The Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park Campus

Sustainability in Marcellus Shale DevelopmentEDSGN 100Section 001Design Team 8Design Team The Engineering QuartetFall 2016

Team Member Miaoci ZhangTeam Member Jiao LiuTeam Member Yiwen ShenTeam Member Haiwen Guan

Submitted to:Professor Berezniak

College of EngineeringSchool of Engineering Design, Technology and Professional ProgramsPenn State University

05 Dec 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. PROJECT OBJECTIVE

2. PROJECT SPONSOR

3. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

4. NATURAL GAS

4.1 Origin4.2 Sources

a. Conventional Reservoirsb. Unconventional Reservoirsc. Technically Recoverable Resources (TRR)

4.3 Uses4.4 Benefits

5. MARCELLUS SHALE

5.1. Location5.2. Basic Geology5.3. Depth5.4. Recoverable Gas Resource5.5. Current Production5.6. Economic Benefits in Pennsylvania

6. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING PROCESS

6.1. Site Development: Planning Phase6.2. Well Site Preparation: Execution Phase6.3. Drilling and Completing Wells: Performance Phase6.4. Well Production and Operations: Operational Phase

7. ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

7.1. Contamination of Drinking Water Aquifers7.2. Chemicals Used in Fracking Process7.3. High Water Usage7.4. Fugitive Methane7.5. Surface Runoff from Drill Pads 7.6. Spills and Leaks of Hydraulic Fracking Fluids7.7. Leaks From Pits Liners and Storage Tanks7.8. Handling, Treatment and Disposal of Fracking Wastewaters

7.9. Infrastructure Impact a. Land Useb. Pipelinesc. Noised. Traffic e. Processing Facilities

8. SUSTAINABILITY

9. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

9.1. Federal Regulations9.2. Federal Exemptions9.3. Pennsylvania Regulations

10. WATER TREATMENT PRODUCED WATER

10.1. Background10.2. Common Practice10.3. Findings10.4. Recommendations

11. CONCLUSIONS

12. REFERENCES

Sustainability in Marcellus Shale

Development

1. PROJECT OBJECTIVE

Make an improvement of the common industry treatment of produced water in shale development through engineering design process; provide a method that treats the produced water on site properly and transforms it into marketable product, while keeping sustainability of the environment and remaining a safe and profitable business.

2. PROJECT SPONSOR

The sponsor for this project is Chevron, which is the second‐largest oil and gas company in the United States. As a major international energy company which has almost 60,000 employees all around the world, Chevron has kept its position in the field of energy as one of the best companies to work for.Chevron’s reliable and affordable energy output plays a significant part in powering the global economy, and has been advancing living standards over the past 150 years. Millions of people’s lives are tightly connected to Chevron’s industry, since both energy and jobs are provided by the industry which allow people to make improvements to their standards and quality of life.

3. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Two of Chevron’s key values when accomplishing industry practices are Ingenuity and Protecting People and Environment. While seeking new methods of producing natural gas, Chevron also strives to make their projects sustainable. For this specific project, an approach to treat the produced water on-site is required. During the process of gas production in the well, nearly 400 barrels of brine water are also produced and needed to be regularly transferred out of site.

In order to treat this large amount of brine water and make it into marketable products, this design project suggests to install reverse osmosis filtration system on site which can filter out the particles and dissolved chemicals in the produced water and make the water product usable again.

4. NATURAL GAS

4.1 Origin

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The most widely acknowledged theory of the origin of natural gas is that it was formed by certain chemical reaction that took place in marine organisms that were buried in sands. After a long time, these sands that contained organic compounds blended with the earth’s sediments and settled to several hundreds of feet deep. As the sediments thickened, pressure and heat would be generated and would in turn solidify some of the sand and other materials into forms of rock. Over long periods of time, some of these rocks were raised up to the surface due to geological activities and then settled under water again. During this process, more layers of marine organisms might be added on to the original sediment and led to more gas-containing rock formation, which would release natural gas once being drilled into (RGC resources, 2003). A figure that shows where the natural gas sediment is located beneath the earth’s surface is attached at the back as figure 1.

4.2 Sources

a. Conventional Reservoirs

Natural gas that is economical to extract and easily accessible is considered conventional. Conventional gas is trapped in conventional reservoirs that consists of numerous layers of rock formations that have low porosity and low permeability (National geographic. 2012).

b. Unconventional Reservoirs

In contrast to conventional gas, unconventional gas is hard to find and noneconomic to extract. Several types of unconventional gas can be found therefore, accordingly, there are numerous types of unconventional reservoirs.

Deep natural gas reservoir. This type of reservoir contains gas that exists in deposits very far from the underground which is beyond conventional drilling depths. Due to such a large depth, it is expensive to extract deep natural gas for industries.

Tight natural gas reservoirs. The second reservoir contains natural gas that is tightly stuck in underground formations, such hard rock or limestone formation, which are both non-porous and impermeable, creating huge difficulty in extracting the gas.

Shale gas reservoir. Some types of shales have certain physical and chemical properties which add difficulty in extracting natural gas from them.

