TETRA Technologies has entered into exclusive technology licensing agreements with KMX Technologies and Hyrec for the recycling of produced water for the purpose of beneficial reuse, including such applications as agricultural and crop irrigation, industrial, power generation, construction, groundwater recharge, cooling towers and dust control. TETRA is a leader in the treatment and recycling of produced water from oil and gas wells for reuse in hydraulic fracturing.
TETRA CEO Brady Murphy said, "With increasing water volumes required for unconventional completions and increased seismicity events in key sub-surface disposal locations, advanced water recycling solutions for beneficial reuse are a critical industry need. According to Rystad Energy Research, the U.S. will produce close to 23 billion barrels of water from producing oil and gas wells in 2022 with nearly 13 billion barrels being disposed of in saltwater disposal wells (SWDs). Our strategic relationships with KMX and Hyrec will allow us to create new, sustainable markets for produced water, reduce the industry's reliance on disposal and preserve precious fresh water resources.
"Produced water in the U.S. has a very wide range of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and mineral compositions and we are pleased to see the regulatory agencies continuing to make progress on defining allowable discharge limits. Delineating the market and providing a cost-effective solution between the very high TDS levels such as those found in the Permian Basin from those with mid-to-low TDS levels, is the best way to effectively address the total market.
"For very high produced water TDS levels, we have found the KMX vacuum membrane distillation technology to be best in class for cost effective treatment to beneficial reuse water. At the mid-to-lower TDS levels, we have found the Hyrec reverse osmosis technology to be similarly best in class for cost effectiveness, desirable water quality and volumes. These solutions along with our extensive water and flowback services will allow us to meet the growing challenges that oil and gas operators are facing with consuming fresh water and injecting produced water into saltwater disposal wells. Although these exclusive license agreements are specific to oil and gas produced water beneficial reuse, we believe both KMX and HYREC technologies could also be effective for our planned lithium extraction and production process in Arkansas.
"Last year we recycled over a billion gallons of produced water for frac reuse while in parallel investing heavily in R&D efforts, including third party technologies, to develop economically viable alternatives to disposal. We are very excited to introduce these innovative technologies, which we believe can make a material impact for the oil and gas industry by preserving fresh water as well as expanding beneficial reuse applications to other markets."
