STW puts zero liquid system on show

STW Water Process and Technologies, this week will hold demonstrations in the Texas state capital, Austin, of a zero liquid discharge (ZLD) thermal water processing technology it licences from Salttech under an exclusive agreement.

The technology under demonstration – Salttech’s Dynamic Vapour Recompression (DyVaR) system is being trailed in a pilot plant at Mentone in Texas where it uses solar power as well as a grid supply. President of STW, Alan Murphy, said the company had received its first order for a DyVar system which came from “a US$ 25 million New York-quoted oil and gas company.”

The Austin presentations of technology to regulatory authorities, municipal officials, oil and gas company representatives, and engineers will be open to the public. The demonstrations are among several planned statewide this year to inform public and private organisations about DyVaR’s capacity for delivering clean water from brackish and ocean water with minimal discharge said STW.

The presentations are a repeat of events held in January this year at STW’s premises in Midland, Texas where it used produced and frack flowback water from several producers, water disposal well sites, and concentrated brine reject water from a reverse osmosis system.

STW has obtained water samples from the Gulf of Mexico for use in the demonstration. STW. The distillate produced at the demonstrations will be verified by an independent, third party, certified water laboratory.

Chief executive officer of STW”s parent, STW Resources, Stanley Weiner, said, “With the recent passing of HB 2031 [legislation] which aims to reduce the time required for approval of marine water desalination projects, we are extremely optimistic about the recognition of the need for this type of purification.”

Weiner added: “This is an important technology for oil and gas companies as it will save them money on their drilling activities by reclaiming their drilling and fracking water.”