Brownfield Implementation of Modified Nutshell Media Case ...

Improving Effluent Water Quality, Debottlenecking, and Reducing OPEX with

Brownfield Implementation of Modified Nutshell Media

Case Studies Review

Produced Water Society Seminar 2018 – Sugarland, TX

Improving Effluent Water Quality, Debottlenecking, and Reducing OPEX with

Brownfield Implementation of Modified Nutshell Media

Case Studies Review

Produced Water Society Seminar 2018 – Sugarland, TX

Xedia Process Solutions (XPS)

2 © 2018 Xedia Process Solutions LLC 23 February 2018

DIAGNOSIS, COMISSIONING

& FIELD SERVICES

FULLY INTEGRATED

TREATMENT SYSTEMS

DROP-IN REPLACEMENTS:

CARTRIDGES & BULK MEDIA

UNCONVENTIONAL

WATER TREATMENT

XPS develops and applies innovative water treatment technologies to the oil & gas and industrial sectors

Xedia Process Solutions (XPS)


XOP Patented Oil

Polishing Media

XDN Patent-pending

Modified Nutshell Media

XTB Microporous

Oil/TSS Removal Media

Aeromax Patented

Aeration Systems

XDN Modified Nutshell Media

Nutshell Filtration & XDN Modified Nutshell Media

Nutshell Filtration Summary

Crushed Walnut Shells are widely used across the oil and gas industry as a filtration media for “polishing” Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Oil in Water (OIW) out of produced water

Typically, NSFs are used in water or steam flood operations downstream of flotation and upstream of any softening process.

They are used in both vertical and horizontal filter configurations and there are a number of regeneration or “scouring” techniques in the market, generally speaking: impeller-style, scrubber tube-style, or air-scoured

Typical boundary conditions/performance expectations (Rawlins/Erikson, 10-018, 2010):


Parameter Value /Range Note

OIW < 50 ppm inlet / < 5 ppm outlet *Performance dependent on droplet size

TSS < 25 ppm inlet / < 5 ppm outlet *Performance dependent on particle size

Design Flux 10 – 16 gpm/ft2 *Operating fluxes as low as 5 gpm/ft2 observed

Media Used 12/20 mesh Black/English *Pecan shell also secondarily used

Nutshell Filtration Limitations & Genesis of XDN


Oil and Gas Water Treatment Filters have used walnut shell media for around half a century, yet have various well-known weaknesses in performance and capacity:

Limited Operating Flux – requiring large units and high CAPEX/bottlenecking in brownfield

Limited OIW Removal Efficiency – especially with small oil droplet sizes

Limited capacity for upsets – low performance when inlet oil content is higher than 50ppm

Limited oil holding capacity – approximately 5% by weight under normal conditions

Limited TSS removal capability – generally low efficiency when particles are < 10 micron

XPS sought to create a chemically modified nutshell media which could be retrofitted into existing infrastructure to address the above limitations, especially flux & OIW removal/robustness….

Xedia-XDN – Advanced Modified Nutshell Media

Material

Number

Size Range

(U.S. Mesh)

Size Range

(Micron)

XDN-1220 12 / 20 1680 – 840

Color Brown

Specific Gravity 1.2 – 1.4

Hardness 3 MOHS

Moisture NMT 10% by weight

Patented-pending, organically-modified nutshell media designed to remove TSS & hydrocarbons from aqueous systems.

Replaces Standard Nutshells in Existing Installations:Increased Oil Removal EfficiencyAbility to Remove Smaller Oil DropletsIncreased TSS Removal EfficiencyAbility to remove Smaller TSS ParticlesIncreased Flow Capacity per VesselMaintained Performance During Upset Conditions

Size Availability

Physical Properties


XDN Commercial Lifecycle


Lab work and initial trials completed during development presented at this event last year

XDN has now been reviewed by 3 lab facilities and installed at 10 separate water treatment facilities across 4 regions in 3 countries

All installations have been brownfield retrofits

Results have been overwhelmingly positive, and surprising a times, especially regarding TSS removal

R&DLab Testing,

POCFull Scale Field

TestingCommercial

Implementation

XDN Case #1: Permian Basin Effluent Quality Improvement

Permian Basin Effluent Quality Improvement

Purpose: Recycling of produced water for hydraulic fracturing

Project Scope: Xedia-XDN was installed in an existing nutshell filter in parallel to Standard English Walnut Shells for side-by-side oil removal performance and longevity comparison.

