Original subtitles

[narrator] On Tomorrow's World Today we explore the cutting edge advances

that are shaping four different worlds.

The world of inspiration,

where the wonders of the natural world amaze and inspire us.

The world of creation, where ideas come to life from traditional arts.

The world of innovation, where ideas and inventions move us all forward.

The world of production,

where innovations are mass-produced to improve our lives.

From Inventionland world headquarters,

here's your host, George Davison.

Hi, everyone. I'm George Davison.

And on this episode of Tomorrow's World Today,

we're gonna visit the world of innovation

to explore advances in sustainability.

Now you've probably heard of the word fracking.

It's the process where sand, water and chemicals

are injected underground at very high pressures

to crack open rock layers and to release oil or gas that's trapped inside.

Now, did you know that since 2005

fracking in the United States has used over 239 billion gallons of water?

That's enough water to fill over 360,000 Olympic size swimming pools.

And the average well uses about three million gallons of water.

The water usage is one of the reasons so many people

have opposed fracking in the past.

Many consumers were worried that water was being wasted.

But the truth is innovations in the hydraulic fracturing process

have completely changed what happens to the water that's drilled.

It's no longer being wasted.

Most people don't know that companies are actually reusing the water

during the fracking process,

which makes it a much more sustainable practice.

Don't believe me?

Well, I'm gonna send Greg to the world of innovation

to explore the advances that have been made with fracking

and sustainable water development.

[Greg Costantino] When you hear the words

hydraulic fracturing or fracking,

you probably think of oil and gas production.

What you might not think about is water.

But as we just learned from George, this process uses a lot of it.

Now, what we're looking at is what's known as produced water.

It's a by product of the fracking process.

Now, this could contain drilling fluids, uh, small rocks, sand,

particulate matter, maybe some oil from the drilling location.

All a part of the drilling process.

And for many, many years, most of the industry felt that this could not be reused.

But, the truth is that the life cycle of produced water

has many different, complex stages and they're all interconnected.

And the drilling and completion phase

is really just the beginning of that life cycle.

That's why we're here, in Carlsbad, New Mexico,

to find out how this becomes this.

This pipeline, this infrastructure put in place by NGL,

has already taken a considerable number of trucks off the road.

And it really is the heart of the reuse and recycling system for the produced water.

Let's meet now with Ryan Hall.

He's the director of operations for NGL Energy Partners.

So, Ryan, this really is the spot where things get going.

Tell me what I'm looking at.

All right, so what you're looking at

is what we refer to as the first wide spot in the line.

So the water comes from the operator's wells, through the pipelines

into any number of facilities just like this.

We have about 80 of these in the Permian.

And what you're looking at is a special set of tanks

that kind of does the first cut of separations from the water.

This is our sand tank.

We're adding some specialty chemistry in the front end of it,

uh, where the solid and particulate matter settles out of the sand tank.

And then through that line right there, it goes into, uh,

what we locally refer to as a gun barrel,

uh, but it's really an oil/water separation tank.

The oil flows out the front line, into these skim oil tanks here

and then the water continues on down into the next set of tanks.

Would you like me to show you?

-Absolutely. -[Hall] All right, let's continue on.

[Costantino] Well, Ryan, I guess this is

kind of the end stage for this facility.

[Hall] Yes, sir, this is the back end of the facility.

This where any oil, slop oil, that's recovered can be trucked out.

Uh, you can see the last of the water tanks where it's equalized

and it goes into this header manifold and the charge pumps.

Then it goes into this series of filter pods,

where any remaining particulate matter is removed.

From there we're adding this scale inhibitor chemistry

and then it goes back into this pipeline.

The pipeline goes underground for several miles

and the next stop is our state line booster.

[Costantino] So this is quite a facility that you've put together

out here in the middle of the New Mexico desert.

This is kind of stage two, so initial separation of oil

and the produced water has happened.

And the produced water is coming into this facility.

