Characterization and biological removal of organic compounds from hydraulic fracturing produced water

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing generates large volumes of produced water, and treatment of produced water may be necessary for disposal or reuse.

Geochemistry and Microbiology Predict Environmental Niches With Conditions Favoring Potential Microbial Activity in the Bakken Shale

“…However, these unconventional extraction techniques have introduced new water management and infrastructure challenges raising various operational, economic, and environmental issues for unconventional drilling ( Gregory et al, 2011 ; Orangi et al, 2011 ). Hydraulically fractured wells generate billions of gallons of produced water each year ( Horner et al, 2016 ) which contain high concentrations of salt ( Gregory et al, 2011 ; Barbot et al, 2013 ; Murali Mohan et al, 2013 ; Cluff et al, 2014 ; Lipus et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2019 ), metals ( Gregory et al, 2011 ; Barbot et al, 2013 ), and organics ( Strong et al, 2014 ; Akyon et al, 2019 ) making management, handling, and disposal of these produced waters difficult and expensive. Another major challenge is the presence of various kinds of microorganisms, which may contribute to the corrosion of well-components, including casing and pipes, and reservoir souring ( Struchtemeyer and Elshahed, 2012 ; Mohan et al, 2014 ; Stringfellow et al, 2014 ; Daly et al, 2016 ; Torres et al, 2016 ; Lipus et al, 2017 , 2018 ).…”

Emerging Trends in Biological Treatment of Wastewater From Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction

“…16S rRNA sequencing of microbial mats at the start and end of loading cycles revealed a significant increase in the Idiomarina genus and Rhodospirillaceae family in Sample A1/2 and B, respectively. Biological treatability of PW samples from Utica and Bakken shale was also studied using microbial mats (Akyon et al, 2018). These samples varied in their organic and inorganic composition and were diluted to 50,000 and 100,000 mg/L TDS.…”

“…Among additives used, biocides, quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) and surfactants have all been identified as compounds of concern owing to limited data on their aquatic toxicity and environmental persistence ( Stringfellow et al, 2017 ). Additionally, solvents like acetone, methanol, isopropanol, naphthalene, 1,2,4- Trimethylbenzene, diesel and other petroleum distillates are frequently added during drilling operations ( Elsner and Hoelzer, 2016 ) which may resurface in FPW along with geogenic organic compounds described in section “Hydrocarbons and Organic Compounds.” While more than one-third of 155 organic compounds used in HF had prior data demonstrating biodegradability ( Camarillo et al, 2016 ), co-contaminant interactions can influence biodegradability of individual compounds in PW and need further investigation ( Kekacs et al, 2015 ; Mclaughlin et al, 2016 ; Rogers et al, 2017 ; Akyon et al, 2018 , 2019 ).…”

“…Biological treatability of PW samples from Utica and Bakken shale was also studied using microbial mats ( Akyon et al, 2018 ). These samples varied in their organic and inorganic composition and were diluted to 50,000 and 100,000 mg/L TDS.…”

Recent advances in photodegradation of antibiotic residues in water

“…As shown in Table 1 , physical methods such as adsorption, sedimentation, flocculation, and filtration only separate the antibiotic residues from the water and generate problematic products such as brine and contaminated adsorbents. Alternatively, biological approaches have recently emerged, and most antibiotic residues in the environment can be removed through this route [36] , [37] , [38] . However, the artificial introduction of active organisms into aquatic environments may disrupt the ecological balance of their biomes, which may cause irreversible ecosystem damage.…”