Siemens Water Technologies’ pulsed-bed walnut shell filter offers small footprint for offshore oil/water separation applications. The proprietary filter is designed to eliminate the need for moving equipment to perform backwashes and reduce the volume of backwash water produced as compared to other walnut shell filter designs. The filter also offers reduced weight and footprint and a lower price-point than multiple filter systems. Walnut shell filtration was developed as a more suitable method of filtering free oil and suspended solids in applications where sand filters have traditionally been used. Today, walnut shell filtration is used to treat oil field produced water, refinery wastewater, and other types of wastewater. The pulsed-bed walnut shell filter uses a deep bed of 100 percent black walnut shells, which feature surface characteristics for coalescing and filtration and offer resilience to attrition. The filter’s deep nutshell bed (66 in., 168 cm) provides effluent quality, long filtration runs, and throughput efficiency.