What's happening to it at this point?

Thank you, it's hard to tell from looking at this,

but we're processing about 350,000 barrels of water a day

through, uh, what you see going on right here.

So if you trace the line further up that direction

it comes from the operator's wells and it goes to a series

of our facilities where we do the first cut of cleanup.

And then that oil-free water is collected and sent further on down the line

through these, uh, types of lines here.

It's sent to the next facility for additional treatment.

Okay, so that's what takes it from that murky brown liquid that we saw

and over to that clearer water that we also looked at earlier.

Yes, sir, that's the first step in the recycle process.

-Would you like to come with me to see the next step? -Yes, I would.

Okay, let's go.

So, Ryan, I guess this is the, uh, next stop in the chain here.

Where are we?

So we are at our McCoy Recycle facility, our McCoy Ranch.

If you remember, the water's coming from the operator's wells

into the pipelines to our various SWD facilities.

From there, we do an initial amount of treatment,

then it goes back into the pipelines

to the booster station that we were at, at state line.

And then it comes here.

And this is basically a big jar.

[Hall] It is a big jar.

In fact, the last one in line that you saw,

this is about 40,000 barrels of water.

How many of these do you have on this site?

We have two, we have this one and then we have another one down there.

Can I take a look up there?

Be my guest.

Oh, my.

[Hall] Not what you were expecting, huh?

[Costantino] Not exactly, no.

So, uh, can I offer you a drink?

-I think I'm gonna pass on that. -I don't blame you.

Tell me a little bit more about what I'm looking at here.

[Hall] Well, this is, essentially, that last jar in line.

This is a really big version of it.

And it's important that we have these for two reasons.

Number one, to allow all the water to equalize.

So from a chemical standpoint, it makes it easier to treat.

All of the differences in the water that might happen over time

are able to balance out in here.

And from a surge standpoint.

So we can continuously pump and they can continuously treat.

How much actually goes through here in a day?

Uh, we flip this about twice a day.

Wow, that's a lot of liquid.

Both of these, yup.

So it goes right from here to XRI. Can you show me XRI?

Right behind you.

This is XRI and let me introduce you to Chris Harich.

And he can take you through their part of the process.

[Costantino] Sounds great.

So that wraps up NGL's portion,

I'm gonna leave you with Chris and he can talk about what they do.

Sounds great, thanks, Ryan.

All right, thank you, I'm gonna get back into the field.

Okay, Chris.

Hey, Greg, how are you?

[Costantino] Doing great, great to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

All right, XRI is on deck, tell me what it is you guys do.

Yeah, so this is the largest produced water recycling site in the whole Permian Basin.

Here we take NGL's water and we clean it up through the machinery behind you.

[Costantino] All right, so their material comes in,

goes into this massive pipe system that I see here.

So there's a lot of moving parts

and I want you to take me through it step by step.

Right, so first thing we do is we take the water from NGL,

we take it through these pumps and we run to this meter over here.

-Show me how it works. -You bet, let's do it.

So, Greg, there's the meter that we pump all the water through.

[Costantino] What exactly is that meter telling you?

So here, we're trying to measure all the water,

so we know how much chemistry that we add to the system

to get the impurities back out of the water.

So each of these vats has a different chemical in it that's a part of your process

to get those solids out of the water.

Right, so every day, every week,

that's highly variable and it's changing quite a bit.

So we have to change the chemistries to remove all those impurities.

Okay, so everything heads through this pretty massive pipe system and ends up where?

Right, so it moves all through the pipes and then it goes into the DAF.

[Costantino] What is the DAF?

The DAF is a dissolved air flotation unit.

Can you show that to me?

Absolutely, let's go look at it.

[Costantino] So, Chris, this is the DAF.

[Harich] Greg, this is the DAF.

[Costantino] What does the DAF do?

So this is the dissolved air flotation unit.

So the water comes in the side, that we showed you down below

and this is where the chemistry, the actual coagulants, flocculants,

and oxidants get all mixed and try

to pull the impurities out of the water.

