Nirosoft Industries Ltd has been awarded a contract by Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp (PREC) for design and construction of a produced-water desalination plant in Colombia.
The plant will output 500,000 barrels/day (79,500 m³/d) for PREC, the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production company in Colombia.
The US$ 100 million plant will be located at PREC’s oil field in the Meta region of Puerto Gaitan and the produced water, a byproduct of the petroleum extraction, will be treated by the Nirosoft water purification system to meet environmental discharge requirements. The desalination plant will replace the current disposal practice of deep well injection, and will provide desalinated water for agricultural use to grow trees, thus alleviating costs and improving sustainability standards.
To develop a custom solution for this project, Nirosoft operated a pilot plant unit on-site for six months and optimized the process design on the basis of the test results. The final plant design has addressed significant technological challenges involving the removal of hydrocarbons.
The plant will consist of various pretreatment stages with innovative separation and filtration technologies, prior to the high-recovery reverse‑osmosis system. The treatment plant will further limit environmental impact by minimizing brine rejection with a final sludge treatment.
“We are very excited to have won this tender,” says Henry Charrabé, CEO of RWL Water Group, which owns Nirasoft. “This project is another important milestone for the RWL Water Group in building our global experience and providing innovative water solutions for our customers.”