A review of technologies and practices used for exploration and production of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania is given while shedding light on the entire process of natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania. Entailing drilling and completions operations, production operations and transportation of natural gas tied together with regulation and policy in Pennsylvania. Horizontal drilling technology is used in shale play development along with well stimulation which is also needed to produce economically from these wells. This is achieved through hydraulic fracturing. Water is predominantly used for this but the use of other fluids is also being explored. For the transport of natural gas a network is present in Pennsylvania but gathering stations and other infrastructure needs to be setup. This is not easy in Pennsylvania due to the hilly nature of the region. Most common practices are developed locally as is the case in the Marcellus, with local operators and not the big majors heading the development of the Shale play but even they used techniques applied in the Barnett Shale to great success in the Marcellus Shale which goes to prove that a lot can be gained from other similar plays. The history of this region in producing natural gas is more than a hundred years old and so a lot has done in this region with regards to experimentation and technology additions in producing natural gas. Apart from producing and transportation of natural gas, another important aspect is regulation and policy which is strict when it comes to Pennsylvania. Along with this it would be beneficial for companies to develop good relations with residents in the area as these wells typically produce for long periods of time. Typical land restoration projects are now mandatory which all adds upto a higher overall cost of energy. To summarize all the factors needed to produce natural gas in this region economically and safely with leaving as small as a footprint as possible is explored.

We describe measurements of permeability on coal-biomass mixtures, which are a potential feedstock to gasifiers to reduce net carbon emissions. Permeability is measured under anticipated dry feed stress conditions to determine the potential for fugitive gas emission from the gasifier into the feed hopper. Cylindrical samples of coal-biomass blends are housed within a triaxial apparatus capable of applying mean and deviatoric stresses and of concurrently measuring gas permeability. We measure the evolution of strain, porosity and permeability under mean stresses of 3.5, 7 and 14 MPa. Permeability is measured by pulse transmission testing using N 2 and He as the saturant and assuming the validity of Darcy's law. Porosity is measured by pressure pulse with He as saturant and assuming an ideal gas. Experiments are conducted on a range of coals and biomass blends at mixtures of 100 percent coal through 100 percent biomass. Measured permeabilities are in the range 10 -13 to 10 -16 m 2 with the 100 percent biomass blends showing lower permeabilities than the coal biomass and 100 percent coal blends. Permeabilities change in loading and unloading and exhibit hysteresis. We fit the data to connect permeability with porosity using relations for porous media where permeability changes proportionally to the cube of the change in porosity. This model performs adequately since there is little size reduction in the granular mass due to the applied isotropic loading.