Services

The Diversity of Expertise within CEPWM is Paramount

Our extensive network of industry and university partners allows us to provide a unique and international approach to solving your most difficult challenges.

Desktop Analysis

We will determine the technical, economic, and business implications of your technology applications and regulatory involvement. Having a clear understanding of these aspects prior to beginning a more expensive bench or pilot level investigation will allow you to focus resource expenditures in a more meaningful manner, and provide you with a core foundation of understanding. This is often considered an essential first step in a “stage gate” approach.

Economic And Technical Modeling

We will run an economic analysis of operational, managerial, and technical approaches to produced water management. These services apply similar approaches as desk-top evaluation while delving into greater detail in understanding the complexities associated with produced water treatment and beneficial use technologies. These capabilities also apply to regulatory and stakeholder issues such as seismic events, volatile organics, greenhouse gasses, groundwater impacts, beneficial reuse, and field operations.

Bench Scale Studies

We will simulate full-scale operations (to the extent possible) prior to a more expensive pilot or demonstration scale evaluations. Bench scale capabilities are available for a full suite of organic, inorganic, biological, and separation technologies used to treat, extract resources, reduce volume, improve reuse opportunities (e.g., fracking formulation), and provide regulatory compliance for produced waters. This is often considered an essential second step in a “stage gate” approach to the development of new/evolving technologies and operational modifications.

Regulatory Assessment And Evaluation

We will review your approaches to compliance as well as a review of proposed regulations and the implications for operations, changes in technology, and sustainability of the regulatory development. Evolving regulations in produced water management can have collateral impacts that may not benefit the overall goals of sustainability in regulatory development. As such, an in-depth approach to the evaluation of the technical, economic, operational, environmental, and societal impacts can lead to more meaningful discussions with stakeholders, regulators, and politicians.

Pilot And Demonstration Scale Evaluations

We will assess evolving technologies and combinations of existing technologies used to treat, reuse, extract resources, and dispose of produced waters. Like the bench scale capabilities, these include organic, inorganic, biological, and separation technologies; all of which are possible approaches to reduce produce water management costs and provide benefits to society and the environment.

Validation Of Commercial Technologies

We will validate claims concerning a technology’s capabilities and total costs. Technology evaluation capabilities include desktop, bench scale, pilot scale, and demonstration studies. Total cost evaluations include the technology itself, in addition to capital and operating cost considerations. Our combined economic, technical, and risk assessments will provide information on the suitability of a particular technology for full-scale application.

Partnering with the Organizations of today to Develop the Technologies of Tomorrow

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CEPWM has Two Cutting-Edge Laboratories in which we perform our Research

Process Development And Evaluation Laboratory

Our 2,500-ft2 process development and evaluation laboratory is set-up for evaluating technologies from conception (bench-scale) to field evaluation (pilot-scale). Our capabilities also extend to material development, with an emphasis on membrane and nanomaterial synthesis and characterization. We are also set-up to do interfacial characterization (surface energy, particle aggregation and deposition), particle transport in porous media, and both bench- and pilot-scale evaluations of membrane filtration and desalination processes.

Water Quality Characterization And Analysis Laboratory

Our water quality laboratory is fully equipped for characterizing water samples, including high-salinity industrial brines. We are capable of measuring the presence and characterization of salts, minerals and metals using a variety of equipment as shown below.

Process Development And Evaluation Equipment

Rotary MF/UF Test Unit

Spintek rotary MF or UF pilot-scale test system is used to acquire performance data for challenging raw waters containing high suspended solids concentrations (mine tailing wastewater, drilling muds, etc.).

Dynamic Light Scattering

The Malvern ZetaSizer Nano ZS is used to characterize the size distribution of particulate suspensions. It may also be used to characterize the zeta potential of particulates as a function of solution chemistry.

Streaming Potential Analyzer

The streaming potential analyzer is used to measure the surface charge of thin-film, or membrane, samples as well as particulate materials (sand) as a function of solution pH and ionic strength.

Goniometer

The goniometer is used for characterizing the surface energy (hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity) of membranes and other solid surfaces. It is also capable of quantifying the surface tension of liquids.

Pilot-Scale Membrane Test Systems

Lab is equipped with a parallel train MF/UF and NF/RO pilot system for optimizing operating sequences and pretreatment processes. The system can accept truck deliveries of raw water or the raw water can me made in house using chemical dosing systems.

Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis

It is used to characterize the size distribution and particle concentration of colloidal and nanoparticulate suspensions. Unlike dynamic light scattering it is capable of characterizing polydisperse suspensions.

Bench-Scale Dead End And Cross-Flow Membrane Test Units

Acquire baseline performance and fouling data for membrane samples. Capable of testing ceramic and polymeric membranes in pressure-driven (MF, UF, NF and RO) and non-pressure-driven (FO, MD, PV) operating schemes.

Water Quality Characterization And Analysis Equipment

GC-MS

Volatile components of produced water can be quantified with our GC-MS, a Shimadzu QP-2010 SE with EST Evolution Purge & Trap. This is configured to use EPA Method 8260 to identify and quantify volatile organic compounds present in liquid samples, and can be used to quantitate most volatile organic compounds that have a boiling point below 200C. Organic components such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m-xylene, o-xylene, p-xylene, naphthalene, trichloroethane, and many others. A complete list of compounds detected using EPA method 8260 can be found here. Detection limits of volatile hydrocarbons is approximately 5ug/L.

HPLC

Semi-volatile hydrocarbons, including polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, present in produced water can be quantified by our HPLC, a Shimadzu Prominence HPLC equipped with PDA and Fluorescence detectors. We are capable detecting of a variety of semi-volatile and non-volatile alcohols and organic acids, as well as select polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons using EPA Method 610 with fluorescence detection.

ICP-MS

The NexION 350D ICP-MS is a bench top ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer) with a quadrupole mass analyzer that is capable of performing trace elemental analysis. It also includes a Microwave digester for sample preparation. Our system is specifically equipped to characterizing brine solutions. System operating software allows for distinguishing between dissolved and nanoparticulate metals and is thus particularly useful for evaluating the presence and removal of nanomaterials.

The ICS-2100 is capable of measuring cation and anion concentrations in aqueous samples. The system is a reagent free t ion chromatography system with electrolytic sample preparation (RFIC-ESP™ system) and eluent generation (RFIC-EG™ system) capabilities designed to perform all types of electrolytically generated isocratic and gradient IC separations using conductivity detection.

TOC

Our Sievers InnovOx* TOC Analyzer measures the total, inorganic, and organic carbon concentrations in water samples. Our system is equipped with supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) technology that enables accurate TOC measurements over a broad range of organic and inorganic constituents that may be present in a sample. It is particularly suited for characterizing brines and mixtures having complex compositions.