善油气行业的水资源利用，特别是在水力压裂过程中，将油气行业转变为淡水生产商，并将采出水从目前的废物状态转变为商品。拟议的技术创造了两种可重复使用的产品：纯净水和重盐水。除了成本高之外，通过深注水井处理采出水最近与地震活动有关，可能会影响地下水质量，这需要政策解决方案。天然气工业与其他用水方式竞争，特别是在美国干旱地区，那里有大量的天然气生产。由于受干旱、气候变化、人口增长和工业扩张影响的地区的供水减少，以及工业污染物、洪水或径流导致的水质退化，美国每年通过石油和天然气生产产生的被盐、碳氢化合物和金属污染的产出水的管理成本为370亿美元。目前，全球农业、工业或家庭对淡水资源的需求正在增加。拟议中的项目将为油气生产中使用的水提供一种新的处理方法，从不可用的废水或受影响的水源中创造出可再生的淡水来源。SBIR二期项目旨在推进一种创新的热蒸馏处理系统的开发，用于处理油气生产过程中产生的采出水。目前的处理技术，如反渗透，无法处理大多数采出水的高总溶解固体（TDS）含量，因此目前只有一小部分可以重复使用。处置通常通过允许的深注水井进行，而水运通常是处置成本的最大组成部分。提出的系统在一个设备中完成整个热蒸馏过程-相对于需要单独的能源，传热，蒸馏，分离和冷凝装置的实际状态的热蒸馏装置的技术进步。它降低了制造和维护成本，并且在运行中使用更少的能源。该系统可在现场安装，无需将采出水运离现场进行处理。拟议的处理过程产生两种可重复使用的产品：(1)纯净水，可出售用于井场，出售用于农业/工业用途，或排放到地表水；(2)重盐水，可作为钻井液出售。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.