Cavitation Technologies, Inc., specializes in development of advanced cavitation-based fluid processing systems. Their core innovation is the hydrodynamic cavitation Nano Reactor®, which has broad usage, including applications that may help to cost-effectively mitigate some of the industry’s produced water problems.
DAVID LAVIGNE, Trickle Research
Based in Chatsworth, Calif., Cavitation Technologies, Inc. (“CTi”). CTi designs and builds advanced, highly specialized, multi-stage, robust, flow-through cavitation devices, reactors and systems to serve the diverse needs of both large-scale plants and small-scale producers. The versatility of the company’s devices and the flexibility of their designs will meet the most stringent process requirements.
CTi’s patent-pending technologies and patented flow-through multi-stage Nano Reactor® devices exhibit both superior performance and remarkable reproducibility. The systems currently commercialized by CTi may find many valuable, unique and environmentally friendly applications.”
AT THE CORE OF THE TECHNOLOGY
CTi's core technology encompasses the utilization of hydrodynamic cavitation. Hydrodynamic cavitation can be achieved by passing the liquid through a constricted zone at sufficient velocity and onsets after the static pressure of the liquid has decreased to the saturated vapor pressure, Fig. 1. The important characteristics of applied cavitation are the number of cavitation events in a flow unit, and the surface tension and the size of bubbles, which range from ten nanometers to a few microns or even larger in diameter.
The collapse of the bubbles results in a localized significant increase in pressure and temperature. The combination of elevated pressure and temperature, along with vigorous mixing supplied by the hydrodynamic cavitation, triggers and accelerates numerous reactions and processes. Each bubble can be described as an independent miniature reactor, in which chemical and physical alterations take place. The further transformations result from the reactions and processes occurring in the adjacent layers of vapor/liquid. While extreme pressure or heat can be unfavorable, the outcome of controlled cavitation-assisted processing has been shown to be exceptionally beneficial.”
As noted, contrary to the company’s technology, cavitation has been a problem for some industries. For instance, cavitation is an unintended consequence for moving parts in water or other submersed processes. Boat propellers are often compromised by cavitation that occurs, as a result of the agitation of the water in and around the propeller, which creates the type of cavitated bubbles described above. Parts damaged by cavitation are often pitted/eroded by the considerable pressure that is released when cavitation bubbles burst, and the released energy/pressure is absorbed by the propeller. Actually, the process is a bit analogous (although not precisely) to thunder but on a nano-scale. CTI has effectively developed technology that is able to create, control and consistently duplicate cavitation reactions that can be used to facilitate several processes that they believe can be (are) commercialized at scale.
REMEDIATION OF PRODUCED WATER
Historically the company successfully commercialized its technology via the development of high-pressure Nano Reactors® (Fig. 2), which it sold into the edible oil processing industry. From that initial application, the company has developed additional iterations of the technology to address an expanding list of potential applications in a variety of industries. More specifically, over the past few years, the company has focused it efforts on addressing the remediation of produced water from oil and gas recoveries in the Permian basin of Texas and primarily New Mexico.
Hydrodynamic cavitation creates a harsh environment for microorganisms, which makes the process effective for eliminating viruses, bacteria or other pathogens from various water sources, including produced water or other industrial water. Because cavitation “triggers and accelerates numerous reactions and processes,” it is also capable of enhancing the effect of chemicals typically used in these industries to treat brackish water, substantially reducing the amount and, therefore, the cost of utilizing these chemicals. The company has developed multiple configurations of cavitation platforms with varying pressure and flow-through capabilities, which can also be deployed in tandem to scale the process. They also have designed portable iterations of the technology that can be deployed to remote and/or temporary sites.
Some of today’s oil and gas production processes are a water-intensive business. Fracing, for instance, involves the pumping (in some instance millions) of gallons of water down the borehole, along with chemicals and sand, to stimulate the oil/gas-bearing structure to enhance the recovery. In addition, most oil/gas-bearing rock naturally contains water, as well. When these wells flow, that flow includes not only oil and gas but considerable amounts of water, generally referred to as “produced water.” In addition to the produced water, much of the water put down the hole to stimulate the well also flows back to the surface as part of the process. Depending on the geology/formation, produced water and associated “flowback” water often contain a mix of elements (salts, metals, radioactive materials, bacteria, etc.) that can often complicate their mitigation. As a result, disposing of them in a way that does not compromise nearby water sources is paramount to the process.
The disposal of flowback and produced water from oil and gas production is becoming a more acute issue for the industry. As U.S. oil output grows, the surge in produced water is becoming a major operational burden. In Texas alone, more than 40 Bbbls of produced water were generated during 2023. With disposal wells linked to seismic events and increased environmental scrutiny, producers are facing mounting pressure to find safer, more sustainable alternatives.
Further, regulators, state and local officials, environmental groups and individual citizens are all raising growing concerns about the impact of produced water and its disposal on local drinking and recreational water sources, including aquifers and other associated watersheds. The industry has responded with a myriad of (ongoing) solutions aimed at storing, filtering, treating and otherwise trying to mitigate the negative impact of produced water inclusions. That is an ongoing process that is far from perfected, and part of its complexity lies in the differences in the elements contained in produced water from one place to the next. Other complications involve trying to find flow-through and/or other scalable solutions that can be applied (for instance) on-site and perhaps are portable enough to move with production.
Further, the industry is gathering added opposition around its use of water in general, since access to clean water is becoming a bigger issue in many oil and gas producing areas. That factor supports solutions that involve recycling or otherwise reusing water backflow and/or produced water. Again, it is a large and growing problem with no standard solution. Ostensibly, the scrutiny surrounding the problem will almost certainly grow moving forward.
TECHNOLOGY PERFORMANCE
In response to the problems in the industry, CTi has developed a patented, cost-effective and chemical-free solution, Fig. 3. Based on electrolysis, the process dramatically lowers turbidity and reduces Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) from as high as 65,000 ppm to below 2,000 ppm, without using chemicals or filters. This approach not only ensures environmental compliance but significantly lowers operational costs by eliminating consumables, including harsh chemicals that create their own sets of problems. Compact, modular and scalable (from 10 to 500 gal/min.), the system can be deployed at the wellsite or in mobile treatment units. Crucially, the quality of the treated water unlocks new options: it can be safely disposed of or potentially reused in agriculture, offering operators long-term flexibility in regions where water is increasingly seen as a strategic resource.
With over 40 patents, CTi is at the forefront of water innovation in oil and gas. In New Mexico, the company has already treated more than 3 MMbbls of produced water, demonstrating real-world performance in some of the most active areas of the Permian, Fig. 4. The quality achieved through CTi’s treatment not only enables safer disposal, but also opens up future potential for agricultural use, an increasingly attractive proposition in water-stressed regions of the Southwest. WO
DAVID LAVIGNE spent the first 17 years of his career in the financial and investment industry primarily employed by small regional sell-side broker dealers/investment bankers. In 2001, Mr. Lavigne left the sell-side to set up an independent subscription-based microcap research firm called Edgewater Research, where he served as the lead analyst until 2010. Since that time, he has provided research in a similar format under two subsequent labels, including his current company, Trickle Research, which he founded in 2016, and has served as the firm’s senior analyst since its inception. He has published financial newsletters covering both microeconomic and macroeconomic issues.