State-of-the-Art Summary

Weatherbee Pump—W&W Vacuum & Compressors, Inc. is developing a novel type of variable capacity compressor/pump for low productivity gas production operations. The new compressor has 4 rotating chambers, which provides 4 intake and 4 exhaust strokes in each 360 degree rotation. The pump has no wasted motion as two chambers are loading while two chambers are unloading. All of the pump volume is swept as there are no corners or "dead places" for fluid or pressure to get trapped. The pump has a capacity control mechanism which allows the flow rate of the device to be varied to meet increased or decreased demands without changing the rotation rate of the drive shaft. The pump functions equally well whether rotating clockwise or counterclockwise, can be mounted in any position without affecting normal operations and can handle high BTU gas. The pump is substantially smaller and lighter compared to existing products on the market. For more information contact Paul Weatherbee at 325-695-4637 or e-mail at wildcattr@aol.com.

Chemical Injector for Plunger Lift Gas Wells—Composite Engineers, Inc. has developed a simple, economical chemical system that requires no special tools to install, no service rig and no downtime. The Plunger-Conveyed Chemical System consists of a modified plunger identical to the one presently being used and a chemical chamber located on the top of the lubricator. The system has 5 moving parts, most of which are in the chemical chamber located on top of the well. Chemical applications can be adjusted just as with any other well being treated. A standard oilfield chemical pump charges the chemical chamber with any liquid chemical such as corrosion inhibitors, foaming agents or paraffin solvents or even a combination of chemicals, alternately. The modified plunger, i.e., pad, brush, wobble washer, solid or snake of any length, is available with this system. The entire system can be installed in about 15 minutes without special tools. The system does not change the plunger performance or well characteristics and is field proven and economical. For more information contact Sam Farris at 405-990-9728 or e-mail at samfarris@compositeengineersinc.com.

Oilfield Brine Desalination Trailer—Texas A&M University has developed a mobile produced brine desalination unit to test onsite the efficiency of produced brine cleanup. The unit tests the performance of key processes used to cleanup the brine and measures electrical power usage, a major cost factor of reverse osmosis desalination. The desalination unit can process approximately 20,000 gallons of water per day and can recover from 2,000 gallons to 10,000 gallons of fresh water per day, depending on the salinity of the input feed water. Effective purification of impaired water requires the removal of contaminants in steps rather than at one time. The system utilizes a series of discrete cleaning steps, field proven in other industries, to purify the water. For more information contact Dave Burnett at 979-845-2274 or e-mail at d-burnett@spindletop.tamu.edu.

Low Cost Real Time Downhole Wireless Gauge—Tubel Technologies, Inc. has developed a new downhole wireless gauge that addresses the needs of oil and gas producers for a simple system to automate and optimize the hydrocarbon production. The system eliminates cables, clamps and splices inside the wellbore, increasing reliability, lowering costs and reducing significantly the time required for deployment of the completion system in the well. The tool currently monitors temperature and pressure, but additional parameters can be added. This new technology can be used both in permanent and service applications. For example, in frac service applications, the wireless gauge provides pressure and temperature data in real time allowing the operator to adjust its frac parameters during the job to prevent formation damage and to optimize the frac process.