Smart membranes for treatment of produced water

G2O Water Technologies Limited was established in 2015 to deliver graphene-based membrane coatings that significantly reduce the cost and environmental impact of water treatment. The product applications include desalination, industrial wastewater treatment, processed water treatment and domestic water filtration systems.

G2O are based in the UK at the Daresbury Sci-Tech Park, and occupy a state-of-the-art laboratory incorporating extensive capabilities for design, development and testing of membranes.

This project builds on a previous iUK funded project (project number 102538 - Smart Filter), delivering a transformational filtration solution for the oil industry that will significantly reduce the cost and environmental impact of oil production. During extraction of crude oil, 3 barrels of contaminated wastewater are produced with every barrel of oil (ca. 12 trillion litres per annum).

The Produced Water must be purified before it can be reinjected into the well, discharged into the local water table or utilised for other processes. Current methods of purification are energy intensive, time consuming and use vast quantities of hazardous chemicals. Membrane filtration systems have the potential to resolve these issues.

However, current membranes are generally unsuitable for removing oil from water, fouling rapidly and quickly becoming wholly ineffective, so are not widely used. G2O's patent protected technology has the capability to transform this, enabling membrane filtration to be utilised, with results in the previous iUK funded project illustrating membranes treated with G2O coatings are highly effective in separating oil and water mixtures and maintain peak performance throughout the operational cycle.

G2O will be working with strategic partners to be bring this transformational technology to market and deliver significant reductions in the cost and environmental impact of Produced Water treatment.