Flowback water is generated from drilling and is traditionally hauled to a disposal site. Flowback water is what gets produced from the first 5% of water returned after a well is started. It's simple to recycle and sometimes be done on-site for reuse.



Produced water comes from flow back water that is separated from hydrocarbons. There are perceived threats to drinking water supplied from flowback water and disposal has attracted a lot of negative publicity. On-site recycling is a great alternative to transporting flowback/produced water and we suspect more recycling will be attainable in the near future.

There is a lot of equipment used around drilling and produced water such as rigs, storage tanks, separating tanks, exposed pipes, and mixing ponds. Flowback water and drilling operations are temporarily an inconvenience and last only 45 days per well but when recycle at the well the inconvenience disappears. I talked to some guys about the produced water situation and they figure it will all become less of an issue as well recycle more.

Instead of focusing on trucking water to and from the drilling site, gas and oil drillers are using on-site pumps, product lines and processors to recycle as much as possible. Produced water is the largest volume byproduct associated with oil production.

In addition to conservation, recycling produced and flowback wastewater is the problem solver. Having a balanced approach to producing long- term oil and gas wells mean the area's impact is less and everyone seems to get what they want.

Treatment is a non-pollutant with the use of sulfonated gelling agent polymers. The flowback water treating fluids of the present may exhibit decreased sensitivity to low pH. A treating fluid may contain a higher concentration of solubles compared to the treated water.

The source of water pollution that gets the most criticism is produced water. Radioactivity levels in produced waters are low but there's concern about the volume of waste. This has led some producers of recycling units to to find the best ways to ensure the most amount of cleansing for beneficial use.

The largest volume of water waste arises from production operations for the oil and gas industries and recycling produced water is part of an environmental solution to keep drilling without damaging the world around us.