Directa Plus successfully completes Grafysorber tests at OMV Petrom

Producer and supplier of graphene-based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, Directa Plus, announced the successful completion of industrial field testing of Grafysorber at an oil treatment plant of OMV Petrom - a Romanian integrated oil and gas company and one of the largest in Southern Europe - on Monday.

The AIM-traded firm said the tests demonstrated that the deployment of Grafysorber improved the quality of water used for the injection process.

It said the parties would now work together on the second phase of trials to expand the tests to treat a further contaminant.

“Working with a leading organisation such as OMV Petrom, and in an industrial setting, is a tremendous endorsement of the strength of our Grafysorber solution and its potential,” said CEO Giulio Cesareo.

“We believe Grafysorber is a revolutionary material with a unique oil adsorption capability that has multiple environmental applications.”

Cesareo said the company was “delighted” to progress to the next phase of testing with OMV Petrom, and looked forward to establishing a “long relationship” with them.

“This achievement further underpins the potential and importance of our recently-announced agreement with Sartec to develop innovative continuous process equipment to optimise Grafysorber utilisation for the oil & gas industry.”

The company said the purpose of the field tests was to trial the ability of Directa Plus' Grafysorber, which was used in a dedicated treatment facility on a site of OMV Petrom, to remove petroleum hydrocarbons from produced water so that it could be used as injection water.

Directa Plus said the field tests demonstrated positive results in the industrial decontamination of produced water.

In particular, Grafysorber was successful in significantly reducing the concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in the produced water to less than 0.5ppm.