INTERVIEW Drill-site efficiencies with innovative lubricant purification Peter Canovali, CEO, Next Generation Filtration Systems This week we interview Peter Canovali, CEO of Next Generation Filtration Systems, and talk about their lubricating fluids purification system. Shortlisted for the Ben Franklin Shale Innovation Awards, the Conserver purification system is a highly advanced two-stage system that continuously cleans oil and hydraulic fluid and keeps fluids like new for an almost limitless period of time.
Monica Thomas (Shale Gas International): Next Generation Filtration Systems was recently shortlisted in the Ben Franklin Shale Innovation Awards for its purification system for lubricating fluids. To begin with can you explain, for the non-technical among us, why are lubricating fluids used in the first place? Peter Canovali (CEO, Next Generation Filtration Systems): Lubricating fluids are used in equipment that is either rotating or stationary. So lubricating fluids in engines, for example, keep the wear and tear down and prevent valuable parts of the engine from wearing out. In hydraulic situations, lubricating hydraulic fluid keeps the servo-mechanisms in the valves from losing their efficiency, which can cause the equipment to fail. Bad lubricating systems can create major problems with equipment, and if you look around, everything in equipment that moves or moves things has lubricating fluid in it.
MT: So what causes the lubricating fluids to wear out? PC: Well, first you have to understand that oil itself really doesn’t wear out; it gets dirty. Within the
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fluid there are certain contaminants that will make the oil dirty and affect the usefulness of that lubricating fluid. Through our research we found the main contaminants and catalysts that would destroy the lubricating fluids.
MT: So what would be the main contaminant? PC: Water is the major, most damaging contaminant and catalyst that can be introduced to lubricating fluids. Inherent within the oil itself you have sulphur and salt, and when you have combustion within an engine, water can emulsify with the sulphur and salt to form hydrochloric or sulphuric acid. Water also emulsifies itself with the additives and depletes them, so our system was designed to do something that other systems don’t do and that was to evaporate the moisture from the lubricating fluid.
MT: And how does your system differ from those currently in use? PC: The industry standard today is to use filters that work by way of absorption, so what they try to do is to absorb the water that’s existing in the oil. They do it to a point where they are picking up what is called ‘free water’, where emulsified water continues to flow through. It’s hard to determine the capacity they really have to take the water, and therefore, they’re changing fluid on a basis that is detrimental to the equipment they are working in. Basically, those filters are doing two things: they are absorbing water but they are also absorbing oil. So what’s detrimental about it is that they have to then take those filters and try to remove the oil from the filter elements before sending them to a landfill. Our process gets rid of the water, we don’t see any sense in trying to save or absorb it. Our system simply wants to get rid of the water, evaporate it, so that it’s no longer having an effect on the life efficiencies of both the oil itself and the equipment. They extend the We can reduce maintenance drainage period of the oil dramatically. costs dramatically, increase the By keeping the oil and hydraulic fluid life-efficiency of the oil and the clean and free of water, we’re providing equipment better than anything else extended efficiencies of both the that is in the market today. lubricating fluid and the equipment itself.
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The real point is: you can either get rid of the water or you can contend with trying to absorb the water and still having it existing within your systems.
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MT: So you have a completely different approach because you remove the water before it becomes a problem.? PC: Exactly, because water reduces the life of the oil. It will damage the bearings, cause corrosion, oxidation, it depletes additives, the viscosity is lost and the total base number of the oil is declined. By removing the water we can increase the life efficiency of the engine and of the equipment. Whether it’s a reservoir, gearbox or a fan, whether it is running off diesel fuel or compressed natural gas; we’re going to increase the life efficiency of the equipment by 50 to 75 percent, by reducing these dangerous contaminants.
MT: From what I’ve read your solutions are also kinder to the environment than the traditional methods of filtration. Can you tell us more about the environmental benefits of this system? PC: That’s true; we are very green-orientated. The dumping of used-oil based fluids is a major contributor to the destruction of the eco-system. Oil concentrations as small as one part per million can contaminate drinking water supplies for fifty families for a year. And as far as harmful effects on animals and food-supply, it’s dramatic. Because our Conserver Purification System extends the drainage period of these fluids users are therefore buying less fossil fuels and they’re disposing of less fossil fuels. So the Conserver System is not only eco-friendly, it’s an eco-advocate. MT: You said that it evaporates the water; can you tell us a bit more about the whole purification process and how these systems work? PC: We have two types of systems that we offer. The first is strictly an evaporation system for use where there is not a major particulate problem. When there is a major particulate problem, as in combustion engines and such, we have a two-stage system. The first stage is a micro-glass filter that attracts only the particulates and does not absorb or hold on to any oil. The oil flows through that micro-glass filter and up into our evaporation chamber, the second stage. The evaporation chamber effectively passes the oil through our patented system over an evaporating cone where the oil is thinned out and the water and moisture is evaporated. At that point the now clean oil is exited out of the system and returned back to the reservoir of the equipment. Our systems are very simplistic and can handle anything from five gallons up to thousands of gallons, there are no movable parts in it so they have a lifetime warranty and the water and vapour that is exited out of the system can either by collected or burned off.
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MT: That sounds fantastic. What would you say are the efficiencies introduced by your solution? PC: With lubricating fluids on large trucks for example, over the last seven years our systems have extended the drainage period to 250-300 thousand miles without an oil change. Within the industrial side we’re extending hydraulic systems almost endlessly, and extending the drainage period of lubricating systems by working 24/7.
MT: For a drilling company to adopt your systems, would they just need to purchase the equipment and what would be the benefit to them? PC: Yes, we’ve got an engineering side and instructions on how to install them. For complex needs our engineering team can help design a system that best fits the requirements of the equipment, our systems can be designed in a variety of ways to meet the challenge of the rig site, all we need to do is to see the site, see the challenge, and our engineers can adapt a system that will continue to purify the fluid. And, again, we see our systems not only being applicable at the drill site but also at the compression stations, where you have compressors and turbines. I think we can reduce maintenance costs dramatically, increase the life-efficiency of the oil and the equipment better than anything else that is in the market today. Our concentration is keeping the equipment that’s at the site working efficiently, even after a drilling site has been established. Our ability to keep the fluid clean and dry saves time and energy and cuts the maintenance costs of having somebody out there on a continuing basis, changing fluids within the operating equipment they have. So anything that’s at the drill site that has oil or any type of lubricating fluid in it; our systems will extend the life efficiency therefore reducing the maintenance cost and increasing the efficiency of the equipment on a 24/7 basis.
MT: And obviously now with prices of crude and natural gas being where they are, efficiencies in the shale industry, in the upstream especially, are very important. Do you think that the drive for efficiencies at the rig-site will have an impact on where you take your business? PC: I’d say that because of the price drop now in oil and gas, companies have to look at their operating overheads, and we’re going to reduce and continue to reduce their maintenance costs. And when the price gets to a point where all of a sudden companies are back into business, we’re going to continue to extend efficiency which will reduce the amount of eventual equipment failure that they may have and the loss of production. So in either case, we are the answer to a problem or to a dilemma with operating equipment. Published: 29th June, 2015
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