Sustainable solutions for oil & gas industries
Water treatment
Hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) is a technique that involves injecting high-pressure water into a wellbore, creating cracks in rock formations, in order to extract greater quantities of gas or oil more easily. This process is highly water intensive, which can cause problems in water-stressed regions as well as logistics and cost issues regarding theto disposing of or repurposing the water.
These mobile or semi-mobile treatment plants would use either oxidation technologies for removal of contaminants or next-generation membrane-based pre-treatment technologies, thereby reducing disposal/handling costs and improving groundwater availability.
Flare gas
Shale gas production in the USA has grown rapidly in recent years but many oil and gas companies don’t have adequate infrastructures to carry the gas to market. Flaring excess gas production, although better than just releasing it into the atmosphere, is still an economically and environmentally poor solution.
Air Liquide is working on new, small-scale solutions to recover flare gas directly in the field. The wasted gas can be treated to remove impurities before converting it into CNG or LNG, to be either used as fuel on site or transported off site to another customer. The surplus gas can also be converted into electricity on site to power various equipment.