INTERVIEW

Drill-site efficiencies with innovative

lubricant purification
Peter Canovali, CEO, Next Generation
Filtration Systems
This week we interview Peter Canovali, CEO of Next Generation
Filtration Systems, and talk about their lubricating fluids
purification system. Shortlisted for the Ben Franklin Shale
Innovation Awards, the Conserver purification system is a highly
advanced two-stage system that continuously cleans oil and
hydraulic fluid and keeps fluids like new for an almost limitless
period of time.

Monica Thomas (Shale Gas International): Next Generation Filtration Systems was recently
shortlisted in the Ben Franklin Shale Innovation Awards for its purification system for
lubricating fluids. To begin with can you explain, for the non-technical among us, why are
lubricating fluids used in the first place?
Peter Canovali (CEO, Next Generation Filtration Systems): Lubricating fluids are used in
equipment that is either rotating or stationary. So lubricating fluids in engines, for example, keep
the wear and tear down and prevent valuable parts of the engine from wearing out. In hydraulic
situations, lubricating hydraulic fluid keeps the servo-mechanisms in the valves from losing their
efficiency, which can cause the equipment to fail.
Bad lubricating systems can create major problems with equipment, and if you look around,
everything in equipment that moves or moves things has lubricating fluid in it.

MT: So what causes the lubricating fluids to wear out?

PC: Well, first you have to understand that oil itself really doesnt wear out; it gets dirty. Within the

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fluid there are certain contaminants that will make the oil dirty and affect the usefulness of that
lubricating fluid. Through our research we found the main contaminants and catalysts that would
destroy the lubricating fluids.

MT: So what would be the main contaminant?

PC: Water is the major, most damaging contaminant and catalyst that can be introduced to
lubricating fluids. Inherent within the oil itself you have sulphur and salt, and when you have
combustion within an engine, water can emulsify with the sulphur and salt to form hydrochloric or
sulphuric acid.
Water also emulsifies itself with the additives and depletes them, so our system was designed to do
something that other systems dont do and that was to evaporate the moisture from the lubricating
fluid.

MT: And how does your system differ from those currently in use?
PC: The industry standard today is to use filters that work by way of absorption, so what they try
to do is to absorb the water thats existing in the oil. They do it to a point where they are picking up
what is called free water, where emulsified water continues to flow through. Its hard to determine
the capacity they really have to take the water, and therefore, theyre changing fluid on a basis that
is detrimental to the equipment they are working in.
Basically, those filters are doing two things: they are absorbing water but they are also absorbing oil.
So whats detrimental about it is that they have to then take those filters and try to remove the oil
from the filter elements before sending them to a landfill.
Our process gets rid of the water, we dont see any sense in trying to save or absorb it. Our system
simply wants to get rid of the water, evaporate it, so that its no longer having an effect on the
life efficiencies of both the oil itself
and the equipment. They extend the
We can reduce maintenance
drainage period of the oil dramatically.
costs dramatically, increase the
By keeping the oil and hydraulic fluid
life-efficiency of the oil and the
clean and free of water, were providing
equipment better than anything else
extended efficiencies of both the
that is in the market today.
lubricating fluid and the equipment
itself.

The real point is: you can either get rid of the water or you can contend with trying to absorb the
water and still having it existing within your systems.

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MT: So you have a completely different approach because you remove the water before it
becomes a problem.?
PC: Exactly, because water reduces the life of the oil. It will damage the bearings, cause corrosion,
oxidation, it depletes additives, the viscosity is lost and the total base number of the oil is declined.
By removing the water we can increase the life efficiency of the engine and of the equipment.
Whether its a reservoir, gearbox or a fan, whether it is running off diesel fuel or compressed natural
gas; were going to increase the life efficiency of the equipment by 50 to 75 percent, by reducing
these dangerous contaminants.

MT: From what Ive read your solutions are also kinder to the environment than the
traditional methods of filtration. Can you tell us more about the environmental benefits of
this system?
PC: Thats true; we are very green-orientated. The dumping of used-oil based fluids is a major
contributor to the destruction of the eco-system. Oil concentrations as small as one part per million
can contaminate drinking water supplies for fifty families for a year. And as far as harmful effects
on animals and food-supply, its dramatic. Because our Conserver Purification System extends the
drainage period of these fluids users are therefore buying less fossil fuels and theyre disposing of
less fossil fuels. So the Conserver System is not only eco-friendly, its an eco-advocate.
MT: You said that it evaporates the water; can you tell us a bit more about the whole
purification process and how these systems work?
PC: We have two types of systems that we offer. The first is strictly an evaporation system for use
where there is not a major particulate problem. When there is a major particulate problem, as in
combustion engines and such, we have a two-stage system.
The first stage is a micro-glass filter that attracts only the particulates and does not absorb or hold
on to any oil. The oil flows through that micro-glass filter and up into our evaporation chamber, the
second stage. The evaporation chamber effectively passes the oil through our patented system
over an evaporating cone where the oil is thinned out and the water and moisture is evaporated.
At that point the now clean oil is exited out of the system and returned back to the reservoir of the
equipment.
Our systems are very simplistic and can handle anything from five gallons up to thousands of gallons,
there are no movable parts in it so they have a lifetime warranty and the water and vapour that is
exited out of the system can either by collected or burned off.

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MT: That sounds fantastic. What would you say are the efficiencies introduced by your
solution?
PC: With lubricating fluids on large trucks for example, over the last seven years our systems have
extended the drainage period to 250-300 thousand miles without an oil change. Within the industrial
side were extending hydraulic systems almost endlessly, and extending the drainage period of
lubricating systems by working 24/7.

MT: For a drilling company to adopt your systems, would they just need to purchase the
equipment and what would be the benefit to them?
PC: Yes, weve got an engineering side and instructions on how to install them. For complex needs
our engineering team can help design a system that best fits the requirements of the equipment, our
systems can be designed in a variety of ways to meet the challenge of the rig site, all we need to
do is to see the site, see the challenge, and our engineers can adapt a system that will continue to
purify the fluid. And, again, we see our systems not only being applicable at the drill site but also at
the compression stations, where you have compressors and turbines.
I think we can reduce maintenance costs dramatically, increase the life-efficiency of the oil and the
equipment better than anything else that is in the market today. Our concentration is keeping the
equipment thats at the site working efficiently, even after a drilling site has been established. Our
ability to keep the fluid clean and dry saves time and energy and cuts the maintenance costs of
having somebody out there on a continuing basis, changing fluids within the operating equipment
they have. So anything thats at the drill site that has oil or any type of lubricating fluid in it; our
systems will extend the life efficiency therefore reducing the maintenance cost and increasing the
efficiency of the equipment on a 24/7 basis.

MT: And obviously now with prices of crude and natural gas being where they are,
efficiencies in the shale industry, in the upstream especially, are very important. Do you
think that the drive for efficiencies at the rig-site will have an impact on where you take
your business?
PC: Id say that because of the price drop now in oil and gas, companies have to look at their
operating overheads, and were going to reduce and continue to reduce their maintenance costs. And
when the price gets to a point where all of a sudden companies are back into business, were going
to continue to extend efficiency which will reduce the amount of eventual equipment failure that
they may have and the loss of production. So in either case, we are the answer to a problem or to a
dilemma with operating equipment.
Published: 29th June, 2015

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