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  • Home
  • About
    • About the Center >
      • The Next Generation of Shale Gas
    • Our Team
    • SGICC News / Press Releases
  • Partners & Advisors
    • Institutional Partners
    • Research Partners
  • Funding Opportunities
    • 2017 Shale Gas Innovation Contest
    • Technology Showcase 2017
    • DCED Grant Award >
      • DCED Grant White Papers
      • Grant Award Announcement Doc
    • Funding through the BFTP Program
    • Archived Contests >
      • 2016 Shale Gas Innovation Contest
      • Technology Showcase 2015
      • 2015 Shale Gas Innovation Contest >
        • 2015 Innovation Contest & Workshop
      • 2014 DCED Grant Summary & Results
      • 2014 Innovation Contest
      • 2013 Innovation Contest
      • 2012 Innovation Contest Results
      • 2011 Innovation Workshop Presentations
      • SGICC Annual Environmental Health & Safety Award
  • Research & Reports
  • Our Newsletter

Small Water Treatment Company

In the Spring of 2010, the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership CNP engaged with a small water treatment company located in Franklin, PA.  The company had developed a new method for treating the frac water effluent from Marcellus wells that dramatically reduced the amount of dissolved solids in the water.  Presently, most of this waste water is diluted to an acceptable level by discharging it into a larger water flow like a river.  At the moment, the scale of Marcellus activity, which has not yet reached its peak, is approaching the limit of available water flows to dilute the water to safe, acceptable levels.  Without another approach, the waste water will have to be transported to other areas, stored, or treated with expensive methods.

This company in Franklin may have found at least a partial solution to this problem.  They remove the solids in a separate treatment and disposal process, leaving much “cleaner” water that requires a substantially smaller volume of water to dilute for discharge.  If the technology proves feasible, it could greatly expand the amount of drilling that existing water supplies in the Commonwealth could support, i.e. allowing more of this “cleaned” frac water be introduced into waterways without harming the environment or exceeding safety limits.  Presently, the company has the technology working on bench scale.  Ben Franklin is assisting the company in moving to pilot scale by sponsoring the development of a pilot plant and verification testing of the resulting products and waste water.

About ben franklin technology partners

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Ben Franklin Technology Partners/CNP, an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, provides investment capital, operational assistance, and entrepreneurial support to emerging tech-based companies and small, existing manufacturers for the purpose of creating and retaining jobs in Pennsylvania.

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William Hall, Executive Director
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(814) 863-4881
Email Bill