On Fracking

Fracking is controversial but there’s no debating the fact that it’s expanding every day. There are 20,000 new wells fracked every year. Regardless of which political party is running Washington D.C., that’s not changing anytime soon. That said, the best thing we can do for the environment is perfect the process through smart technology.

Fracking is water mixed with sand and chemicals to break up rocks and release the natural gas. The process requires massive amounts of water. Those 20,000 wells require five to eight million gallons of water each. That’s as much as 160 billion gallons every year that need to be disinfected to protect the nation’s water supply.

Applications

Before putting this fracking mix into the ground, a disinfectant is needed. Excelyte™ is the most effective solution to disinfect the water and prevent groundwater contamination.

Excelyte® kills bacteria and viruses. It also neutralizes some chemicals, like hydrogen sulfide. It does not eliminate heavy metals.

Unlike any other fracking solution, Excelyte™ cleans and protects production equipment from corrosion, creates a safer work environment by targeting and eliminating hydrogen sulfide (the leading cause of gas inhalation deaths among oil/gas workers), leaves no lasting impact on the environment and is undetectable 90 days after use.

Excelyte™ is being adopted by natural gas producers in the western U.S., especially in Utah and New Mexico.

Excelyte™ is considered an industry leader in being able to provide an environmentally conscious solution for disinfecting and sanitizing. It is EPA registered as an antimicrobial. For more than 20 years, Excelyte™ has been used for the enhancement of oil and gas production. It is frac fluid compatible and pH neutral. It is the only EPA-registered disinfectant that has been proven completely effective against all bacteria and virus tested. We provide customers with chemical-free science-based disinfecting, sanitizing and cleaning solutions produced by ECA technology to promote environmental, worker and consumer health safety wherever pathogens must be controlled.

The key active ingredient in Excelyte™ is hypochlorous acid, derived from naturally occurring salt minerals and water.

When it degrades, it turns to salt and water which leaves no ecological footprint. It is a cost-effective alternative to other chemicals currently used such as glutaraldehyde and bleach.

Excelyte’s™ unique ability to disrupt viruses and bacteria cell structure while being able to fully degrade leaving no ecological footprint behind, makes it both strong but safe in many applications. The ability to disrupt the cell structure prevents organisms from mutating and becoming resistant, reduces the possibility of superbugs. It does not become resistant to microbes, as do most chemicals. It kills oil field bacteria with no harmful by-products. Protective equipment and site safety measures are not required for Excelyte™ applications. Once Excelyte™ has fully degraded, it leaves no ecological damage to well sites.

For every one million gallons of water used, we only need to add about 5,000 gallons of Excelyte™ to treat at 2.5ppm. It costs millions of dollars per frack per well but the cost of adding Excelyte™ is a fraction of a percentage of that overall cost.

Excelyte™ has been registered by the EPA for use in the following applications:

• Fractured & Produced Water
• Sour Wells
• Water Flood Injection Waters
• Oil and Gas Transmission Lines
• Heater Treaters
• Hydrocarbon Storage Facilities
• Gas Storage Wells

The Main Areas of Use

Frack Water

Almost every gas well entails a frack job, requiring approximately 80,000 gallons of water. This water can be treated with Excelyte™ solutions to manage bacteria, protecting fracturing fluids and gels, and ensuring polymer and proppant performance. It removes scale and slime build-up from pipes, and cooling water systems can be kept free of biofilm which improves heat exchange values and eliminates microbial induced corrosion (MIC).

Recent data collected from field operations where frack water was treated with Excelyte™ shows that the bacteria levels in the frack water were reduced below the threshold level that would adversely impact stimulation fluids and gels. Produced water may be treated before being revised in stimulation fluids or water floods.

Excelyte™ can be used to enhance production from wells which have been impacted by down-hole growth of bacteria, and other microorganisms, by killing the bacteria and removing the restrictive biofilms. It is a great utility in the reduction of hydrogen sulfide in produced water retention pools and make-up water.

For typical water treatment, mix 5 US gallons of Excelyte™ with 995 US gallons of frack water to 2.5ppm FAC to mitigate and retard the growth from non‐public health microorganisms such as anaerobic bacteria, aerobic bacteria and sulfater inducing bacteria to protect fracturing fluids, polymers and gels. Frack jobs require a biocide. An average frack job will require about 800-4,000 gallons of biocide per frack.

Well Maintenance

Excelyte™ is effective in producing wells as a biocide and anti-corrosive agent and has great utility in reduction of hydrogen sulfide in producing wells, reducing cost of reconstruction of well linings. Excelyte™ has demonstrated effectiveness in producing wells, especially in high sulfur geologies. Excelyte™ addresses corrosion and sour well problems in the high-sulfur fields (e.g. Utah, Colorado, Dakotas, and Wyoming).

Typical producing wells in sulfur zones consume in excess of 500 gallons of biocide weekly.
Haulage companies deliver directly to the well and pour the biocide down hole on a regular schedule.

Produced Water Market

Contaminated produced water must be decontaminated before release into the environment or recycled for use. Retention ponds create environmental hazards, harboring heavy metals and bacteria. Reverse Osmosis technologies remove heavy metals and produce “pure” water.

Question: What is to be done with the residual water?

Produced water must be disposed of at all new well sites. Reverse osmosis is becoming increasingly widespread.

RO companies now dump decontaminated water for evaporation as haulage costs are expensive. “Pure” decontaminated water is a raw material for Excelyte™ production, creating a product sales opportunity for the RO company.

Cooling Towers

Cooling tower water can be treated with low concentrations of Excelyte™ so that bacteria in the tower are controlled. In addition, Excelyte™ removes the scale build-up on fill, pans and in pipes so that a better heat exchange value is maintained throughout the system. Costs for handling, storing and disposing of hazardous chemicals used to treat for bacteria and inhibit scale are dramatically reduced. Furthermore, downtime and maintenance costs for periodic cleaning are eliminated.

Research Papers

EcaFlo™ Anolyte: A Two-Edged Biocide
Dr. Val Dunham, Associate Provost for Research, Distinguished Professor Emeritus – Coastal Carolina University

Electrolytic Biocides: green alternative for stimulation protection and formation biomass remediation
DL Holcomb, TL Zitkus, L Jones – … of the Annual …, 2005 – Southwestern Petroleum Short Course

Green biocides, a promising technology: current and future applications to industry and industrial processes
MA Ashraf, S Ullah, I Ahmad, AK Qureshi… – Journal of the …, 2014 – Wiley Online Library

Case study: evaluation of an oxidative biocide during and after a hydraulic fracturing job in the Marcellus Shale
SM Rimassa, PR Howard, B MacKay… – … Symposium on Oilfield …, 2011 – onepetro.org

Aqueous Solution For Managing Microbes In Oil And Gas Production And Method For Their Production
SA Emmons – US Patent App. 12/907,309, 2010 – Google Patents