Produced Wastewater Treatment


Produced Water Treatment (PWT) System Overview

RET is proud to offer a revolutionary water treatment system that provides the most advanced waste water treatment solution for the mining industry, industrial plants, refineries, petrochemical plants, municipal water treatment facilities, oil drilling operations, power plants, and many more industrial applications.

Our technology employs an arsenal of various components to address a wide range of contaminants:

a. Heavy and light solids – Both heavy and light solids can be removed with the most advanced solids separator on the market. The system works based on Stokes Law in a unique configuration that effectively utilizes the forces of gravity and friction to achieve unprecedented results. The solids go down the center of the vessel at a high velocity and are thrown to the bottom of the vessel. The carrier fluid changes direction 180 degrees. The velocity slows down so that the solids at a particular size reach their terminal velocity and drop out of solution. The water flow (already stripped of the heavy solids) then enters lamella plates horizontally rather than in a typical up flow or down flow configuration.  The flow through the lamella plates is in a laminar flow condition. The ending result is that the solid separator can handle solid concentrations as high as 60% solids and can remove all of the solids down to < 25 micron particle size (depending on the specific gravity of the solids) and a portion of the remaining solids down to 1 micron particle size. The system is less likely to plug than other clarifiers. The separator internals have no moving parts and it does not require cyclonic separation or flocculants.

b. Heavy oils – Heavy oils and grease (specific gravity > 1) are removed by the same solids separator and generally come out with the solids.

c. Free oils – Free oils (specific gravity <1) are removed in a coalescing separator (can be the same vessel as the solids separator or a separate vessel) using a combination of lamella plates and polypropylene coalescing media. The coalescing media has a unique configuration that provides the maximum surface area and interaction area for coalescing.

d. Emulsified oils – Unlike traditional coalescing separators that do not touch emulsions, our primary separator will remove some emulsions. Because of the efficiency of how the lamella plates are configured and the combination of the lamella plates and coalescing media, some of the emulsified oil is removed in the primary coalescing separator. The remaining emulsified oils are removed with different types of absorption medias or filters. These polishing filters can remove emulsified oil down to the ppb range, if necessary.

e. Turbidity – Some processes require very low levels of turbidity and suspended solids. We use various forms of bulk, back-washable medias, such as sand filters, organoclay filters and black walnut filters to remove turbidity, very fine particles and suspended solids.

f. Chemicals, bacteria, pathogens, pharmaceuticals and heavy metals – The Ferrator treatment system can be deployed to clarify and treat the process water to remove a long list of chemicals, bacteria, pathogens, heavy metals and other contaminants.

In a single application, Ferrate can simultaneously perform as an oxidant, disinfectant and coagulant. Ferrate is more powerful than other oxidants such as ozone and chlorine dioxide. It can replace coagulants such as ferric chloride, alum and polymers for the removal of metals, non-metals and humic acids. It outperforms other disinfectants such as UV, hydrogen peroxide, and chlorine and can kill many chlorine resistant organisms such as aerobic spore-formers and sulphite-reducing clostridia.

Ferrate performs as a disinfectant, with none of the harmful byproducts. The Ferrate redeploys the power of chlorine for water treatment without producing disinfection byproducts. Ferrate is Environmentally Friendly. It is powerful, fast acting, works in small doses, and the final product of Ferrate treatment is ferric hydroxide, Iron(III), a non-toxic, environmentally benign compound. In addition to the unparalleled purification capabilities of the ferrate system, the EPA, in a recent report, has certified the ferrate system as being the most cost effective way to purify water.

RET Produced Wastewater System benefits:

  • Complete Removal of Solids Down to 25 Micron Particle Size.
  • Partial Removal of Solids Down to 1 Micron Particle Size.
  • Small Profile.
  • No Moving Parts Inside Vessel.
  • No Chemicals or Flocculants Needed.
  • Environmentally Friendly Purification / Disinfection.
  • Heavy Oil Removal.
  • Simple to Operate and Maintain.
  • Low Capital and Operating Cost.
  • Scalability

Custom Combinations

We can deploy any combination of the above technologies in order to achieve the desired objective for a specific application or industry. More importantly, the system is cost effective, and easy to operate with low maintenance required. The capital cost is significantly lower than other water treatment systems and in many cases our technology is the only technology that will work effectively.

An additional benefit of the system is scalability. Module sizes range from 25GPM (5 M3/hr) to 500 GPM (113 M3/hr). Multiple modules can be installed to meet any capacity requirements.


Download RET Produced Wastewater Treatment (PWT) Brochure