Liberty Oilfield Services will conduct the trials at various well sites throughout the Bakken formation. The trials are expected to last at least six months. These field tests follow months of successful in-house testing, as well as extensive tests at the fabrication facility earlier this quarter.
The field tests will include deployment of the VorTeq system to a live well site for testing under production conditions. The core of the VorTeq hydraulic pumping system is Energy Recovery’s PX Pressure Exchanger® technology, which is already in use in more than 15,000 desalination installations worldwide.
The VorTeq is the first product engineered to increase runtime and reduce maintenance costs by rerouting abrasive, proppant-laden frac fluid away from existing hydraulic fracturing pumps, such that these pumps only process clean water, and therefore last significantly longer.
Energy Recovery President and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Joel Gay stated, “We are excited to move forward in the next stage of development of VorTeq, which is an evolution of our existing PX technology to target a substantial addressable market. We will continue to work closely with Liberty Oilfield Services and anticipate being very deliberate in our approach. A successful field trial process will require a methodical testing process and engineering excellence to optimise the design of the product prior to full commercialisation. We designed the product to fill a necessary market need while providing a significant value proposition to customers in the hydraulic fracking business. We feel that this value proposition will remain attractive throughout all pricing cycles for active frac service providers by allowing substantial cost savings and addressing the very real problem of regular pump failure. We are very pleased with the development process of the VorTeq to date and look forward to continuing this momentum.”
Ron Gusek, Vice President of Technology and Development at Liberty Oilfield Services, said, “For the past ten years I’ve been thinking about a way to avoid pumping sand through our high pressure pumps. During the last several months, I’ve been seeing this come to fruition with the development of VorTeq. The field tests, which include testing at a live well site, are not only the culmination of months of collaboration with Energy Recovery, but for me, the solution to a critical problem in our work that has challenged the industry for years.”