OOIL Update
Ian Gilson, CFA
The separation of oil and water from flowback liquids from fracking oil bearing formations outlined below has been validated by PACE Engineering, a civil engineering firm in Fountain Valley, California. The Algae Appliance was able to remove 98% of the organic material in one pass (including crude oil), which is substantially more than the 78% removed by conventional methods. After a third treatment the chemical oxygen demand was reduced and the water clarified.
This is a significant achievement. The next stage is to treat substantial amount of water at the well head.
Origin Oil (OOIL) has announced that initial testing of the Algae Appliance suggests that the technology could be used to separate oil, solids and water in liquids recovered from fracturing operations.
Water used in drilling operations will flow back to the surface. The liquids contain oil, oil in water emulsions and organics dissolved in the water as well as suspended solids. This contaminated wastewater must be treated before it can be reused or disposed of. Currently it takes chemical treatment, and time, to break up the mixture. Industry sources estimate that the cost of treatment can be as much as $0.25 a gallon. Current US oil exploration creates 650 billion gallons to 850 billion gallons of waste water and estimates of world-wide production is over 2,200 billion gallons. The potential treatment market exceeds $500 billion.
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