Our first contributor to the interview series is UV and water treatment expert Paul Hennessey, as Oil & Gas Business Manager for Evoqua, Paul works across the Sales, Process & Applications Engineering and Business Development disciplines to provide a range of standardised and bespoke water treatment solutions to the oil, gas and petrochemical industry.

….More details surrounding their contribution to the UV industry can be found in the Q&A below.

Interested in contributing to the series? Contact us today…

Our first contributor to the interview series is Oil & Gas Business Manager and UV expert, Paul Hennessey.

Q1. Can you begin by telling us about the Oil & Gas sector now atg are part of Evoqua?

We remain a specialist UK manufacturer of UV disinfection systems and advanced water treatment packages. Specialising in Oil, Gas and Energy applications, we are often described as a ‘boutique engineering company’ as we excel in new research, bespoke equipment designs and solution engineering.

Q2. What is Evoqua’s strategy behind the recent acquisition?

Evoqua’s business strategy is global expansion into chemical free disinfection. Having already been a licenced manufacturer of our technology through their ETS-UV product line, atg Evoqua adds to their portfolio and allows the company to expand their global reach. For the oil and gas sector, we now have access to significantly more technology lines and water treatment expertise that exist in the Evoqua Water Technologies portfolio. In addition, Evoqua’s international presence will allow us to expand our operations on a greater global scale than previously achievable.

Q3. What is the main service atg Evoqua offers the Oil & Gas industry?

UV systems are widely used on offshore platforms to deliver safe drinking water to the crew. More recently, atg Evoqua have carried out pioneering research and supplied bespoke UV packages for seawater disinfection and produced water reuse, providing a chemical free alternative for treating water used in applications such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and hydraulic fracturing for shale gas.

Q4. What’s a typical day like at atg Evoqua?

We specialise in providing solutions to problems, often where there is no easy answer and very high specification requirements. Typical days involve managing lots of cross departmental work, researching water chemistry and microbiology challenges and then working with our engineering disciplines and partners. This ensures we can establish the right technology options andelectrical and mechanical engineering requirements in order develop the perfect, tailored solution for our clients.

Q5. What’s been your proudest company highlight / project to date?

My own personal highlight was developed through a Joint Industry Partnership with a large oil and gas operator. From the research and pilot trials we undertook, I was subsequently invited to join a Parliamentary Technical Working Group, that including briefing Cabinet Ministers and Secretaries of State regarding best available techniques for water management in the onshore oil and gas industry as part of the governments overview of regulations and industry guidance.

Q6. How have you seen the UV industry evolve over the past years?

Since starting in the UV industry in 2008, I have seen a big shift in investment decision making away from a purely CAPEX based decision modelto a OPEX and TOTEX evaluation model. With the current low oil price environment, operators are keen to evaluate technology options on their whole life cost basis and its ability to lower overall production costs. As such,atg Evoqua have been involved in many new R&D projects and product development initiatives to improve the efficiency of our equipment and reduced holistic operational costs.

Q7. What are the USP’s of UV vs other available technologies?

UV is a chemical free disinfection technique that does not leave any residual compounds in the water, however unlike chemicals, UV is also non-selective in its disinfection ability, with all known microorganisms being susceptible to UV treatment, including chlorine and biocide resistant strains such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia. In oil and gas, there is significant focus on Sulphate Reducing Bacteria (SRB) reduction. With over 220 strains of SRB’s, that under the right conditions can double their numbers every 20 minutes, the potential for natural genetic mutation is very high and sees SRB strains become tolerant or immune to biocides after short periods of time. As UV disinfection acts at a DNA level, destroying the Thymine stand of the DNA which prevents replication, the opportunity for genetic mutation is denied and no immunity to UV disinfection is likely to occur.

Q8. How are Oil & Gas companies’ future proof their businesses?

More and more clients are reducing their chemical use and adopting technologies such as UV disinfection due to concerns over rising costs and changing regulations. Investment in green technologies and ‘Best Available Techniques’ are likely to become a requirement in the future, so early investment that delivers a greater ROI is a smart choice that many operatorsare already making.

Q9. What’s the next thing you anticipate for the industry?

UV has widely been used for drinking water and seawater disinfection, however as operators increase the use of produced water reinjection, its anticipated that UV disinfection and UV based Advanced Oxidation will emerge as a final polish technique for produced water reinjection solutions. With this in mind, atg Evoqua have already started several pilot trials on treating produced water and flowback water for both reinjection and also environmental discharge.

Products

Designed and manufactured by our specialist Oil & Gas team in Lancashire, UK, atg Evoqua offer a range of turn-key, packaged solutions for both the onshore and offshore oil and gas industry, including ATEX & IE CEX Hazardous Area designs. UV systems, along with pumps, filters, valves, pipework and dosing equipment is typically installed on a custom design skid frame or DNV certified shipping container.