Location: Permian Basin, West Texas, USA

Date: Commenced 7th April, 2016 (Ongoing) Permian Basin Installation, West Texas

Standard English Walnut Shells

Xedia-XDNNutshells


Xedia-XDN oil removal performance was measured at three different time periods, collecting inlet and outlet OIW measurements using a Turner Designs TD-500 Handheld Fluorescence Analyzer with hexane extraction method. Results were corroborated with lab analysis using EPA 1664.

Test #1 Test #2 Test #3

NutshellMedia

Inlet(ppm)

Outlet(ppm)

Reduction%

Inlet(ppm)

Outlet(ppm)

Reduction%

Inlet(ppm)

Outlet(ppm)

Reduction%

Xedia-XDN 31 5 85.3% 42 2 94.2% 1300 40 96.9%

English WS 34 15 57.4% 32 9 73.2% - - -

Xedia-XDN media provided 48.6% and 28.7% increases in the walnut shell filter oil removal efficiency when respectively compared to the performance of the Standard English Nutshells in Test #1 and Test #2.

In Test #3, Xedia-XDN maintained a 96.9% oil removal efficiency, even during an upset condition of 1300 ppm inlet oil concentration.


Permian Basin Effluent Quality Improvement – OIW Removal

In addition to validating full-scale improved performance in the field, it was the intent to also validate the sustained improvement of the media through multiple backwash cycles

After 6 months of field use (est. 360+ Backwash cycles), samples of the Xedia-XDN and parallel English Walnut Shells were again collected and returned to the lab column for performance testing

Performance was measured using a Jorin ViPA for droplet size distribution analysis

Sustained Performance Improvement


Oil Removal Efficiency of Original Virgin

EWS 65% efficient

XDN 94% efficient

Oil Removal Efficiency After 6 Months in Field Service:

EWS 63.75% efficient, Avg. Eff. Droplet size: 17.20 micron

XDN 91.25% efficient, Avg. Eff. Droplet size: 12.94 micron

Permian Basin Effluent Quality Improvement – Longevity Evaluation

XDN Case #2: Colombia EOR Effluent Quality

& Capacity Improvement

Colombia EOR Effluent Quality and Capacity Improvement


(3) x 40,000 BWPD nutshell filters (normally run at 35,000 BWPD) – Design flux of ~13 gpm/sq ft

Produced water is treated by the filters and sent for reinjection for EOR

Historically, there have been injection issues due to solids. Extra capacity is desired due to downtime issues.

Targeting 100% removal of TSS >5 micron and 22 gpm/ft2 flux

Flow rates of ~0.6 gpm and ~1.1 gpm were used to simulate flux of 13 gpm/sq ft & 22 gpm/sq ft, respectively – simulating 35K BWPD and 60K BWPD flow rates in the existing full scale filters.

TSS was measured by processing 1L of sample water through 5 micron, pre-weighed milipores.

O&G was measured via Varsol extraction and spectrometry via calibrated Hach unit in the lab

Two (2) 49” tall x 3” diameter Columns were used to simulate bed depth within the larger filter

Colombia EOR Effluent Quality and Capacity Improvement – Std. Media


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Flow (gpm) Inlet TSS (mg/l) Outlet TSS (mg/l)

Average Oil Removal Eff.: 56%

Average TSS Removal Eff.: -14%

Important Comments/Notes:

Solids efficiency listed negative as accumulated solids were pushed through bed during the test

Colombia EOR Effluent Quality and Capacity Improvement – XDN Media


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Flow (gpm) Inlet ppm Outlet ppm

Average Oil Removal Eff. (LF): 81%

Average Oil Removal Eff. (HF): 90%

Average TSS Removal Eff. (LF): 26%

Average TSS Removal Eff. (HF): 37%

Important Comments/Notes:

Inlet oil and flux did not seem to affect OIW removel Eff.

Higher flux seemed to improve TSS removal Eff.

Colombia EOR Effluent Quality and Capacity Improvement – Conclusions

When removing the outliers caused by either channeling, coalescing effect, or bed capacity, XDN has performance far superior to standard nutshell media, even at a flux of 22 gpm/sqft.

