Siemens has received a Wyoming statewide Chapter 3 permit for treatment of produced water. Since the pilot requirements and system configuration have already been reviewed by the state, Siemens is enabled by the permit to request produced water services.
The application for the permit followed the modeled of the existing Powder River Basin plant. This plant uses Siemens’ equipment to treat coal-bed-methane-produced water to Powder River discharge standards. The permit includes fixed plant and mobile services, although it is specific to the reverse osmosis/recovery reverse osmosis (RO/RRO) process.
Siemens was represented at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality by McLaughlin Water Engineering Ltd. of Denver, Colorado. McLaughlin evaluated over a year’s worth of operating data at the Powder River Basin plant, and evaluated Siemens’ RO/RRO treatment design for reliability and robustness.
The system has recovery rates over 93%, thus a very efficient operation due to the Siemens design.
James Welch, Siemens’ Business Development Manager for Produced Water Services stated: “The state of Wyoming requires a comprehensive review for any proposed water plant treating impacted waters to a discharge standard. By receiving this permit, Siemens can expedite construction plans or deployment of mobile assets, as preliminary requirements have already been addressed through the permitting processes. This will benefit our CBM-produced-water customers because of the shorter time required to initiate construction of water plants or receive our mobile equipment.”
Due to the variability in produced water, depending on the formation, any pretreatment to the RO/RRO system would still need to be reviewed by state regulators before deployment to the customer’s site.
Siemens offers fixed plant and mobile services through build-own-operate contracts. Customers are enabled to focus on their core business while Siemens handles the design and operation of the water or wastewater treatment system. Siemens’ personnel in Gillette and Buffalo, Wyoming can position the mobile assets as to customer requests.
