Transcript Water Management and Treatment Hurdles On the banks of the Youghigheny River, Versailles, PA, 1919. Photo Courtesy McKeesport Historical Society.

Water Management and Treatment Hurdles
On the banks of the Youghigheny River, Versailles, PA, 1919.
Photo Courtesy McKeesport Historical Society. Located and Digitized by Joel Tarr, Carnegie Mellon.
Kelvin B. Gregory, PhD
Oil/Gas Extraction: PA 2007
Hydraulic Fracture Overview
300m
700m
1100m
1500m
Fracturing Fluid Contains
7-18 million liters of
water mixed with sand and
other chemical modifiers
well stimulation
Fracturing Fluid Pumped at
high pressure into well to
introduce fractures and
carry proppant into the
fissures.
Water Returns to the
surface as “Flowback”
Flowback water stored prior
to treatment and/or disposal.
Small volumes of water are
coproduced over lifetime of
well is “Produced Water” and is
managed independently.
Produced/Flowback Water Constituents
250
200
Flowrate (m3/d)
1200
150
Flowrate
800
TDS
100
400
50
0
0
0
50
100
Time of Flowback (days)
150
TDS Concentration (g/L)
1600
minimum
maximum
average
number of
samples
TDS (mg/L)
680
345,000
106,390
129
TSS (mg/L)
4
7,600
352
156
oil and
grease
(mg/L)
4.6
802
74
62
COD (mg/L)
195
36,600
15,358
89
TOC (mg/L)
1.2
1530
160
55
pH
5.1
8.42
6.56
156
alkalinity
(mg/L as
CaCO3)
7.5
577
165
144
SO4(mg/L)
0
763
71
113
Cl (mg/L)
64.2
196,000
57,447
154
Br (mg/L)
0.2
1,990
511
95
Na (mg/L)
69.2
117,000
24,123
157
Ca (mg/L)
37.8
41,000
7,220
159
Mg (mg/L)
17.3
2,550
632
157
Ba (mg/L)
0.24
13,800
2,224
159
Sr (mg/L)
0.59
8,460
1,695
151
Fe dissolved
(mg/L)
0.1
222
40.8
134
Fe total
(mg/L)
2.6
321
76
141
gross
alphaa (pCi/L)
37.7
9,551
1,509
32
gross
betaa (pCi/L)
75.2
597,600
43,415
32
Ra228 (pCi/L)
0
1,360
120
46
Ra226 (pCi/L)
2.75
9,280
623
46
U235
(pCi/L)
0
20
1
14
U238(pCi/L)
0
497
42
14
Gregory et al, Elements 2011; Barbot et al, ES&T 2013
Water Management CRISIS
Hurdles in Pennsylvania
Disposal
• Deep-Well (Re)injection  Few in PA
• Ag Reuse  Too salty
• Dilution to WWTP  500 mg/L limit
Treatment
•
•
•
•
Membrane Technology  $$$
Thermal Distillation  $$$$
Freeze Thaw Evaporation  Bad Climate
Artificial Wetlands  Too salty
Characteristics of Crises
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Unexpected Event
High-levels of uncertainty
Threaten high-priority needs
Heighten Anxiety
Belief that any action will have farreaching consequences
“I’ve got a wife, kids, a career—
Jesus! I’m only twelve hours old!
How did this happen to me?”
Seeger, et al (1998). "Communication, organization, and crisis". Communication Yearbook 21: 231–275.
Lebow, RN (1981) “Between Peace and War: The Nature of International Crisis
Deep Water Horizon Crisis: No question
DWH Crisis? What Crisis?
Crises: Two Perceptions related to Shale Energy
1) Solution to Crises
o
o
o
o
o
o
Energy Availability
Energy Costs
Energy Security
Municipal Economic
Unemployment
GHG Emissions
2) Cause of Crises
o
o
o
o
o
Air, Water, Soil Pollution
GHG Emissions
Infrastructure Degradation
Societal Degradation
Future Unemployment
Public Information is Confusing
Role of Media in Crisis
Water Management Hurdles in Pennsylvania
Disposal
• Deep-Well (Re)injection  Few in PA
• Ag Reuse  Too salty
• Dilution to WWTP  500 mg/L limit
Treatment
•
•
•
•
Membrane Technology  $$$
Thermal Distillation  $$$$
Freeze Thaw Evaporation  Bad Climate
Artificial Wetlands  Too salty
Local Challenges  Innovation & Local Solutions
Local Solutions: Reuse of Produced Water for HF
Hydraulic Fracturing
With Recycled Flowback
Produced Water
to New Well
Produced Water to
Impoundment
Pretreatment
Precipitation, Settling.
Recycling Leads to Large and Lengthy
Impoundment Times
•
•
•
•
Mixed flowback and produced fluids
Large Impoundments
Lengthy Impoundment time
Evolving biogeochemistry
What is happening in the impoundments w.r.t. metals and NORM ?
Microbial communities drive the evolution of
impoundment chemistry, impact management
Malodorous Compounds
Volatile Sulfur Compounds
Volatile Fermentation Products
Determine Fate of
Metals Fate and
Naturally Occurring
Radionuclides
Degradation of toxic
Hydrocarbon
Global Shale Plays in Water Stressed Regions
Water management problems are local
Solutions arise locally but have have
global impacts.
Cambay Basin
Graphical Relative Abundance of Important
Orders at the Wellheads
Order (Class)
SW
Rhodobacterales (Alphaproteobacteria)
Sphingomonadales (Alphaproteobacteria)
Caulobacterales (Alphaproteobacteria)
Rhodospirillales (Alphaproteobacteria)
Pseudomonadales (Gammaproteobacteria)
Vibrionales (Gammaproteobacteria)
Alteromonadales (Gammaproteobacteria)
Chromatiales (Gammaproteobacteria)
Campylobacterales (Epsilonproteobacteria)
Burkholderiales (Betaproteobacteria)
Thermoanaerobacterales (Clostridia)
Halanaerobiales (Clostridia)
Clostridiales (Clostridia)
Bacteroidales (Bacteroidetes)
Flavobacteriales (Flavobacteria)
Fusobacteriales (Fusobacteria)
Bacillales (Bacilli)
Lactobacillales (Bacilli)
Sample name
FF FB1 FB7 FB9 PW
0%
>0 - 5%
>5-10%
>10-20%
>20-30%
>30-50%
>99%
Fate of NORM
Impoundments: Fate of NORM Linked to Microbiology
20
400
18
Aerated U(VI)
16
350
Anaerobic
U(VI)
Autoclaved
U(VI)
Aerated Fe(II)
12
10
8
250
200
150
6
Anaerobic
Fe(II)
Autoclaved
Fe(II)
4
2
0
100
50
0
0
5
10 15 20 25 35 40 49 58 63 66 74 77 79 83
Fe (II) mg/l
U(VI) uM
300
14