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Project No.: 0172.09.038.082 Page 1 of 2

Project Name: Shale Gas CBI?

Yes

No

TELEPHONE CALL RECORD

Incoming

Outgoing

Date: 9/26/11 Time: 3:50 am

pm

Company Name: Severn Trent ERG Staff Name: Brent Ruminski

Contact Name: Rich Dennis Contact Phone Number: 813-886-9331

General Subject: Severn Trent: Higgins LoopTM (Ion Exchange)

TOPICS DISCUSSED AND ACTION TAKEN

I called Severn Trent 9/26/11 at 3:50 PM, and left a message with callback information and a general idea of 

why I was calling. 

I received a call back on 9/27/11 at 4:00 PM from Nadia Abboud (Severn Trent). She asked some general 

questions about what I would like to discuss. As we were talking she wrote an email that she copied me on to 

another contact, Rich Dennis, at Severn Trent that should be able to discuss the Tetra Higgins LoopTM

process

with me. Rich emailed me at 5:00 PM on the same day (9/27/11) and agreed to talk Thursday (9/29/11)

morning. 

I called Rich Dennis on 9/29/11 at 10:00 AM and left a voicemail. Rich called back at 10:30 AM and we 

discussed Severn Trent’s Higgins LoopTM technology. Rich is the product manager of the Higgins LoopTM at 

Severn Trent and helped in the development of the Higgins LoopTM at Severn Trent. 

General: Rich talked about how the Higgins LoopTM was a good fit for application in the CBM industry, 

especially in the Powder River Basin because of the high bicarbonate concentrations in the produced water. The 

bicarbonate eliminates the need to have a anion resin. Only a cation resin is required in this region. He said that 

typical influent sodium concentration for the Higgins LoopTM is 1200 mg/L and the associated influent TDS 

concentration is about 4,500 mg/L. Rich commented that, at this operating point, the regenerate waste stream 

would be less than 1% of the influent stream. Rich said, in theory, the Higgins LoopTM can remove TDS as 

high as you want but it is no longer economically above the typical ranges (listed above). However, because of 

the high cost of acid, which is used to regenerate resin during operation, high TDS removal is not practical. As 

influent TDS increases the quantity of acid required increases. Rich mentioned that not only can the cost of acid 

be high, be it is extremely volatile on the market. 

Disposal: Rich explained that the effluent streams (both the brine and treated water) are disposed of in normal 

practice. Brine streams are usually injected in deep underground wells. The treated water is blended back with 

produced water to dilute it. Once the blended water meets discharge standards, it may be discharged depending 

on the operator’s location. 

Energy Usage: Rich said that a 2 MGD unit would require about 8 HP of electrical energy. He compared ion 

exchange to other technologies for wastewater treatment and said that ion exchange has high chemical 

requirements and low energy requirements, whereas the others (RO, Evaporation, Distillation) have high energy 

requirements. 

Pretreatment: Rich said the only two constituents that operators worry about removing before using the 

Higgins LoopTM

are TSS and hydrocarbons. 
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Resins:I mentioned that 10 -15 years of resin life is reported in the literature and Rich said that is somewhat 

accurate but it’s hard to say. Rich said that 10 to 15% of the resin will be replaced annually instead of all at 

once. He said that temperature changes have no affect on the resin. 

Rich could not direct me to any specific case studies. He said that the private industry does not like to open case 

study information up to the public. When the conversation was over, Rich asked how this information may be 

used and I said we are writing a report for EPA on natural gas wastewater treatment technologies. I offered him 

Brian Damico’s contact information, which he accepted.