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

这个机会是一项创新技术，它将彻底改变采出水中石油浓度和其他杂质的测量。采出水是被困在地下地层中的水，与石油一起被带到地表。这导致有害的油和污染物被倾倒到环境中，包括原油致癌物，如二甲苯和苯-以及有价值的石油的不必要的损失。全世界产生约2450亿加仑的采出水-迄今为止与石油勘探和生产相关的最大量的废物流。它已经与含烃地层接触了几个世纪-它包含了地层和石油本身的一些化学特征。还可能包括来自或注入储层的水，以及在生产和处理过程中添加的任何化学品。采出水的物理、化学性质根据位置、地质主体地层和所生产的石油类型而显著变化。采出水的性质和体积也可以在储层的整个寿命期间变化。问题的本质在于，管理采出水的成本是石油生产的盈利能力的重要因素。此外，为了经济地处理采出水并使环境损害最小，必须能够准确地测量采出水中存在的油和污染物。这也是至关重要的，以便可以监控和优化过程控制，并确定是否可以从采出水中提取任何油。现有测量技术的问题是，由于油较轻，任何油都会上升到工艺流程的顶部，从而错过任何水包油测量设备。监控器会低估油含量，高估分离过程的真实效率--这些测量可能非常不准确。

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.