Water Management and Treatment Hurdles

Kelvin B. Gregory, PhD

On the banks of the Youghigheny River, Versailles, PA, 1919. Photo Courtesy McKeesport Historical Society. Located and Digitized by Joel Tarr,

Carnegie Mellon.

Oil/Gas Extraction: PA 2007

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.

Hydraulic Fracture Overview

  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

Produced/Flowback Water Constituents

Gregory et al, Elements 2011; Barbot et al, ES&T 2013

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

0

400

0

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12

Flowrate

TDS

Time of Flowback (days)

Flo

wra

te (

m3

/d)

TD

S C

on

ce

ntr

ati

on

(g

/L)

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

Water Management Hurdles in PennsylvaniaCRISIS

Characteristics of Crises

• 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

• Unexpected Event• High-levels of uncertainty• Threaten high-priority needs• Heighten Anxiety• Belief that any action will have far-

reaching consequences “I’ve got a wife, kids, a career—Jesus! I’m only twelve hours old! How did this happen to me?”

Deep Water Horizon Crisis: No question

DWH Crisis? What Crisis?

Crises: Two Perceptions related to Shale Energy

o Energy Availabilityo Energy Costso Energy Securityo Municipal Economico Unemploymento GHG Emissions

1) Solution to Crises

2) Cause of Crises

o Air, Water, Soil Pollutiono GHG Emissionso Infrastructure Degradationo Societal Degradationo Future Unemployment

Public Information is Confusing

Role of Media in Crisis

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

Water Management Hurdles in Pennsylvania

Local Challenges Innovation & Local Solutions

Hydraulic FracturingWith Recycled Flowback

PretreatmentPrecipitation, Settling. 

Local Solutions: Reuse of Produced Water for HF

Produced Water to Impoundment

Produced Water to New Well

Recycling Leads to Large and Lengthy Impoundment Times

What is happening in the impoundments w.r.t. metals and NORM ?

• Mixed flowback and produced fluids• Large Impoundments• Lengthy Impoundment time• Evolving biogeochemistry

Microbial communities drive the evolution of impoundment chemistry, impact management

Malodorous CompoundsVolatile Sulfur CompoundsVolatile Fermentation Products

Degradation of toxic Hydrocarbon

Determine Fate of Metals Fate and Naturally Occurring Radionuclides

Global Shale Plays in Water Stressed Regions

Cambay Basin

Water management problems are localSolutions arise locally but have have global impacts.

Order (Class) Sample name

SW FF FB1 FB7 FB9 PW

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)                  

              

0%  >0 - 5%    

>5-10%    >10-20%    >20-30%    >30-50%    >99%    

 

Graphical Relative Abundance of Important Orders at the Wellheads

Fate of NORM

0 5 10 15 20 25 35 40 49 58 63 66 74 77 79 830

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0

50

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Aerated U(VI)

Anaerobic U(VI)

Autoclaved U(VI)

Aerated Fe(II)

Anaerobic Fe(II)

Autoclaved Fe(II)

Fe (I

I) m

g/l

U(V

I)

uM

Impoundments: Fate of NORM Linked to Microbiology