The Oil&Gas industry is one of the most water-intensive industrial sectors: E&P activities produce more than 100 billion barrels/year of produced water, whose disposal cost can be as high as 10€/barrel. Emerging extraction activities have contributed to an exponential production of oily wastewater worldwide. As a reference, on average three barrels of water are generated for the production of one barrel of oil (in USA, this figure rises up to eight barrels water/barrel oil). By 2020, it is estimated that the industry will generate over 800 million barrels of produced water per day.
Produced water has been traditionally considered a non-revenue product, but it can have significant value if it meets certain quality standards: the efficient treatment of produced water can lead to added value through incremental oil recovery and by incurring a lower cost disposal via re-injection of clean water. There is also increased interest in the beneficial uses of produced water, such as surface discharge for agricultural uses and industrial applications. In this context, membrane filtration appears as one of the most promising technologies for produced water treatment due to the high efficiency in emulsified oil removal and the high quality of the treated water. However, the major concern is referred to the compatibility of materials and the long-term fouling control. Likuid ceramic membranes are highly hydrophilic with low fouling trend, and can deal with high concentration of oil, high temperatures and chemicals. They can efficiently get clean water ready to reuse, minimizing the fresh water consumption and as a result, significantly reducing the environmental impact.
The project consists on the validation and introduction into the market of an innovative filtration solution to treat and reuse the so-called produced water. The solution will allow achieving up to 80% reduction of water demand for oil extraction through the reuse of up to 95% of the produced water and it will be based on a proprietary product: ceramic membranes for oil/water separation with an innovative production process. With the ceramic membranes as the core of the innovation, fully integrated filtration systems comprising equipment, instrumentation, control tools and monitoring software are going to be developed.
The main objectives of the project are:
• To reduce the target price of the membranes, thanks to the upscaling of the process and the manufacture of membranes with bigger specific filtration.
• Upscaling the existing production line with the aim of increasing the production capacity and get a massive market access with a more cost-effective product.
• Launching worldwide highlyefficient ceramic membranes-based filtration products for the treatment and reuse of produced water in the Oil&Gas industry.
• International consolidation of the company through strategic partners in high potential markets.
