PAGE TITLE
Overview
PAGE SUMMARY
In spite of the recent oil price declines the shale oil production is recovering at a rapid rate. With it, the amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing grows as well, including the water used both at the front end of this process, in fracking liquid, and at the back end, the flowback and produced water. The front-end water has to meet specific environmental standards before it can be pumped into the well, especially with regard to microorganism and mineral contents. Similarly, flowback and produced water must meet certain standards before it can be re-used or discarded. These water purification requirements increase the cost of oil and natural gas product, thus creating an increasing need for more cost-effective methods water disinfection and demineralization.
To address this need, Drexel engineers have developed a new system and method for fracking and produced water treatment using high-voltage high-current plasma spark discharge. It is a challenge to produce a short-duration spark discharge in this type of liquid, especially in produced water because of its high electrolytic conductivity, which exceeds that of sea water by about 10-fold. To produce a spark discharge in such water a gas bubble is created between two electrodes, and reliable generation of gas bubbles at precise location and rate in high water flow and volume conditions is the problem solved by this invention.
Such high performance precision and electrode durability have been achieved by the specially designed electrode. In such electrode, both anode and cathode form a co-axial arrangement and are positioned in the same side, not facing or opposing each other. The anode is located at the center of the co-axial arrangement, whereas the cathode (ground electrode) forms the outer cylindrical casing. Gas is introduced to the confined space between the two electrodes through a hole at the side wall of the cylindrical casing. Alternatively, the anode electrode has a cylindrical shape, which has a hollow channel. Gas can be introduced into the confined space between the two electrodes through the hollow channel inside the center electrode (i.e., used as anode). The coaxial design of the electrodes simplifies their installation and reduced maintenance costs. More importantly, it enables using multiple electrodes in the same reactor allowing for larger water treatment throughput.
APPLICATIONS
TITLE: Applications
Disinfection and demineralization of contaminated and or high conductivity water
Pre-treatment of water for fracking and post-treatment of flowback and produced water
Oil and natural gas production, agriculture
Pre-treating water for distillation
ADVANTAGES
TITLE:Advantages
Durable design for treating highly conductive (200 mS/cm) water
Low energy consumption of about 100 J/L for spark discharge
Lower installation and maintenance costs
Designed for very high throughput water treatment systems
Works with air and common gases (nitrogen, oxygen)
IP STATUS
Intellectual Property and Development Status
United States Issued Patent- 9,540,257
http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=9540257.PN.&OS=PN/9540257&RS=PN/9540257
Commercialization Opportunities
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Contact Information
Alexey Melishchuk, PhD
Associate Director, Licensing
Office of Applied Innovation
Drexel University
3180 Chestnut Street, Suite 104
Philadelphia, PA 19104
T: 215-895-0304
amelishchuk@drexel.edu