A new funding opportunity is making $5 million in federal funding for research and development available for treatment technologies for produced water.
The May 13 announcement from the Energy Department said up to four projects will be selected to advance the development and commercialization of treatment technologies that cut waste water and increase freshwater supplies. These projects will be managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory.
The effort will produce prototypes and reports that will detail engineering designs and a techno-economic justification for bolstering commercial produced water treatment processes that can drastically slash the volume of water that relies on deep well disposal and create a supply of freshwater for regional users.
This initiative support the goal of the Water Security Grand Challenge to transform the energy sector’s produced water from a waste to a resource.