WorldWide Drilling Resource

Advanced Water Recycling System for Oil and Gas Industry Adapted from a News Release by General Electric Company FCL’s (Federated Co-Operatives Limited’s) Co-op Refinery Complex in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, has installed General Electric’s (GE’s) advanced water recycling tech- nology for a wastewater improvement project which will en- able the refinery to clean 100% of its wastewater on-site. Once fully operational, the complex will be the only refinery in North America to recycle all of its wastewater for steam production, which is used for heating, hydrogen production, powering equipment, and cooling towers. “Water is a precious resource and our wastewater improvement project allows us to be efficient and sustainable by recovering every drop of water. With GE’s technology, the Co-op Refinery Complex will clean and recycle all of its wastewater in a socially responsible and environmentally sound way to conserve water for Regina and the entire province of Saskatchewan,” said Gil Le Dressay, vice president, refinery operations, FCL. The current water source is a blend of well water and city water. Several years ago, the refinery expanded its operations to produce 30,000 more barrels of oil per day (BPD) taking it from 100,000 BPD to a 130,000-BPD facility, which also increased its water usage. Water use restrictions mandated the complex find a new source of water. GE offered a solution combining ZeeWeed* membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology and a high-efficiency reverse osmosis (HERO*) system to recycle and reuse two million gallons of wastewater per day. In addition to the water reuse solution, GE provides the refinery with wastewater specialty chemicals and monitoring solutions to provide system optimization. After commissioning, the refinery will reduce its use of freshwater by 28% on an annual basis. By recycling 100% of its wastewater on-site, the complex will significantly decrease volatile organic compound emissions from its wastewater ponds and reduce the associated nuisance odors. 15 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® JANUARY 2017