480 seconds of Marcellus shale flowback water…
Slide 1 of 73
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
Well 1 Well 2 Well 3 Well 4 Well 5 Blend 1 Blend 2
Tota
l Dis
solv
ed
So
lid
s, m
g/l
Organic solids
Inert solids
Sea Water~35,000 mg/lTypical wastewater ~300 - 500 mg/l
Chris Kulish, BS CE 2010Molly Pritz, BS Geol 2010
800 psi, polyamide brackish water desalination membrane
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
Flowback blend Pre-treated RO permeate
Tota
l Dis
solv
ed
So
lid
s, m
g/l
Organic solids
Inert solids
Through dilution only: 16 gas wells worth of salt per year in the watershed
Chris Kulish, BS CE 2010
April, 2009 Ch. 78 – Well permit fees from$100 to ~$1,800 - $3,000
February, 2011 Ch. 78 – Outdated well casingstandards updated
Ongoing Ch. 93 – Water quality based standards
August, 2010Ch. 95 – Effluent standards forTotal Dissolved Solids (TDS)
Changes to 25 PAC –Environmental Protection
Conventional Phys/Chem Treatment
Vapor Compression
Distillation
Centralized Wastewater Treatment (CWT) Facility
1,000 gal Blended flowback, 80,000 mg/LTDS
0.015 metric tons, 40% cake solids to
landfill
$40 ton
$238
680 gal Distillate, 100 mg/L TDS
320 gal to out-of-state deep well injection, 250,000 mg/L TDS
$91
POTW
River
Recycling, for fracturing
freePublic Water Utility
or Surface Water
$40, all costs included
or$4.50
Permits Lagging
New or expanding CWT
POTW
Pre-8/10 authorized discharges
Landfill Leachate
TDS, bromide (B
r-), ra
dium, etc.
Not well represented in monitoring plans from SRBC and USGS
Possibilities still exist for emerging pollutants in surface waters.
Migration from groundwater
Public Water Supply
Impoundment failures
Faulty casings
Natural Organic Matter (NOM):
2. Non-aromatics
Bromide Ion, Br-
OH
R
NH2
R
River
Activated carbon Pre-adsorption
Coagulation, Flocculation, and Sedimentation
Filtration Disinfection
Brominated Disinfection
Byproducts –
carcinogenic
XX
Cl2
Drinking Water Utilities are not as well equipped to prevent formation of brominated disinfection byproducts (DBPs).
1. Aromatics
Susquehanna River, Winter 2011
DBPs tend to be of the brominated type
DBPs tend to be of the chlorinated type
Kitis et al., 2001
Rebekah Hupp, 2013
‘Degree of aromatic organics’
Kitis et al., 2001
Susquehanna River, Winter 2011
Theoretical Max = 3
If bromide discharges increase, recent samples suggest the Susquehanna may be more likely to form brominated DBPs than chlorinated DBPs.
So, ultimately, where is it all going?