How exactly do they do that?

[Harich] The air bubbles that are coming up through the DAF

are actually trying to sink the heavy things to the bottom.

We suck those sludges out, put them in the sludge tank.

The things that are lighter will actually form a froth and float to the top

and then we skim those light particles off

and dump them into the sludge box,

they too go to the sludge tank.

[Costantino] I'm really fascinated by the fact

that the clear water, the cleaner water

actually comes out of the middle.

Right, so the clear water will actually move through the middle part of the DAF

and come into the clear water well here.

And so this is where we test and we're able to see how clear the water is.

[Costantino] Okay, so it goes from here into this

and it's held here and then what happens to it?

[Harich] So the clear water comes into the clear water storage tanks,

any of the really light stuff will be settled out of these

and then we'll pump it into the pit over there.

[Costantino] And it goes from there right back to the wells?

[Harich] From the pit, we pump it directly

back to the frack to be reused for completions.

All right, well, I know there was, uh, some other chemistry,

some other tests that you wanted to show me.

So why don't we go ahead and take a look at that?

Let's go, it's down in the lab.

So, Chris, I know that because of the shifting

chemistry that you told me about earlier means regular,

frequent testing is really important to maintain a consistent product.

So when you get to that effluent at the end,

that ends up in the pond, it's always the same.

Right, Greg, so what we do is every hour, we're taking a sampler from the AST.

So this is the water that's coming into the system

and then we're looking at the water

that we actually produce and put out into the pond.

Okay.

And then what we do over here is we're actually looking

at the different chemistries that we've mixed,

to make sure that we're getting the best effluent out.

So we look at the AST, which is the really nasty, black water

that was coming into the system.

We're looking at the samples that come into the dissolved air flotation unit, our DAF.

And then we're looking at the surge tank.

Remember that was the pipe that went from the DAF into the surge tank.

And then, finally, we're comparing it

to what we actually put into the pond,

the really nice, clean effluent that we take back to the frack.

So this is the end result and you guys send it back to the wells from there.

Yes, sir, this is the end result.

All right, now I know we're gonna go up there

and take a look at the pond and see it for ourselves,

but I wanna see that sludge tank too.

[Harich] You bet, let's go.

So, this is it.

[Harich] Greg, this is the sludge pit.

This is where the sludge comes off the screw press.

So only 2% of all the waste solids

from everything that we've recycled today actually ends up here.

So 98% of everything that you take in gets recycled and reused.

And reused, back into the frack

and this is the only thing that goes and biodegrades into the landfill.

-Wow, so the rest of it ends up in the pond, right? -Yes, sir.

-Let's go take a look. -Okay.

So, Chris, this is it. This is the end result of all your hard work.

Right, so our team was able to take produced water through the AST,

through the DAF, clean up all the chemicals

that we wanted to get rid of and then have nice, clean effluent

that we eventually put into the pond.

[Costantino] And this is amazing from a water sustainability standpoint.

I mean, this water actually hasn't seen the surface in 250 million years.

Right, what's even more important is we're gonna recycle

500,000 barrels for one well just in two days.

And so we have a 12-well vat operation that's gonna go on right now.

And just in that 500,000 barrels, that's 20 million gallons.

That's enough water to supply the houses

of 450 homes throughout the United States in one year.

[Costantino] And I know it's one of your goals to get

at least 50% of the wells here in New Mexico using this process.

Right, we're trying to shift everybody

and just keep raising the bar on how much recycled, produced water we can get

into the oilfield for recompleting of wells.

Right, well, Chris, this has been really great, I really appreciate it,

but I'm really excited about my next stop.

I'm making a deep dive into the Permian Basin.

Exciting.

[Hall] If it wasn't for recycle operations like these,

we would not be able to find sufficient volumes of water

to frack new wells in the Permian Basin.

