Automatic Pressure Filtration for Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Operations
Oil and gas operations generate and handle process fluids that would destroy a conventional filter within days — produced water carrying sand, scale, and hydrocarbons; injection water requiring precise solids control to protect formation permeability; refinery feed streams containing catalyst fines, rust, and scale. K Factor's automatic backwash pressure filtration systems are engineered for these environments: high pressure, high temperature, continuous operation, and chemistries that preclude manual filter changes.
Produced water filtration
Produced water — water that comes up from the wellbore along with oil and gas — is the largest volume waste stream in oil and gas production globally. In the United States alone, approximately 24 billion barrels of produced water are generated annually. Whether this water is re-injected for disposal, treated for discharge, or processed for reuse, solids removal is always the first treatment step.
K Factor automatic backwash pressure filters remove suspended solids from produced water streams — sand, scale, corrosion products, and formation fines — protecting downstream equipment including injection pumps, heat exchangers, and secondary treatment systems. The automatic self-cleaning operation is critical in remote wellsite and offshore environments where manual filter maintenance is prohibitively expensive or operationally unsafe.
- Target solids: Sand, scale, iron sulfide, corrosion products, formation fines
- Micron ratings: 25–200 micron for coarse solids protection; 5–25 micron for fine filtration ahead of membrane systems
- Materials: 316L SS standard; Duplex and Super Duplex for high-chloride produced water
- Pressure ratings: To 20 bar standard; higher available for wellhead applications
Injection water filtration
Water injection — used for enhanced oil recovery and reservoir pressure maintenance — requires tight solids control to protect formation permeability. Particles above the pore throat diameter of the target formation cause progressive formation plugging, injectivity decline, and eventually injection well workovers that can cost $500,000 to $2 million per well.
K Factor backwash pressure filters provide continuous, automatic filtration of injection water to the micron specification required by the formation — typically 2–10 micron absolute for sandstone formations; 5–25 micron for carbonate formations. The automatic backwash operation ensures the filter remains clean and the injection specification is maintained continuously without operator intervention or process shutdown.
Refinery feed and process stream protection
Refinery feed streams — crude oil, process water, heat exchanger fluids, and chemical injection streams — carry corrosion products, catalyst fines, and scale that damage heat exchangers, foul tube bundles, and degrade catalyst performance. K Factor pressure filtration systems protect refinery process equipment with continuous inline filtration and automatic self-cleaning that matches the 24/7 operating schedule of refinery operations.
Service locations — Oil, gas, and petrochemical
- United States: Texas (Permian Basin, Gulf Coast refining corridor), Louisiana, Oklahoma, North Dakota (Bakken), Pennsylvania (Marcellus), Wyoming
- Canada: Alberta (oil sands — Fort McMurray, Cold Lake, Peace River), Saskatchewan, BC (offshore and coastal)
- Gulf region: Saudi Arabia (Aramco facilities and SABIC petrochemical complex), UAE (ADNOC operations in Abu Dhabi, Ruwais), Qatar (LNG and gas processing), Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman
- Other: North Sea (UK and Norway), West Africa (Nigeria, Angola), Asia-Pacific (Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia)
Start Your 30-Day Free Trial
K Factor's 30-day free trial makes the K-Optifil or an inline pressure strainer system available in your facility at no cost and with no purchase obligation. We assess your flow rate, pressure, fluid, and contamination profile. We deliver and commission the system inline. You run it for 30 days and measure continuous flow performance, reject volume, and maintenance time eliminated. If the results don't justify the investment, return it. No invoice.
Available to qualifying facilities in the United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf markets.