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US 9,809,478 B2Granted
Recycling and treatment process for produced and used flowback fracturing water
AssigneeAmperage Energy Inc.
InventorChad Allen Randal
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A portable water recycling and treatment system and process for used and produced flowback frac water pumps the water from a collection tank through a series of dedicated hydration, retention and filtering tanks and vessels that provide treatment for the removal of chemicals, sediments and other containments. The system, which is enclosed, can be readily assembled on-site by interconnecting the dedicated tanks, vessels and pumps. The tanks and vessels may be situated in a plurality of trailers/units that are transported separately to the site.
Claims22
A method for use with treating contaminated flowback fracturing water used or produced at a well site, the method comprising:
- establishing, proximate to the well site, a treated water finish tank, a waste tank, and an untreated water receipt tank to receive the contaminated water from the well site;
- transporting one or more portable and configurable containers proximate to the well site, the containers comprising at least a pump subsystem and a treatment subsystem;
- receiving, at a control subsystem, one or more control parameters indicative of at least one of:
- (1) one or more characteristics of the contaminated water at the well site, (2) one or more desired characteristics of treated water output from the containers, and (3) a volume of water to be treated;
- interconnecting, via the pump subsystem, the receipt tank to the treatment subsystem, and the treatment subsystem to the finish tank and waste tank;
- and
- operating the subsystems to treat the contaminated water, wherein the contaminated water of the receipt tank is pumped by the pump subsystem through the treatment subsystem, in which at least an oxidizer and a coagulant are added to the contaminated water to scavenge out residual pumping industry chemistry, and pumping water through a hydration tank, then a hopper, and then from the hopper directly into a tiered retention vessel having a flat bottom wall, the tiered retention vessel configured to settle the oxidizer, the coagulant and the scavenged residual pumping industry chemistry, resulting in the treated water entering the finish tank and residual materials entering the waste tank;
- and
- adjusting (1) a selection of one or more selected types of chemicals of a plurality of different types of chemicals to be added to the contaminated water based on the one or more control parameters, (2) an amount of the selected types of chemicals to be added to the contaminated water based on the one or more control parameters, and (3) a mixture of the selected types of chemicals to be added to the contaminated water based on the one or more control parameters.
6 more elements
A method for removing residual pumping industry chemistry from contaminated flowback fracturing water comprising:
- establishing, proximate to a well site, a treated water finish tank, a waste tank, and an untreated water receipt tank to receive the contaminated flowback fracturing water from the well site;
- transporting one or more portable and configurable containers proximate to the well site, the containers comprising at least a pump subsystem and a treatment subsystem;
- selectively configuring the pump subsystem and the treatment subsystem to pump and treat the contaminated water based on receiving one or more control parameters indicative of at least one of:
- (1) one or more characteristics of the contaminated water at the well site, (2) one or more desired characteristics of treated water output from the containers, (3) a volume of water to be treated, and (4) a temperature of the contaminated water to be treated;
- interconnecting, via the pump subsystem, the receipt tank to the treatment subsystem, and the treatment subsystem to the finish tank and waste tank;
- operating the subsystems to treat the contaminated water, wherein the contaminated water of the receipt tank is pumped by the pump subsystem through the treatment subsystem, in which at least an oxidizer and a coagulant are added to the contaminated to scavenge out the residual pumping industry chemistry, and pumping water from a hydration tank directly into a hopper and then from the hopper directly into a tiered retention vessel having a flat bottom wall, the tiered retention vessel configured to settle the oxidizer, the coagulant and the scavenged residual pumping industry chemistry, and then one or more filters, resulting in treated water entering the finish tank and residual materials entering the waste tank;
- and
- adjusting (1) a selection of one or more selected types of chemicals of a plurality of different types of chemicals to be added to the contaminated water based on the at least two control parameters, (2) an amount of the selected types of chemicals to be added to the contaminated water based on the at least two control parameters, and (3) a mixture of the selected types of chemicals to be added to the contaminated water based on the at least two control parameters.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.