So, you know, these types of operations are absolutely crucial

to meet America's energy demands going forward.

In this region, where water truly is a limiting factor,

has been historically, this is really

something that can solve multiple problems.

[Costantino] We've learned a lot in this episode

about hydraulic fracturing or fracking

and how it's a great source of natural gas and oil.

Well, as that natural gas and oil is brought out of the ground,

so is a great deal of water.

Now NGL Energy Partners and XRI have gotten together

to make sure that that water doesn't go to waste.

I'm actually standing over a part of the pipeline infrastructure

that NGL put in the ground to get that whole procedure rolling.

I'm also standing on top of the Permian Basin,

which is one of the largest sources of natural gas and oil in the entire world.

It was formed over 250 million years ago

when the asteroid came that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Now, as they decomposed and were buried under

millions of years of rock and sand,

they became what we call fossil fuels.

And we access those now through hydraulic fracturing.

Well, when that hydraulic fracturing happens,

millions and millions of gallons of water come out of the ground

that haven't seen the light of day in 250 million years either.

So it goes through this pipeline,

heads to NGL's initial cleaning process,

then on to the above-ground storage tanks, where XRI takes over,

cleans it even further and then sends it right back here,

which flows through these pipes back to these wells.

These tanks are filled with millions of gallons of produced water

ready to go right back into the ground where they came from.

It's a closed-loop system that has an immense impact on water sustainability.

If XRI and NGL are able to bring together the numbers that they want,

it becomes an environmentally friendly way to access all

of the natural gas and oil we need.

So that brings us to the question.

Where is fracking going in the next 10, 20 or 30 years?

Well, to answer that, we're gonna head back to Inventionland.

Doug White, the executive vice president of NGL Energy Partners,

is about to meet with George.

-Hey, Doug, welcome to Inventionland. -Hey, George.

So what did you bring me today?

Uh, this is produced water from the Permian Basin.

You know, it used to be and ancient seaway.

And when you produce oil, uh, you produce a lot of water.

Over 160 million gallons a day of this water is produced in the Permian.

Jeez, 160 million gallons.

That's a lot of water, Doug, from down deep in the earth.

Yeah, it's been trapped there for millennia.

How about this one, what that on all about?

[White] This one is the recycled water.

-Uh, we use a lot of water in fracking. -Okay.

[White] And we take the produced water

and process it, uh, in a closed-loop system,

so that we can reuse it again and again.

That way we don't have to use the fresh water from sources such as aquafers.

Wow, okay, so it's closed-loop, kind of like that radiator in my car,

where I, you know, I have radiator fluid going

between the radiator and the engine

and I use it again and again and recycle it just like that?

-That's right, that's right. -Huh.

And how about this last one, can I drink that one?

George, you wouldn't want to drink this, don't forget,

it came from that ancient seaway, been trapped underground for millennia.

-Um, very high in salt content. -Okay.

Couldn't put it on the ground, 'cause it would, you know,

kill things because of the salt.

This is an example of our abilities to treat this water

to, um, a quality that could be better than drinking water.

And that's our future.

Interesting.

So there's technology here that you guys are working on then, right?

Are you trying to move that to a drinkable solution one day?

Yep, better than drinking water quality, actually.

What we're working on is innovative technologies

in which to scale on an economic basis.

The 160 million gallons a day, treat that and put it on the ground.

We can feed cattle with it, we can grow crops.

Um, anywhere oil is produced, water is produced.

Um, and if we can get there to be able to do this

economically and on great scale,

even places like Saudi Arabia could be irrigating the land.

Jeez, that's a huge accomplishment if you can pull that off.

[White] It is.

Well, if you do, that's tomorrow's world today.

-Thanks for coming in, Doug. -Thanks, George.

Thank you for joining us for another episode of Tomorrow's World Today.

I'm your host, George Davison, reminding you that inspiration is the source for new ideas.

What will you do with yours for tomorrow's world today?

Goodbye, everybody.