CarboNet chemistry: Efficient, inexpensive treatment for produced water

Too much water. Too little margin.

O&G operators produce more water than they can afford to move, treat, or dispose of. Disposal capacity is shrinking. Reuse demands are rising. But the tools—especially the chemistry—were built for a steadier time. The result is rising sludge, overdosing, stalled throughput, and field crews chasing problems. And all of it cuts into margin.

Outdated chemistry isn’t just inefficient—it breaks under pressure, driving up costs exactly when they need to come down.

Why it matters: Legacy chemistry wasn’t built for today’s operators. It’s too rigid for variable water, too dose-sensitive for lean ops, and too slow to adapt. When polymer costs rise and disposal zones tighten, bad chemistry bleeds margin. Fast.

CarboNet chemistry works where others don’t:

Stable floc formation, even in unstable water. NanoNet-powered flocculants hold together in high-TDS, variable blends without overdosing or pH babysitting. They settle fast, drain clean, and reduce filter stress across the board.
SimplePrime coagulants that pair properly. Designed to work with NanoNet flocs—not against them—SimplePrime reduces TSS, improves sludge consistency, and stabilizes the water matrix for better downstream performance.
Emulsions for throughput. Gels for tight setups. Emulsions scale cleanly at centralized sites, while gels shine at remote or labor-limited locations. Gels require no make-down, and both formats are easy to dose, helping operators reduce tote farms, simplify startup, and cut training time.
Less sludge, less spend. With stronger, faster-draining flocs, operators cut sludge volumes and reduce press maintenance, trucking, and landfill fees—without sacrificing clarity.
Built for third-party ops and mixed-ownership sites. Programs are modular and field-tunable, so service providers and midstream firms can adapt across client sites without swapping out hardware or disrupting the flow.
SpecialOps dashboard integration. Monitor distributed sites from a single pane. Adjust dose. Benchmark fleet-wide performance. Spot issues before they snowball.

The bottom line: O&G operators don’t need more complexity; they need more control. CarboNet delivers high-performance chemistry that handles unstable water, trims costs, and stretches crew capacity. It’s a fix for the field, and your CFO.

Reference project

New regulations required operators to recycle more water and dispose less, leading a major E&P in the Permian to overhaul their treatment.

New rules: New Mexico regulators tightened their water recycling requirements, forcing an E&P operating on 800,000 acres in the Permian to simultaneously increase the quality of its treated water while reducing its per barrel treatment cost.

Prior to the new regulations, the operator used a mix of oxidizer, coagulant, and flocculant to treat produced water—an expensive and complex scenario that struggled under the new regime.
The flocculant required make-down and created inconsistent flocs, forcing crews to babysit rigs, regularly caused mis-dosing of the other chemicals, and gumming up filters and presses.

Behind the scenes: CarboNet’s SimpleFloc, a no make-down flocculant adopted by operators in the Permian, was recommended as a solution.

SimpleFloc’s plug-and-play chemistry had the immediate effect of reducing costs while improving treatment:

Coagulant reduced 90%
Flocculant dosing cut 30%
Oxidizer cut 50%

Additionally:

Water for makedown was removed, reducing freshwater drawdown 20% (and cutting trucking costs and their associated emissions).
Effluent quality was boosted, with sludge reduced by 50%.
OPEX was greatly improved. With make-down removed, crew costs were cut 35%.
Significantly less chemicals were introduced into the operating envelope, ensuring no permits were breached
Crews enjoyed safer working conditions not having to deal with dry make-down dust or slips from emulsion slop

The bottom line: CarboNet chemistry shaved millions off the P&L and optimized an otherwise inefficient treatment process.