A NEW vapour compressor-driven membrane distillation (MD) system has been pronounced successful by GE and memsys clearwater Pte Ltd after 200 hours of continuous operation at a Texas commercial disposal well.

The new system, which is used to concentrate produced water from the hydraulic fracturing process, was designed to reduce produced water disposal costs and enable water reuse. The joint project demonstrated that MD combined with vapour compression can handle the high-salinity produced waters associated with unconventional gas exploration and production. The field test has yielded positive results, which include 100 per cent process uptime without any noticeable decline in performance or need for cleaning; stable performance with brine concentrations near saturation; lower energy consumption compared to conventional technology and high distillate quality.

“As the cost of brine concentration comes down it will enable more sustainable treatment options compared to trucking and deep well disposal,” said Bill Heins, general manager, thermal products – water and process technologies for GE Power & Water. “Since the cleaned water from the process can be reused it also will reduce the amount of fresh water needed per well, thereby further reducing costs and ecological impact.”

“The ability to treat even the most challenging wastewaters with our process in combination with a vapour compressor, instead of the normally used waste heat, increases the number of possible applications even further,” said Götz Lange, CEO of memsys.