Average effluent O&G for XDN is 4 ppm with a minimum of 2 ppm and a maximum of 8 ppm

Average effluent O&G for BWS is 16 ppm with a minimum of 12 ppm and a maximum of 20 ppm

Average effluent TSS for XDN is 5.1 ppm with a minimum of 3.9 ppm and a maximum of 7.6 ppm

Average effluent TSS for BWS is 7.4 ppm with a minimum of 5.4 ppm and a maximum of 10.3 ppm

Average effluent oil from XDN shows 75% improvement over baseline

Average effluent TSS from XDN shows 31% improvement over baseline (we were told TSS never measured <5 mg/l. We were <5 mg/L in eleven (11) out of seventeen (17) measurements using XDN

Reducing TSS by 50% or 4 ppm amounts to ~140 lbs removed per day at 100,000 BPD (that’s 51,100 lbs per year) and we expect better performance at full scale


XDN Case #3: California Steam Flood Debottlenecking

California Steam Flood Debottlenecking


NV-1NV-2NV-4

California produced water treatment facility

Produced water is treated and reused for steam generation

Nutshell Filter Capacity is 3 x 25,000 BWPD (12gpm/ft2 flux) for total of 75,000 BWPD

E&P Customer wants more steam and thus to increase the capacity of their existing nutshell filters without adding additional capital equipment or damaging downstream softening and steam generation processes.

Vessels NV-1 & NV-4 (see picture) were used for the trial, NV-1 contained standard nutshell media, NV-4 was loaded with Xedia’sXDN Modified Nutshell Media. Flow rate was manipulated while examining effluent water quality through the filters in parallel.

OIW data was taken via Turner TD-500 hexane extraction method (verified by independent Oilfield Services (OFS) company)

TSS data mg/l and Particle Size Distribution was taken via Millipore “Stacks” by independent OFS company

XDN Modified Media Standard Nutshell Media

California Steam Flood Debottlenecking – OIW Removal


Inlet

Average Inlet OIW = 9.1 ppm

NV-1 (Standard Nutshell Media)

Average Outlet OIW = 4.4 ppm

Average Removal Efficiency = 39%

NV-4 (XDN Modified Nutshells)

Average Outlet OIW = 0.1 ppm

Average Removal Efficiency = 99%0

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Co

nce

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mg/

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Sample #

NV-1 (Standard) vs. NV-4 (XDN) OIW Removal Data

Inlet OIW NV-1 Outlet OIW NV-4 Outlet OIW

35%

45%

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65%

75%

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95%

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NV-4 XDN OIW Removal Efficiency vs. Flow Rate

Flow Rate (BWPD) XDN OIW Removal Efficiency

California Steam Flood Debottlenecking – Flux


Filter RatedFlow Capacity

Average NV-1 Oil Removal Efficiency

Oil removal efficiency of modified media maintained at much higher levels than standard media even when running at ~150% of rated flow (approximately 18gpm/ft2 flux)

California Steam Flood Debottlenecking – TSS Removal


2.61.4 0.6 1.4

17.4

23.4

0.9 1.3 0.9 0.85

4.05

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0.9 0.85 0.4 0.4 0.9

3.45

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>0.45 um >0.8 um >3 um >5 um >10 um Total

TSS

(mg

/L)

TSS Particle Size (micron)

Average NV-1 vs. NV-4 Outlet TSS (mg/l), Non-Cumulative

Inlet NV-1 Out NV-4 Out

TSS removal efficiency improved & average particle size decreased using XDN Media.Only 1 ppm of particles larger than 5 micron remained on average following XDN treatment.

Inlet

Average Inlet TSS = 15.1 mg/L

NV-1 (Standard Nutshell Media)

Average Outlet TSS = 8.4 mg/L


NV-4 (XDN Modified Nutshells)

Average Outlet TSS = 2.2 mg/L


California Steam Flood Debottlenecking – TSS Removal


Millipore stacks taken at the effluent of NV-4 (Left) and NV-1 (Right) visually validate analytical data for TSS contamination post-treatment.

MinimalContamination

(XDN)Relatively high contamination

(Standard Media)

NV-1 NV-4

Overall Conclusions

Xedia-XDN – Overall Conclusions


XDN media…

Has been deployed in a variety of applications, and successfully repeatedly performed

Can be used to increase flux (debottleneck) and maintain performance in existing assets

Exhibits higher efficiency OIW removal and has shown to reduce average droplet size versus standard media effluent

Exhibits higher efficiency TSS removal and has shown to reduce average effluent particle size versus standard media effluent

Shows improved ability to handle upset conditions versus standard media

XDN can be used by Operators to…

Minimize Ongoing OPEX (fouling of downstream equipment)

Eliminate Additional CAPEX Requirements

Increase Flow Capacity

Improve Overall Effluent Water Quality

Maintain Effluent Quality During Upsets (e.g. Oil Slugs, Fine Droplets, Emulsions)

Having water treatment challenges?

Contact us to discuss your options for:

Commercial Solutions • Pilot Studies • Feasibility Testing

+1.844.XediaPS (933.4277)

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Brownfield Implementation of Modified Nutshell Media Case ...

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