"In taking the full stream of water and turning it into a product, we have a tremendous amount of work to do," Mr Perry said. "Water varies tremendously. It can be near-fresh or salty, have naturally occurring radioactive material or other chemicals that can challenge a particular processing technology. A system that works in one type of water won't be effective in another. "From the perspective of managing produced water, we have programs aimed at technologies for changing water from a waste stream to a product stream, such as near-freshwater that can be used for agricultural and industrial purposes, in some cases potable water," he continued. "On the other side of the equation, we are looking at technologies to remove chemicals from the water for reuse. Last year, 20 billion tons of salt were used on US roads for ice control, so there is definitely a market." Other chemicals, such as barium, which are used as weighting agents in drilling fluids, can be concentrated and removed from the water stream; the resulting product can be sold at a premium, he noted.
展开▼
