Custom Wastewater Disposal Equipment & Solutions

Here in north west New Mexico William's Field Services (WFS) owns and operates numerous natural gas production wells, compressor station central delivery points (CDP) & gas treatment facilities to transport the natural gas along with contracted natural gas from other companies under high pressure to destinations out of state within their distribution lines. These facilities are contained in remote areas as well as within populated areas. During construction these plants and related equipment are situated within concrete containment areas so as to collect wash down water, oil and antifreeze leaks, contaminates from gas compression and treatment as well as rain water further collected in waste water storage tanks.

Evaporative Systems, Inc. provided a Model 50 and a Model 100 as a lease type application for one year of operation and testing.William's Field Services purchased a Model 100 Evaporator for permanent operation.

William's Field Services operates their facilities under a strict regiment of rules and regulations so as to ensure safe operation and protection of the environment.

Following text provided by Bill Beevers (Field foreman) for William's Field Services. Bill has conducted the testing procedures including water and chemical analysis as well as the implementation of the overall working design of the site, as it exists today.

Our "Wastewater" stream contains wash water and rain water from the compressor and dehydrator skids. From the compressors we also receive small amounts of Lube Oil and Antifreeze as leaks. From the dehydrators we receive small amounts of Triethelene Glycol (TEG) from leaks and from condensed vapors in the steam lines and condensed water from the steam lines. This waste stream is declared non-exempt by the State of New Mexico because of the Lube Oil and Antifreeze.

We collect the "waste water" from several CDP sites and transport it to a central site for disposal. We have chosen to evaporate our waste water and in so doing, have begun to reclaim TEG and Waste Oil.

We receive the waste water into a tank battery. The waste water then flows into a natural gas fired evaporation unit provided by Evaporative Systems, Inc. This unit is an open top atmospheric boiler where the water is evaporated to the atmosphere. This unit has a float controlled level which introduces water as needed.

As the water evaporates the TEG and Lube Oil are concentrated in the evaporator vat as they boil at a much higher temperature than water. This concentrate must be eliminated from the vat in order to allow water to enter. We drain this concentrate off from a point near the upper liquid level of the vat to prevent Lube Oil from collecting in the vat. Lube Oil could become a fire hazard if allowed to accumulate to the bottom of the evaporator where the direct fired natural thermal pump inlets are located.

The concentrate (Lube Oil, TEG, Water) is pumped into a Heater Treater where the temperature is maintained at approximately 240 F. This temperature along with retention time allows the Lube Oil to separate from the TEG-water solution. The Lube Oil is drawn off the Heater Treater into a waste oil tank for reclaiming. The TEG solution is filtered and then discharged into a regeneration unit (Reboiler)

The solution as it enters the Reboiler is approximately 50% water. In the Reboiler the solution is heated to 350 F. which evaporates most of the remaining water leaving the TEG 95% pure The TEG is now free of water but has retained the chlorides from the evaporated water. These chloride's must be removed.

The TEG is now pumped into a Distillation Unit where the TEG is heated to approximately 450 F. in order to vaporize it.

The TEG vapor is then distilled leaving it free of all soluble contaminates. This re-refined TEG is then returned to our Dehydrators eliminating the need to purchase an estimated 50 Gallons of virgin TEG per day. The solids which remain after the TEG is evaporated must periodically be cleaned from the Reboiler and Distillation Unit and disposed of at a EPA authorized Land Farm as non-hazardous waste. The volume of waste is approximately 1 drum of solid waste per 10,000 Bbls. (420,000 US Gallons) of treated water.