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Versatility in Treatment
ET-1 Activated Clay
ET-1 Operating Information

ET-1 Activated Clay

ET-1 Activated Clay is a powerful, selective adsorbent that "knows" hydrocarbons and other pollutants - but not water. Designed for use in conventional liquid-phase filtration vessels, the granular activated clay attracts contaminants like a magnet and locks them in its molecular structure.

ET-1 Activated Clay is produced in a proprietary process by combining sodium montmorillonite clay with a cationic quaternary amine salt, which replaces adsorbed sodium by ion exchange. Resulting clay surfaces become organophilic.

Extensive application use and field testing of ET-1 Activated Clay technology, verified by independent laboratories, has demonstrated removal of a wide range of contaminants to discharge levels which meet NPDES and other regulatory requirements.

Hydrocarbon Removal with Activated Clay

ET-1 Activated Clay completely removes free hydrocarbons from wastewater and also removes dissolved hydrocarbons including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX). When used in conjunction with a polishing stage of granular activated carbon, organoclay removes dissolved and free hydrocarbons to levels well below current water quality standards.

Our ET-1 product can be used to effectively remove oil and other hydrocarbons from water where traditional oil-water separators have had limited success. The product does not absorb hydrocarbons, but rather adsorbs them, which leaves no byproduct from the process. In the adsorbtion process, the quaternary amines create organic “pillars” between the clay platelets that increase the interlamellar distance and facilitate the formation of a hydrocarbon partition.

Field testing in conjunction with Fluor Daniel and the Department of Energy’s Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center has confirmed ET-1’s ability to clean produced water from oil well drilling operations, with reductions in high concentrations of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Oil & Grease to non-detectable levels. Soluble BTEX hydrocarbons were reduced to less than 3 ppb with ET-1 alone and to below detectable limits after exposure to a combination of ET-1 and granular carbon.

Optimizing treatment with polishing

For treatment of hydrocarbons and other organic contaminants, the optimal solution is ET-1 for primary filtration, followed by carbon for final polishing.

Granular carbon adsorbs contaminants through surface porosity. While this mechanism is suitable for removal of low molecular weight organics such a BTEX, the pore structure of carbon becomes obstructed when exposed to high molecular weight organics such as oil and grease.

ET-1 possesses several advantages over granular carbon:

• It offers much higher adsorption and can adsorb up to 60- 70% more contaminants by weight.
• It is most efficient in removing insoluble and dispersed hydrocarbons that contribute to Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) and Oil & Grease measurements.
• It tolerates concentration spikes that result from separator or treater upsets and accidental oil carry-over from storage tanks.
• Adsorbed hydrocarbons do not desorb. Spent media would likely be classified in the United States as a nonhazardous waste.

Because ET-1 adsorbs contaminants through a platelet partitioning mechanism, it is not subject to pore blinding. The product's high adsorption capacity - up to 70% of its weight in several organic compounds - makes it the best available technology for primary filtration, in terms of both performance and cost. ET-1 not only extends the life of carbon, it also enables carbon to do what it does best - remove trace amounts of light molecular weight objects.

When ET-1 is used in combination with GAC, adsorption provides high removal efficiency and excellent reliability in treating contaminated wastewaters.