Geochemical evaluation of flowback brine from Marcellus gas wells in Pennsylvania, USA

Haluszczak, Lara O.; Rose, Arthur W.; Kump, Lee R.

doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2012.10.002

Cited by 454 publications

(375 citation statements)

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“…For example, the natural water quality data for Salt Spring in Susquehanna County, PA, documents that Appalachian Basin brine (ABB) up-wells naturally into groundwater and surface water in Susquehanna County in that location as well as others (18). Although diluted, this spring water has a similar composition to flowback/production waters throughout PA and a few other brine springs and deep formation waters in the state (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26) (Fig. 6 and Table S6).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Crossplot of Cl/Br mass ratio vs. Cl concentrations for samples collected from Wells 1, 2, and 5 (labeled) with bounding upper and lower conservative mixing curves for various endmembers (e.g., Appalachian Basin brine, sewage and animal waste, and halite sources). Appalachian Basin brine samples (20)(21)(22)24) and Marcellus Shale flowback samples (23,25,26) are also plotted for comparison.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evaluating a groundwater supply contamination incident attributed to Marcellus Shale gas development

Llewellyn¹,

Dorman²,

Westland³

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

257

241

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High-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) has revolutionized the oil and gas industry worldwide but has been accompanied by highly controversial incidents of reported water contamination. For example, groundwater contamination by stray natural gas and spillage of brine and other gas drilling-related fluids is known to occur. However, contamination of shallow potable aquifers by HVHF at depth has never been fully documented. We investigated a case where Marcellus Shale gas wells in Pennsylvania caused inundation of natural gas and foam in initially potable groundwater used by several households. With comprehensive 2D gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC-TOFMS), an unresolved complex mixture of organic compounds was identified in the aquifer. Similar signatures were also observed in flowback from Marcellus Shale gas wells. A compound identified in flowback, 2-n-Butoxyethanol, was also positively identified in one of the foaming drinking water wells at nanogram-per-liter concentrations. The most likely explanation of the incident is that stray natural gas and drilling or HF compounds were driven ∼1–3 km along shallow to intermediate depth fractures to the aquifer used as a potable water source. Part of the problem may have been wastewaters from a pit leak reported at the nearest gas well pad—the only nearby pad where wells were hydraulically fractured before the contamination incident. If samples of drilling, pit, and HVHF fluids had been available, GCxGC-TOFMS might have fingerprinted the contamination source. Such evaluations would contribute significantly to better management practices as the shale gas industry expands worldwide.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating a groundwater supply contamination incident attributed to Marcellus Shale gas development

Llewellyn¹,

Dorman²,

Westland³

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

257

241

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To test the models with more field-relevant ion compositions, additional toxicity tests were conducted on synthetic waters patterned after effluents and surface waters with anthropogenic elevations of major ions. Various published data [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and some unpublished data of the authors were examined and used to formulate 10 test waters that encompassed the range of variability observed for cation and anion ratios from these sources and which were feasible to prepare in the laboratory. Table 1 provides the fractional cation and anion concentrations (on a molar basis) in these "field-based mixtures."…”

Section: Model Parameterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The acute toxicity of major ion salts to Ceriodaphnia dubia. III. Mathematical models for mixture toxicity

Erickson

Mount

Highland

et al. 2017

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Based on previous research on the acute toxicity of major ions (Na þ , K þ , Ca 2þ , Mg 2þ , Cl -, SO 4 2-, and HCO 3 -/CO 3 2-) to Ceriodaphnia dubia, a mathematical model was developed for predicting the median lethal concentration (LC50) for any ion mixture, excepting those dominated by K-specific toxicity. One component of the model describes a mechanism of general ion toxicity to which all ions contribute and predicts LC50s as a function of osmolarity and Ca activity. The other component describes Mg/Ca-specific toxicity to apply when such toxicity exceeds the general ion toxicity and predicts LC50s as a function of Mg and Ca activities. This model not only tracks well the observed LC50s from past research used for model development but also successfully predicts LC50s from new toxicity tests on synthetic mixtures of ions emulating chemistries of various ion-enriched effluents and receiving waters. It also performs better than a previously published model for major ion toxicity. Because of the complexities of estimating chemical activities and osmolarity, a simplified model based directly on ion concentrations was also developed and found to provide useful predictions.

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“…Out of the injected water, only up to 25% returns to the surface that require cleaning and treatment (Haluszczak et al, 2013). The water consumption in stimulation could be minimised by using waterless fracking mechanisms (Goodman, 2012).…”

Section: Environmental Impact Regulations and Community Acceptancementioning

confidence: 99%

Economic impact analysis of natural gas development and the policy implications

2016

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In the US, the shale gas revolution ensured that the development costs of unconventional natural gas plummeted to the levels of $2-$3/Mcf. This success has motivated the development of shale gas in other regions, including Australia and Europe. This study, focussing primarily on aspects of economic impact analysis, estimates the development costs of shale gas extraction in both Australia and Europe, based on both direct and fiscal costs, and also suggests policy initiatives.The increasing liquefied natural gas (LNG) developments in Australia are already straining domestic gas supplies. Hence, the development of more natural gas resources has been given a high priority. However, a majority of the Australian shale resources is non-marine in origin and significantly different to the marine-type shales in the US. In addition, the challenges of high development costs and the lack of infrastructure, service capacity and effective government policy are inhibiting shale gas development. Increasing the attractiveness of low risk investment by new, local, developers is critical for Australian shale gas success, which will simultaneously increase domestic gas security. In the European context, unconventional 2 gas development will be challenged by direct, rather than fiscal costs. High direct costs will translate into average overall gas development costs over $13/Mcf, which is well over the existing market price.Keywords: Unconventional gas, Development costs, Shale gas, LNG IntroductionThe global energy sector is confronted with soaring energy needs of a growing population, improving standards of living and expanding economies of the world. Global energy consumption is projected to rise by 41% over the next two decades, while fossil fuels will still remain as the dominant form of energy, supplying around 80% of world energy consumption in 2040 (BP, 2014). Under this prolonged dependence on fossil fuels in conjunction with intensifying global concerns of increasing carbon emissions and climate warming, natural gas is becoming an important resource in catering to global energy needs.The International Energy Agency (IEA) (2014) asserts that world's remaining recoverable gas resources are sufficient for over 230 years at the current production rates. Moreover, natural gas is the fuel of choice for power generation as gas-fired power plants have the lower capital costs with less than half of the CO2 emissions of coal-fired power plants (Dormer, 2013; EIA, 2014a;Tay, 2014).In addition, the emergence of unconventional oil and gas has added a whole new dimension to the fossil fuel industry. The term "unconventional" refers to the requirement of some form of reservoir stimulation, which makes the recovery process more complex. The stimulation process is referred to as hydraulic fracturing, which leads to an increase in the permeability of the underground geological formations, such as shale, that are holding the oil and gas, easing the hydrocarbons out of entrapment and towards the well bore and, subsequently, the wellhea...

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Geochemical evaluation of flowback brine from Marcellus gas wells in Pennsylvania, USA

Cited by 454 publications

References 10 publications

Evaluating a groundwater supply contamination incident attributed to Marcellus Shale gas development

Evaluating a groundwater supply contamination incident attributed to Marcellus Shale gas development

The acute toxicity of major ion salts to Ceriodaphnia dubia. III. Mathematical models for mixture toxicity

Economic impact analysis of natural gas development and the policy implications

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