|
|
Pilot Scale & Field Trial
Quite
a lot of the R&D at the early-stages of discovery and performance-screening can be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and
repetitive. In addition, most of the experiments don't work very well at first or don't work at all. Consequently,
this stage sometimes isn't all that engaging. After a period like that, it is fun to take a promising candidate
molecule or treatment into the field for an actual pre-commercial trial, particularly when everything works out
well. We have had a number of experiences like this, a couple of these are shown briefly below.
Our field work normally involves
test plots or pilot facilities off site where actual conditions, for example of agriculture or industrial water treatment,
can be part of the assessment. These projects do not involve commercial risk; they are performed on sites that are designed
for the purposes of meaningful evaluation only.
Better still are early commercial evaluations where the product
is placed in an actual business setting with viable outcomes involved. In some cases, a grower or a plant manager
will invite us to try out our products and treatments in this manner. Aquero Company is involved in a number of such
projects at present.
The following are some illustrative examples of locations where we have demonstrated field
work:
Agricultural Water Treatment
(Kimberly, Idaho, US) Northwest Irrigation and Soils Regional
Research Lab (NWISRRL), in cooperation with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the USDA
(Brawley, California,
US) Commercial sugar beet farm
(Holtville, California, US) Commercial alfalfa farm
Oil Sands Water Treatment
(Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada) Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) Plants
(Foster Creek, Alberta, Canada)
Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) Plants
|
|
| Progressing Cavity Pump (Moyno) at Aquero Company |
|
|
| Imperial Valley Field Trial |
 |
|
|
|
| Irrigation furrows in the Imperial Valley near Brawley, CA |
|
|
| Tote filled with untreated SAGD water at Aquero Company |
|
|
| Field work at a SAGD facility in Alberta |
|
|
