Novel biosurfactant additives from Locus Bio-Energy Solutions provide 70+% faster filtration and higher skim oil recovery at a fraction of the dosage rate and cost
HOUSTON (June 16, 2022) Locus Bio-Energy Solutions® is answering the oil & gas industry’s need for economical solutions to increase the efficiency of saltwater disposal (SWD). The oil innovation company today announced the launch of FloBoost®, a line of biosurfactant-based SWD injectivity aids designed to reduce costs, boost performance and maximize skim oil recovery. The novel additives increase water injectivity rates in SWDs by 70+% compared to conventional injectivity aids.
Regulatory Restrictions Are Creating A Need for Higher Saltwater Disposal Efficiency
On average, 7.5 barrels of salt water are produced for every barrel of oil. And every million cubic feet of natural gas produced in the US produces 260 barrels of saltwater. Disposing of this water presents significant challenges for the roughly 170,000 water injection wells across the country. New regulations and restrictions in certain areas are funneling larger saltwater disposal demands onto fewer disposal wells, requiring higher injection volumes per well.
Many operators turn to chemical solutions, such as acid and surfactant combinations, to increase the injectable water volume of a disposal well often with only short-lived efficacy.
FloBoost Injectivity Aids Enhance SWD Efficiency and Reduce Costs
FloBoost SWD injectivity aids are new multifunctional chemistries that can be applied alone or in combination with acids. They feature biosurfactants produced from naturally occurring, biodegradable starting materials. The novel additives have unique mechanisms of action that control iron and scale, boost injection rate efficacy and increase skim oil recovery better than traditional injectivity aids.
In throughput testing with a high-solids Permian SWD water sample, FloBoost demonstrated 70+% faster filtration rate compared to conventional chemical additives.
“FloBoost injectivity aids are the first launch in Locus Bio-Energy’s Boost line of biosurfactant-based additives. The line is designed to enhance the efficacy of key upstream and midstream oilfield applications, starting with saltwater disposal” says Dr. Megan Pearl, Director of Technology at Locus Bio-Energy Solutions. “The main goal in SWD wells is to inject more water at the same or lower pressure. FloBoost does exactly that—with better pricing and results.”
FloBoost injectivity aids address the largest SWD challenges. They have proven success in:
Reducing injection pressures.
FloBoost injectivity aids keep a range of solids dispersed in the saltwater to maximize injection volumes at lower injection pressures, with significant power cost savings.
Increasing permeability through filter cakes.
FloBoost dissolves and penetrates existing filter cakes on the formation wall, increasing effective permeability and saltwater injection rates.
Preventing emulsion formation and blockage.
FloBoost additives outperform conventional surfactants in preventing downhole emulsion formation and pore blockages that can limit water injection volumes.
Recovering more skim oil.
FloBoost minimizes filter change frequency and maximizes skim oil recovery for additional field profitability.
“With its combined ability to reduce disposal costs, increase efficiency and provide additional profit from recovered oil, FloBoost is ideally positioned to be the superior injectivity aid of choice for all SWD operations,” Pearl said.
FloBoost is available now for distribution across top U.S. oil basins. The injectivity aids have a target cost of 1-3 cents per barrel of treated water. For more information or to become a distributor, visit locusfs.com/.