Infrastructure development in the Bakken oil and gas play doesn’t just effect the movement of product out of the region, it also affects the ability of new companies to move in. TM Filtration, an Erie, Pa.-based filtration and engineering firm, is watching and waiting for an increase in associated gas infrastructure development in the Williston Basin. The company has created a patented filtration system for shale gas and unconventional gas plays that could be used in the Bakken. According to Ed Barthelmes, sales and marketing manager for the company, filtration equipment from the company has already been used in the Marcellus Shale play along with others around the world.

The niche area for TM Filtration is to offer a different product than its competitors, Barthelmes said. “A lot of people that are in the filtration business have catalog items and standard components. Our strength is fabricating custom filtration around standard filtration elements,” he said.

The filtration equipment created by the company can be used to screen out contaminants, moisture and unwanted natural gas liquids (NGLs). The equipment can be used in the upstream section of the associated gas spectrum on the well site, and in the midstream portion at a compressing station. The technology can be customized for the type of gas stream or the type of particulates or NGLs a user may want to address through filtration and associated gas flaring reduction.

Although the customizable filtration technology is not currently used by any companies in the Bakken, Barthelmes said more pipeline infrastructure and compressing stations could create a greater demand for the product. “We’ve met with a couple of engineering, production and construction firms in the region,” he said, and most EPC firms are still working out the details of how to build more infrastructure while learning about the products that are available for the build out. “They are interested in our technology because it is different,” he said.

The company is currently compiling performance reviews of its technology used in other shale gas plays for use by potential clients in the Bakken.

http://www.thebakken.com/articles/121/custom-gas-filtration-co-waiting-on-bakken-infrastructure