Industries
Produced-water treatment and flotation enhancement.
Nanobubble produced water treatment introduces gas cavities under 200 nm carrying a strong negative zeta potential. That charge binds them to dispersed oil droplets and fine solids too small to rise in a conventional induced-gas cell, so those fractions leave with the skimmed layer instead of the discharge. NanoMAR publishes 80 %+ suspended-matter removal, 50 %+ turbidity reduction and 40 %+ higher oxygen transfer. Nothing is dosed, so no chemical residue enters the slop.
In produced-water treatment, nanobubbles carry a strong negative zeta potential that binds them to fine oil droplets and suspended solids, floating them for separation and cleaner discharge. NanoMAR publishes 80 %+ suspended-matter removal and 50 %+ turbidity reduction.
Flotation reaches the dispersed fraction a conventional induced-gas cell misses, and conditioning dose can be stepped down under measurement — though a tight emulsion may still need a chemical break.
Produced water is the largest stream a field handles, and its share grows as the reservoir ages: free and dispersed oil, emulsified droplets held by production chemistry, formation fines, corrosion products, scale, dissolved H2S.
Wells get choked back to whatever the water side can take, and deferred production is the largest number on that bill. Under it sit chemical spend per cubic metre, slop to ship, filters blinding early, injectivity lost downhole.
Flotation is a probability problem: a droplet must meet a bubble, attach, and hold on as it rises. An induced-gas cell plays those odds with bubbles tens of micrometres across.
Nanobubbles change the population, not the vessel. Below 200 nanometres buoyancy loses to drag, so a cavity travels with the water for days rather than surfacing in seconds, and interface area becomes enormous. Negative zeta potential does the attaching, to hydrocarbon droplets and charged fines alike, as in every duty the platform covers.
Side stream, after the hydrocyclones and degasser: the flotation cell inlet, its recycle, or ahead of the injection pumps.
Produced water is not one contaminant, and a nanobubble stage moves some fractions but not others.
| Fraction | Behaviour in the cell | What nanobubbles change |
|---|---|---|
| Free oil | Rises unaided given residence time | Nothing. Remove it at the separator |
| Dispersed droplets | Rise velocity falls with the square of diameter | Charged bubbles attach across the cell, not only in the curtain |
| Emulsified oil | Held by surfactants and production chemicals | Helped, not guaranteed. A tight emulsion may need a chemical break |
| Suspended solids | Fines and corrosion products pass the hydrocyclone | 80 %+ removal, 50 %+ turbidity reduction |
Dissolved hydrocarbons are no flotation duty at any bubble size. If they drive your oil-in-water figure, size oxidation first.
Sulphide usually gets one answer: a scavenger drum. Nanobubbles work by two routes, and the difference decides which gas you specify.
Sizing follows the water and the duty, not the label on the skid.
| Model | Flow | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| NanVANN Pro | 5–500 m³/h | Complete water unit: TSS and TOC reduction, TAN management |
| NanOxy S1 | 0.3–1 000 m³/h | Membrane platform to industrial flow; compressed gas, no electrical connection at the module |
| NanOxy M Pro | 10–100 m³/h (nominal 35–55) | Side-stream pilot and scale-up |
| NanOxy S2 | 2–50 lpm | Bench trials on drummed samples |
NanoMAR makes no area-classification claim; that the membrane module carries no electrical connection is a fact for your classification engineer.
A trial that changes three variables at once proves nothing. Four stages, in order.
That is our approach to a measured trial; those numbers size the unit that follows.
Three cases where NanoMAR would advise against leading with nanobubbles.
It needs oxidation or adsorption at any bubble size.
Oxygen in carbon steel has corrosion consequences. Gas selection follows your metallurgy.
If free oil reaches the cell, fix residence time and skimming.
The first question on produced water is which fraction the oil-in-water number is made of.
NanoMAR generators shear oxygen, air or ozone into produced water as bubbles under 200 nm. Their negative zeta potential binds them to dispersed oil and fine solids: 80 %+ suspended-matter removal, 50 %+ turbidity reduction, nothing dosed.
Not always, and NanoMAR does not promise it. Nanobubble flotation attaches by surface charge, so conditioning dose can be stepped down under measurement. A tight emulsion may still need a chemical break.
Two routes. Ozone nanobubbles from a NanoMAR generator oxidise dissolved sulphide. Oxygen nanobubbles remove the anoxic condition sulphate-reducing bacteria need, acting on souring rather than existing sulphide. Oxygen in carbon steel raises corrosion questions first.
The NanVANN Pro is the complete unit at 5–500 m³/h: TSS and TOC reduction, TAN management. The NanOxy S1 membrane platform spans 0.3–1 000 m³/h on compressed gas. NanoMAR pilots side streams on the NanOxy M Pro.
Injectivity is lost to fine solids and oil carry-over plugging the near-wellbore formation, and both are what NanoMAR nanobubbles attach to: 80 %+ suspended-matter removal, 50 %+ turbidity reduction, no dosed residue going downhole.
Flow, oil in water and the method behind it, suspended solids, salinity, sulphide, and what you dose today. Our engineers in Bergen will say which fraction we can move.
Tell us about your process and we'll size a nanobubble system for it.
Talk to our team