Inspiralia client company, Katz Water Technologies (KWT), wins SBIR grant of $715,000 by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Summary
This project will provide a new treatment for water used in O&G production, creating a renewable source of fresh water from otherwise unusable wastewater or impacted water sourcesBillions of barrels of produced water contaminated with salts, hydrocarbons, and metals, are generated each year through oil and gas production costing $37 billion to manage in the U.S. Current treatment technologies, such as reverse osmosis, cannot handle the high-TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) content of most produced water, meaning that only a small portion can be reused.Thanks to Inspiralias proposal writing services, KWT will continue the development of its thermal distillation treatment system for produced water generated during oil and gas production with the help of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant of $715,000 awarded by the NSF.Disposal is generally permitted through deep injection wells, with water transportation typically being the largest disposal cost component. KWTs flagship technology accomplishes the entire thermal distillation process in one piece of equipment a major technological breakthrough over previous thermal distillation units, which required separate energy sources, heat transfer, distillation, separation, and condensation units.This innovation reduces manufacturing and maintenance costs and uses less energy to run the equipment and process the water. Rather than wastewater requiring disposal, KWTs new technology creates two reusable products: purified water and heavy brine. In addition to the high cost, disposal of produced water through deep injection wells has recently been linked to seismic activity and may impact groundwater quality, and some states are severely restricting this practice through regulations.The Oil & Gas (O&G) industry competes with other water uses, especially in US arid regions where significant O&G production occurs. Current demand for global freshwater resources for agricultural, industrial, or domestic purposes is increasing, primarily due to reduction of water supplies in areas affected by drought, climate change, population growth, and expanding industries, as well as degradation of water quality due to contaminants from industry, flooding, or runoff.