Project No.: 

### 0317.02.03 8.0 40 Page 1 of 2

Project Name: 

### Unconventional Oil and Gas 

## CBI?

Yes

No TELEPHONE CALL RECOR D Incoming Outgoing Date: 

### 08/ 19 /2015

09/03/2015 Time: 

### 1 2 :00

2:00 am

pm

Company Name: 

### Terra Agua ERG Staff Name: 

### James K. O’Connell

Contact Name: 

### Dean Todd Contact Phone Number: 

### 214

- 620

- 4415

General Subject: 

### Discussion of Terra Agua’s treatment technology



## TOPICS DISCUSSED AND ACTION TAKEN

08/19/2015 Call Participants
Dean Todd, Terra Agua Pat Adams, Terra Agua Kay Goss, GC Barnes Group (policy consultant for Terra Agua) Lisa Biddle, EPA Jesse Pritts, EPA Debra Falatko, ERG James K. O’Connell, ERG 

### 09/03/2015 Call Participants
Dean Todd, Terra Agua Pat Adams, Terra Agua Michael Mitton, Mitton Technology Lisa Biddle, EPA Jesse Pritts, EPA Debra Falatko, ERG Brent Ruminski, ERG James K. O’Connell, ERG



### Notes

Introduction Terra Agua initially contacted Bill Bates at EPA OGWDW , who referred them to Lisa Biddle.

Lisa and Jesse began the call s by providing background on the UOG Rulemaking and CWT Study

.

De an Todd and Pat Adams have been working on a patented Canadian technology , Mitton Cavitation Reactor . Their c ompany is called ETA Holdings, and they have exclusive rights for the technology for use in the food and beverage and oil and gas industries in

Nor th America

.

Cavitation Process

The Mitton Cavitation Reactor is a reactor that uses two forms of cavitation to kill bacteria and precipitate scaling compounds. The reactor is a high speed valve

, originally develop ed for use in automotive racing and modified for other cavitation applications such as

wastewater treatment. The reactor contains a chamber with a rotating shaft to create hydrodynamic cavitation , and a resonator tube with harmonic frequency to create acoust ic cavitation

. Cavitation is the creation of small bubbles/cavities caused by a rapid change in pressure. The collapse of these bubbles releases energy, breaking bonds and destabilizing pollutants in the wastewater.

Although the Mitton Cavitation Reactor does not use chemicals, it does include ports that can be used to inject chemicals , if desired (e.g., oxidants and pH adjustment ). This capability can assist in treating specific constituents that may be present in a particular

wastewater stream. For exam ple, when treating oil and gas wastewater from the Permian Basin, inject ing compressed air improved subsequent solids and oil/grease separation steps . Injecting compressed air also oxidized hydrogen sulfide to hydrogen sulfate. However, injecting compressed air was not effective in oxidizing other oxygen

- demanding wastewater constituents such as biochemical oxygen demand.

The a ll

- in cost to the operator is between 12 and 15 cents per barrel of effluent . Most operators do not believe such a low cos t is possible , so Terra Agua typically presents the cost as “ definitely under 25 cents per barrel

. ” Terra Agua has designed this process for multiple size reactors. The sizes include capacities of 5 gal/min, 350 gal/min , 550 gal/min and 700 gal/min. 1,300 and 2,500 gal/min units are currently being developed. The energy requirement is 1 kilowatt hour (kWh) per 24 barrel s of effluent at an e nergy cost of

about 1 cent per barrel. The technology has Patent Pending status in the U.S.

Cavitation Pilot Project Terra Agua ha d a test site in W est Texas which operated at 150 gal lons per min ute

. The wastewater in their test was flowback and produced water from oil and gas wells in the Permian B asin Shale Region

.The goal was to treat produced water from mostly vertical , conventional wells to a clarified state for reuse/recycle in subsequent fracturing jobs

. The pilot system included the cavitation reactor and pre

- and post

- separatory process es operat ed before and after the

cavitation reactor . The pr e

- separatory process is a “ pressurized weir ” (pressure filter/pressure screen) to remove large solids from the

waste stream . The p ost

- separatory process is a 3

- phase separator with oils coming off the top , treated wastewater from the center, and solids (including precipitated metals ) coming off the bottom

. There is typically 5

- 30 minutes of separation time after cavitation.

Terra Agua conducted about 3 months of testing during this pilot project . Towards the end of their test period, they experim ented with

the addition of hydrogen peroxide and caustic in the reactor . This test yielded good results for bacteria kill and improved solids separation

.

At the test site, the average concentration of total s uspended solids ( TSS ) in the influent p roduced water was around 350,000 ppm

. After passing through the pre

- separatory process and the cavitation re actor, the concentration of TSS in the effluent was 17,000 ppm

. The goal of the entire system (pre

- separatory process and cavitation, and post

- separatory pr ocess) is to achieve 10,000 ppm of TSS

. Their t est results vary significantly when examining Total Dissolved Solids ( TDS )

.

Lisa Biddle asked, “Does the cavitation reactor remove TDS?” It may be possible to remove TDS, provided the addition of a binding agent that would react with dissolved constituents and a llow them to be removed in solids separation. For example, tests have shown 77% removal of sodium chlorine with the addition of zi n c as a binding agent to generate crystallized zinc chloride that is removed in solids separation. TDS components that do not have an appropriate binding agent (i.e., a compound that provides a “friendlier bond”) can not be removed using this technology and will

remain in solution

. Additional tertiary treatment would be required to remove these constituents.

Spray Evaporation Process Terra Aqua also hold s a license for second technology which is a spray evaporation process. Terra Agua described that the

ev aporation technology includes a pit (180 feet in diameter) with a berm/fence to regulate wind. The pit is designed in a corks crew with 6 to 10 industrial spray evaporators in the center. The evaporators use micron

- sized spray nozzles to optimize evaporatio n. The technology is affected by the climate, specifically humidity (more than temperature). For example, the technology is not as efficient or effective in areas with high humidity.

Terra Agua is trying to design an automated process for collecting the salt from the bottom of the pit. This will result in three possible

resale and / or waste stream products from the evaporation technolog y :

 Clarified brine

 Heavy brine reused for drilling

 Salts for resale

Terra Agua’s goal is to be able to achieve 1 00 perce nt recycling, so that the wastewater does not need to be disposed of (e.g., underground injection) or discharged (e.g., centralized waste treatment facility)

. The system goals are for water to be re used as

neede d, or used in creating other by products. From there, water can be evaporated into the hydrologic cycle, allowing the remaining mineral byproducts to be harvested.

T he evaporation technology underwent a pilot test by the licensor in the Barnet Shale Region

. They tested a small area wit h 2

evaporator s within a rectangle pit design

. Terra Agua’s engineering partners point to a more efficient design using multiple evaporators with a circular design

.

Terra Agua agreed to send white paper s/public information for their technologies to EPA and ERG for review , as well as performance data for TSS, TDS and oil and grease

.

Next Steps EPA asked one final question, “ What are your near

- term plans? ” Terra Agua is m oving into “Phase 3 ,” which includes 16 different pilot programs slated for food and beverage and oil and gas waste s

. Specific to oil and gas waste treatment, t hey are p lanning to build a centralized facility in the Eagle Ford formation for full

- scale

treatment . They h op e this will be commercially viable for produced water treatment within 3 to 6 months ( most l ikely 5 months) . They are considering completing another pilot test in Oklahoma ( i.e., moving their West Texas system to Oklahoma). T his may allow EPA the opportunity for a site visit sooner than the full

- scale facility in the Eagle F ord formation

.