The Bakken As A Research Laboratory

I've said many, many times that although the Bakken is known for its production, just as important (and perhaps more important in some aspects) is the fact that the Bakken has become a research laboratory for drilling into unconventional shale for oil and gas.

Although this story has a west Texas connection/basis, it certainly will be tested in the Bakken.

After 15 years of development and with research help from Rice University, a Houston company is ready to offer its produced-water reclamation procedure to the oilfield for treating produced water.

Molecular Filtration Inc. president Felipe Lembcke said, "Our technology is going to be the first in the world to clean water -- I'm talking about removing all organic presence from the water," without the use of chemicals, ultraviolet light, electro-deposition or other processes that change the constitution of the water itself. Lembcke said they classify organics as crude oil and every "single element of organics including bacteria and viruses."

"Nobody can do what we can do in one single pass in removing all the organics and leaving brine water," he added. While the process does not remove salt, that is not an issue, Lembcke stated. "In fact, the heavier the water, the better for them because it floats the oil."

A big thank you to "anon 1" for sending me this story.