Mass Flow ONLINE products in the oil industry
Along with oil and gas a byproduct called produced water is brought to the surface during the exploration and production of oil and gas. During coal bed methane production wells are drilled into coals seams to allow the gas to release itself, but first water has to be pumped to the surface. This water contains some of the chemical characteristics and hydrocarbon from the formation because the substances have been stored underneath the earth’s surface for centuries. Apart from this the produced water can also contain chemicals that have been added during the exploration and production process. ‘Waterflooding’ is a process in which water is injected into the underground oil reservoirs to help force the oil to the production wells.
“Mass Flow ONLINE products help to filter contaminated produced water in the oil industry.“
Necessity
Most produced water is ‘brine’ which means that the water contains high levels of salt and contains too much dissolved solids, like heavy metals, to be able to be used as drinking water or for agricultural purposes. Some produced water contains traces of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), which over time decreases its radioactive scale in the piping at the well but is hazardous when people are exposed to the hazardous elements for a longer period of time. Produced water is considered an industrial waste and coal seam gas (CSG) producers are now required to find beneficial re-uses for produced water.
There are several re-use options for the produced water:
- Direct injection; the water is injected into the ground to utilize the layers in the earth to filter the water and to avoid polluting fresh water supplies.
- Direct-use of untreated water; the water is used for environmentally acceptable purposes without being filtered.
- Treatment to a government-issued standard before disposal or supply to users.
The MAG-VIEWTM is a compact magnetic flow meter operates on a magnetic inductive principle to measure or dose electrically conductive liquids. The SONIC-VIEW is a compact and solid state ultrasonic flow meter for measuring water and aqueous solutions that operates on two ultrasonic transducers.
The MAG-VIEWTM and SONIC-VIEW show their added value on multiple fronts in the oil and gas industry:
- The perfect solutution in compact machines with cramped confines.
- Interference free operation.
- Does not contain any moving parts and thus there is virtually no pressure loss.
- A wide range of flow ranges to allow the use of the flowmeters in a different mix configurations.
- SONIC-VIEW’s wetted parts are chemically resistant; made out of stainless steel.
For further information on the MAG-VIEWTM we would like to refer you this article.