American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2012 - 191

nered with sister company, Neptune Chemical Pump Co., to develop iChem, a sealless diaphragm metering pump that eliminates leaks and provides precise chemical
injection, details Cosby. iChem's digital
keypad controller replaces the sight glass
traditionally used to set injection volumes,
providing flexibility in dosage settings
while enabling ease of use.
"These technology improvements provide gas well operators the means to improve well performance, control (and perhaps reduce) chemical usage, and reduce
pump maintenance costs and potentially
harmful gaseous emissions" he details.
Duncan McFarland, new product development engineer, adds that remote
monitoring capability minimizes the number of well visits required to a site. Using
a smart cell phone, operators can control
pump operations, monitor cycle times,
evaluate well pressures and measure battery voltage, he states.
The pump is proving its effectiveness
on shale plays in South Texas, East Texas,
Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming, according to Cosby, who adds that the company anticipates additional equipment installations in California, North Dakota
and the Appalachian Basin in the near
future.
"The extent of run life remains to be
seen, but we have not had to do any maintenance on the first pump put into the
field near Katy Tx.," McFarland reports.
"We check it regularly to make sure it is
still operating and on target. We have had
no mechanical issues with it at all."
McFarland says testing shows that
iChem has a dramatically smaller injection
rate deviation than conventional pumps
within a 95 percent confidence interval
at well pressures between 300 and 1,200
psi. The chemical injection volume of
conventional solar chemical pumps can
vary considerably at elevated well pressures. iChem's maximum output is 45
gallons a day. "Operators are telling us
that the payback for the pump is very
short because it reduces chemical usage
and maintenance" Cosby relates.
'Smart' Check Valve
Started with the aid of a grant from
the U.S. Department of Energy, Petrolects
LLC in San Luis Obispo, Ca., has developed the rugged lift ecValve™ to monitor
temperature, pressure and flow for oil
and gas wells, reports President and CEO
Mason Medizade.
The "smart" check valve is integrated
with sensors and a microcontroller that
can store, process and transmit sensor
data in real time over satellite, local radio
network, , wireless mesh network, Internet,
and cell phone, depending on operator

Petrolects LLC's ecValve™ is integrated with sensors to monitor temperature, pressure
and flow rates, and transmit data in real time. The technology also can be used to control
pump-off conditions and measure water cuts in producing wells.

preference, he says. "Accurate and up-todate liquid and gas flow rate injection/production information allows operators to
determine how best to optimize well
pumping, and in the process, save wear
and tear on field equipment, reduce downtime, reduce driving cost, select better
stimulation methods, etc., while cutting
electricity and other lift costs," Medizade
declares.
For marginal wells, the technology
can be installed with an existing pump
check valve that can be effectively converted to a meter for monitoring flow
and controlling pump-off, Medizade says.
For marginal wells, Petrolects' pump-off
technology can be used as a closed local
control loop at the well bore for automatic
operation of the pump, he says, allowing
the operator to speed, slow or turn off
the pump.
"We also have been considering sensor
technology to calculate the percentage
of water cut in an oil and water mixture
and fluid phase detection of liquid versus
gas," Medizade adds. "We believe all
that can be done at a lower cost for marginal wells, too."
Sensor integration is a function of
flow complexities. Sensors could be integrated to measure the flow of a single
nonvaporizing liquid; nonvaporizing mixed
liquids; noncondensing and condensing
gases; and superheated steam, saturated
steam, oil, water, dissolved gas, free gas
and water vapor mixed flow. The flow
regime can be continuous laminar flow,
continuous turbulent flow, oscillating and
pulse flow, and single-phase or two-phase
flow, he elaborates.
"We strongly believe there are a lot of
cost savings if the operator could make
the right decision at the right time for
optimizing primary, secondary and tertiary
recovery based on reservoir flow condition
monitoring," he says, adding that the

units have been tested successfully in the
Edison and Midway Sunset oil fields in
California.
Burner Management System
Profire Energy Inc.'s newest burner
management system-the Profire 2100™
BMS-is used to regulate combustion burners in separators, line treaters, dehydrators
and other production equipment, says Andrew Limpert, chief financial officer.
The company developed its burner
management systems in the oil fields of
western Canada, where regulations require
advanced burner systems on all fire tubes
and heater vessels, notes Justin Hatch,
Profire's vice president of operations. "In
the United States, many leases still have
older burner technology that can fail from
losing pilot lights, leading to wasted fuel
and expenses with natural gas venting
into the atmosphere, and creating safety
issues as field technicians attempt to
relight systems," he says.
"Our approach is to take what we
have in the field in the way of these older
vessels and make them efficient, while at
the same time, making them safer and
protecting the environment," Hatch remarks.
The Profire 2100 burner management
system includes a control box about one
square foot in size that contains all the
associated hardware and software. Connected to the burner valve train, the
system regulates the flame to maximize
efficiency, Hatch explains. When temperatures are excessive, the 2100 BMS
can perform emergency shutdown. When
temperatures are too cool, the device
turns up the burner.
"There have been as much as 30-40
percent efficiency gains because the flame
is managed rather than allowed to run
indiscriminately," Hatch says. "The benefits that come out of this improve the
JANUARY 2012 191

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2012

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