AES Water Solutions to install evaporation systems at US oilfields

HII Technologies frac water management subsidiary AES Water Solutions has secured a contract to install four Resource West Landshark Evaporation Systems to provide wastewater services at an operator’s oilfield in the southwest US.

Originally developed for the mining industry, evaporation technology uses high-volume blowers to evaporate wastewater from pits and ponds.

Water will be evaporated through calibrated equipment, with solids falling into the pit or pond for final removal. Landshark Evaporation Systems are capable of evaporating around 5,000 barrels of wastewater a day.

AES Water holds an exclusive agreement with its technology partner to purchase wastewater evaporators. These will be offered as a service to oilfield operators within the states where the company operates.

AES Water Solutions president Brent Mulliniks said that a typical pit holds 50,000 to 75,000 barrels of flowback and wastewater.

"Traditionally, oilfield operators have utilised large 120-barrel wastewater transport trucks to remove the water from the well site location typically to disposal wells," he said.

"The transportation of oilfield wastewater in our opinion is expensive and disruptive to local communities including issues with truck traffic, destruction of local county roads and the current perception of deep wastewater well injection causing other issues."

In the US, the oil and gas industry produces around 50 million barrels of wastewater a day, as per a July 2013 report by Frackwire.