GE and Statoil have selected four technologies as part of the second Open Innovation Challenge which aims to reduce use of water in onshore oil and gas operations.
The firms analyzed more than 100 proposals from 23 countries before selecting the winners.
The challenge is aimed to develop new solutions to reduce fresh water usage as well as treat and reuse water from shale production activities while improving operational productivity, the firms said.
Clean Energy and Water Technologies, Australia, has developed an integrated technology which initially removes total organic compounds. The remaining compounds are then separated by creating ice crystals through ‘Eutectic freeze crystallization (EFC)’.
Battelle Memorial Institute’s nano-sponge, a gel formed of nanoscale particles is injected into hydraulically fracturing wells to soak up the halite ions. This ensures that the salt deposits don’t damage the equipment.
Micronic Technologies’low-pressure, low-temperature, mechanical evaporation technology, known as MicroDesal, is designed to purify waste water from any source.
University of Rochester developed a technique using high powered lasers to alter the surface of the inner walls of downhole production pipes. This makes a metal surface super water repellent.
GE Oil & Gas CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said: "A focus on technology helped to unlock the shale revolution. Its intense innovation now shared across industries and between companies will ensure shale development continues in the most sustainable, responsible way possible.
"The diversity of solutions and sheer volume of submissions we received show the immense talent and creativity gained."
GE and Statoil will initially award cash prize of $25,000 to each winner following which a discretionary funding pool of $375,000 will be earmarked for co-development activities.
Statoil chief technology officer Elisabeth Birkeland Kvalheim said: "We need to continue to invent new, commercial technologies and models to increase margins, and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint.
"We know that we cannot do this alone – that is why our partnership with GE is also about triggering broader collaboration within and beyond our industry."
Image: The Open Innovation Challenge aims to develop new solutions to reduce the use of water in onshore oil and gas operations. Photo: courtesy of Statoil.