[미국] 뉴 텍사스의 담수화 플랜트, Fracking water 재사용

텍사스의 새로운 담수화 실험 시설은 석유산업에서 셰일가스을 위해 실시되는 수압 파쇄 과정에서 사용된 처리수를 활용할 수 있다고 밝혔다.

시는 염수로부터 식수을 생산하기 위해 건설된 350만 달러 규모의 태양력 동력과 증류식 담수화 장치를 설치 완료했다. 시는 "플랜트에 사용된 기술은 염분기 있는 지하수를 처리 할 수 있고 물과 fracking water을 생산한다."고 말했다. DyVaR기술은 염분기 있는 물을 cyclone chamber에서 증발시킨다. cyclone chamber에서 순수 수는 증기와 소금으로부터 농축되고 고체로 방류되기 위해 압축된다.

A new desalination test facility in Loving County, Texas could be deployed in treating water used in hydraulic fracturing - tracking- for shale gas for reuse in the oil industry.

The county has finished installing a US$3.5 million solar-powered, evaporative desalination unit designated for drinking water production from brackish water. The county said the technology used in the plant was "capable of treating brackish groundwater, produced water, and frack water." The DyVaR technology evaporates the brackish water in cyclone chambers where pure water is condensed from steam and the brine is concentrated for disposal as a solid. 

"For produced or frack water, a process like this could produce water for reuse in the oil field," said the plant project engineer, James Busby.
The project, located in Mentone, was funded by Loving County and the federal Bureau of Reclamation by way of the WaterSMART innovative water treatment grant program.

There are no seawater desalination plants currently operating in Texas but there are 46 municipal brackish water desalination facilities operating across the state, according to recent local news report.

Another local report citing state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon described the Texas drought - currently in its fourth year - as "among the five worst in the past 500 years...If it continues to be as dry as it is has been, the drought could be the third worst."

[출처 = Desalination & Water Reuse / 2014년 7월 7일]