Sorbwater Technology, a Norway-based company that has developed technology capable of cleaning oil and other substances from water, announced that it has completed its first deliveries and is now engaged in a pilot project in the Middle East to clean produced water without any discharge and recover fresh water for reuse.
As part of the process, the produced water is being cleaned using Sorbwater’s technology from an oil-in-water content of about 100ppm down to 1ppm oil in water. This will enable the use of a desalination process to remove the salt from the water so it can be reused as process or wash water. Achieving this level of cleaning is an enabler for desalination and reuse of produced water in the whole region.
The pilot commenced in Jan. 2016. If successful, the Sorbwater system will be deployed in several plants, with each installation treating between 200,000 and 300,000 barrels/day of produced water, thus saving valuable groundwater resources and reducing costs of disposal of wastewater. The trial is in the range of 400 barrels/day.
Sorbwater’s solution uses a combination of separation equipment and a flocculent that is extracted from seaweed. Called Sorbfloc, it is a “green” product from the hydrocolloid family able to attach to small particles or oil droplets in water. It is characterized by cross-linking capabilities that, when activated according to Sorbwater’s process, flocculate pollution in water to large, easy separable flocks.
Source: Sorbwater
