Patent ID: 8097128

Claim:
A water purification system for processing an aqueous liquid from a hydrocarbon well, comprising: said water purification system located at a site of the hydrocarbon well and having an input for receiving the aqueous liquid from the hydrocarbon well; the aqueous liquid is coupled to the input of the water purification system without prior pretreatment thereof to remove particulate matter and entrapped gasses in solution; a separation container for processing the aqueous liquid to remove at least some organic and inorganic components therefrom to provide a processed aqueous liquid; a heater for heating the processed aqueous liquid, said heater using only a hydrocarbon fuel from a hydrocarbon fuel source at the well site, said hydrocarbon fuel used for combustion in said heater to provide thermal energy to heat the processed aqueous liquid; an expansion chamber having a nozzle; a pump for pumping the heated processed aqueous liquid through the nozzle of the expansion chamber to flash evaporate the water from the heated processed aqueous liquid into steam; an electrical generator for generating electricity; an engine for driving said electrical generator, said engine using the hydrocarbon fuel from the hydrocarbon fuel source; and whereby the water purification system operates autonomously at the well site without requiring said preprocessing of the aqueous liquid from the hydrocarbon well and without requiring fuel to be transported to the well site and used by the heater and the engine.