Aqua Terra Water Management and De Nora join forces to offer economically viable produced water recycling in the Permian Basin 

Aqua Terra Water Management, a leading provider of oilfield water disposal and oilfield waste management with facilities throughout the USA and Canada, and De Nora, a leading designer of safe, innovative, and sustainable water disinfection and oxidation, filtration and electrochlorination solutions, have partnered to provide effective and economic produced water recycling solutions. 

Unconventional wells consume, when completed, and subsequently produce vast quantities of water. This water is typically disposed of in salt water disposal wells (SWDs). By leveraging Aqua Terra’s extensive existing infrastructure with De Nora’s technologies, the market now has an efficient and inexpensive solution for the transportation, disposal, and recycling of their produced water.

“De Nora has always prided itself on having the environment at the core of its business values,” said Bryan Brownlie, Managing Director, De Nora Water Technologies Texas, LLC, “Working together with Aqua Terra provides a sound solution for mass recycling in some of the most water-challenged areas in the USA – including the Permian Basin, which is currently undergoing a significant drought. Recycling reduces the drawdown of fresh water, and significantly lessens the impact of oil and gas completions activities on local communities. We are proud to be able to offer, in conjunction with Aqua Terra, a true solution to the market, well within the required economics.” 

De Nora have treated millions of barrels of produced water, in almost every major unconventional oil and gas basin in the USA. De Nora’s unique approach to recycling leverages existing capital infrastructure investments made by operators to enable recycling that removes virtually all TSS and iron and eliminates all biological activity for over 90 days. This results in a perfect brine for fracking purposes, as the iron feed stock for the bacteria that generate hydrogen sulfide is removed and 100% of these bacteria are eliminated during the process.

Aqua Terra’s CEO, Cory Hall said, “We are very excited to partner with De Nora Water Technologies. Living in West Texas for 17 years, I’ve seen the oilfield change drastically as technology continues to develop. When the drought hit in 2011 the use of fresh water became a serious issue throughout the Permian Basin. As the fracking processes become more advanced, our team has looked at and evaluated many different recycling techniques. Through our research we have concluded De Nora’s process is best in class which allows us to offer our customers a reasonably priced, effective substitute for fresh water. One of our goals at Aqua Terra is to not only help the fresh water reservoirs of the Permian Basin, but throughout North America. Adding the De Nora recycle process provides Aqua Terra the ability to offer Producers a one stop shop by providing disposals, pipelines and recycled water for fracking purposes”.

Aqua Terra Water Management has been managing produced water and oilfield waste for over a decade, and has a team with combined experience of over 100 years. The integration of De Nora’s technologies with Aqua Terra’s operational experience is the first complete solution for produced water management in the industry.

Recent recycling conducted by De Nora and Aqua Terra Water Management utilizing De Nora’s process at Aqua Terra’s Jaker facility resulted in 98% reduction of iron, 100% bacteria kill and an 80%+ reduction in TSS, producing excellent quality frack fluid at rates exceeding 30,000 barrels per day.