EnviroDrive™ Inc. - Q & A

How does the EnviroDrive™ system work?
The EnviroDrive™ system replaces typical gas-driven chemical injection pumps that exhaust GHG ("Greenhouse Gases") into the atmosphere. The EnviroDrive™ system is a chemical pump driving unit that functions off of differential pressure in a gas production system and directs the gas used for driving the unit back into the system rather than emitting the gas to the atmosphere as conventional pumping units do. EnviroDrive™ systems do not emit any GHG to atmosphere and therefore assist in reducing the progression of the greenhouse effect caused by increasing atmospheric gas concentrations.

In the production of oil and gas, there are several by products produced, one of which is water. Water creates problems during production in that as pressure is released on the gas it causes a refrigeration effect. When this happens the water freezes and stops the flow of the gas. For this reason, methanol is injected into the lines or glycol heat tracing is used to prevent hydrates and ice plugs from forming.

Water production from a well is not something that occurs in isolated cases, but is present in virtually every gas well. The longer the well has produced, the higher the water content becomes. The faster the well is produced, the higher the water content becomes.

Typical gas-driven chemical injection pumps or glycol circulation pumps are piston type. Positive displacement pumps which work in a similar way to the steam engines of the past are attached to a large diaphragm type motor. Rather than using steam as a driving force, these pumps use either sweet gas from the well’s production or in the case of sour wells purchased propane gas or sweet gas. These typical chemical injection pumps exhaust this gas or propane to the atmosphere during their operation the same as steam engines exhaust steam during their operation.

The production of oil has the same problems as the production of gas, due to the volume of entrapped methane in the oil stream. Where a few oil wells are directed to a central location called a battery or satellite, the chemical will be introduced into the flow line before being directed to the main processing facility.

The problem of keeping hydrates and ice plugs from forming is eliminated by injecting methanol into the well and by circulating Glycol throughout the production system.