Announcements

Independent lab results validate performance and feasibility of treating produced water for large-scale applications

Los Angeles and Bakersfield, CA – March 18, 2015 – OriginOil Inc. (OTC/QB: OOIL), developer of Electro Water Separation™ (EWS), the high-speed, primarily chemical-free process to clean up large quantities of water, announced today that independent third-party testing by Zalco Laboratories confirmed that OriginOil’s PRIME product for oil & gas operations successfully reduced contaminants in produced water to the level required for reuse for cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) — a type of enhanced oil recovery.

Using data collected during a month of operation and sales demonstrations hosted by Vaquero Energy, an exploration and production (E&P) company based in Bakersfield, California, Zalco’s lab results confirmed that PRIME reduced all measures of non-soluble contamination to very low, or undetectable levels. OriginOil’s PRIME integrates OriginOil’s EWS with a self-cleaning filter for heavy solids removal on the front end, as well as a polishing system on the back end.

Paul Conrad, President of Total Western Inc., a Bakersfield-based energy service company, stated, “We have been supporting OriginOil at the Vaquero Energy test/demo site for the last month, operating their produced water process.  We have been impressed by its performance in the form of final water quality and the separation of the oil from the produced water. In addition, we have found that with its smart control system, the operation is almost hands-free. We are so impressed that we are actively supporting OriginOil in its efforts to spread the word throughout the Bakersfield area.”

“Zalco Laboratories has more than 30 years’ experience delivering water and liquid analysis for the oil industry,” said Juan Magana, Project Manager of Zalco Laboratories. “We are pleased to provide accurate and timely water quality analysis to assist OriginOil in its validation of its PRIME system.”

Zalco Laboratory confirmed PRIME’s ability to achieve the following results:

• Turbidity reduced by 99.96%
• Total suspended solids reduced by 97%
• Total recoverable petroleum hydrocarbons reduced by 97%
• Biological oxygen demand reduced by 71%
• Chemical oxygen demand reduced by 92%
• Diesel range organics reduced by 99.3%
• Gasoline range organics reduced by 86%
• Motor oil range organics reduced by 99.5%

The summary on the testing and Vaquero Energy operations can be found here. The full Zalco report is available on request.

“OriginOil’s field operations in the Monterey Basin have shown our strongest performance yet. The produced water was challenging to treat due to the low API oil, which is totally different than the water from the natural gas fields of Colorado and the light oil reservoirs of West Texas,” said Lee Portillo, OriginOil’s VP of Engineering for the Oil & Gas Division. “We have learned a lot from the multiple test sites and are now utilizing this long-term operating experience to maximize the performance of our breakthrough PRIME solution.”

Bill Charneski, President of OriginOil’s Oil & Gas Division, added, “It has been eye-opening to see the response to our solution from the E&P operators in the Bakersfield area. We’ve found that operators are aware of both the scarcity of fresh water, and need to treat produced water, rather than dispose of it. Many are actively looking for solutions to treat produced water to be reused for irrigation in California’s drought-stricken Central Valley. It goes beyond the economics – it’s about having access to fresh water and giving back to local farmers.”

OriginOil’s core technology, Electro Water Separation, is available for licensing. OriginOil also offers it in combination with other technologies, beginning with the PRIME configuration.

OriginOil’s PRIME is designed to achieve primary wastewater treatment for the oil & gas market. Typically, it combines OriginOil’s Electro Water Separation system with a self-cleaning filter for heavy solids removal on the front end, as well as a polishing system on the back end, enabling the removal of essentially all contaminants but those that are dissolved. All components are built on a single skid with a common SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) control system, which enables automatic control of the process in addition to remote monitoring and alarms. PRIME can be built as a mobile or fixed system with quick water and power connections.

The OriginOil PRIME unit deployed at the Vaquero Energy site utilizes a Spiral Water Self Cleaning TSS filter upstream, and an iSep Ultra Filtration (HF) unit downstream of the main EWS water processor.