Coalbed Methane reservoir. Coalbed methane is nowadays a popular form of natural gas; it is largely trapped deeply underground which is hard to get access to and release into the atmosphere (NaturalGas.org. 2013).

c. Technically Recoverable Resources (TRR)

According to the data gathered by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in the year of 2013, there were about 2276 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable resources of dry natural gas in the U.S. With such a huge number of natural gas resources, and the average natural gas consumption rate of 27 trillion cubic feet per, the U.S. is likely to keep using these resources up to 84 years without exhausting the globe. (eia.gov.org 2016)

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4.3 Uses

Natural gas has several uses and is widely exploited in a variety of aspects. According to the Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook in 2002, 32% of natural gas was used in industrial, followed by electric generation with 24%. There are 22% and 14% that were used in residential and commercial respectively; a pie chart that shows the portion of natural gas usage distribution can be found as figure 2 (NaturalGas.org. 2013).

4.4 Benefits

As one of the most important energy sources, natural gas has numerous benefits when applied to large-scale industry. The first one is its cost-efficiency; most natural gas appliance can function at a lower cost than electric appliances, therefore being a more economic sustainable choice for many corporations. The second benefit is its reliability; since the natural gas system is buried deeply underground, there are very few factors that can directly affect it. As a result, outage of energy rarely happens, making it a very reliable source of power for both industrial and domestic use. The third benefit is its high efficiency, especially when compared to electric energy. Natural gas furnaces generally last longer than electric heat pumps, with 90% of the natural gas being reserved and only 10% being lost when delivering; however, 70% of electricity will be lost along the way, generating much less effective power for people to use (Alagasco. 1997).

5. MARCELLUS SHALE

5.1. Location

The location of Marcellus shale ranges widely in the U.S; as it is shown in figure 3, the lower 48 states have a rich resources of shale plays and shale basins. Generally speaking, the Marcellus shale runs from the southern tier of New York, through the western portion of Pennsylvania into the eastern half of Ohio and through West Virginia. In Pennsylvania, the formation extends from the Appalachian plateau into the western valley and ridge (“Unconventional natural gas reservoir could boost U.S. supply”, 2008).

5.2. Basic Geology

Throughout most of Pennsylvania, the Marcellus shale is associated with the Mahan tango Formation above and the Onondaga Formation below. All three layers were produced during the mid-Devonian period, 380-390 million years ago. They were all created by the accumulation of sediments deposited when Pennsylvania was covered by a shallow sea. (Curtis, 2011). The Mahan tango Formation is composed of primarily shale, with some sandstone and siltstone components (Curtis, 2011). The Onondaga Formation is a hard limestone layer with little natural gas production potential (Curtis, 2011).

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5.3. Depth

The depth of Marcellus shale varies with specific geology as it is shown in figure 4; the Marcellus shale can occur as deep as 9000 feet below surface. In most places in northeastern Pennsylvania it is found at depths of 5000’ in the northern part of Pennsylvania to over 7000’ in Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties (Curtis, 2011). In northeastern Pennsylvania, the formation is especially thick in the center of Susquehanna County. In the Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming County region, thickness decreases markedly from over 175 feet in the northwestern parts of Wyoming County to less than 50 feet in the southeastern parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties (Curtis, 2011).

5.4. Recoverable Gas Resources

The formation of Marcellus shale runs an estimated 600 miles north to south, and is estimated to hold as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, about 50 trillion cubic feet of which is recoverable using current technology. It is one of the richest gas fields in North America, which is the reason why Marcellus shale can serve a role as a significant natural energy supplier. (“News, Wells, Formation, Markets and Resources: Oil & Gas Financial Journal”, n.d.).

5.5. Current Gas Production

According to recent researches, in the year of 2015, Marcellus shale added nearly 3 billion cubic feet per day of net production of natural gas in the state of Pennsylvania and approximately 70 billion cubic feet per day across the country. With an overall number this large, it clearly indicates that Marcellus shale in the U.S. is close to its peak production in natural gas resources and also explains why it is such an Important topic (Schaefer, K. 2015, April 4).

5.6. Economic Benefits in Pennsylvania

The economic impact of Marcellus shale is in Pennsylvania is significant; During 2009 the Marcellus shale related industry offered between 23,385 to 23,884 jobs, and created $3.1 and $3.2 billion revenues in that year. This huge number included about $1.2 billion in labor income and almost $1.9 billion in value added to the Pennsylvania economy. Therefore, it is rather fair to say Marcellus shale acts as an irreplaceable part in the development of the economy in Pennsylvania. (Kelsey, Shields, Ladlee & Ward, 2011).

6. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING PROCESS

6.1. Site Development: Planning Phase

Planning phase is the initial step for hydraulic fracturing process; it is also the most important and fundamental phases in all of Chevron’s projects. Thus, the planning phase requires numerous activities to be developed and conducted by teams of engineers who specialize in different design processes, such as well pad sites design, wells design and supporting facilities

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design. This significant phase may take years to accomplish since it is so critical in creating value and determining if the projects will be successful.

6.2. Well Site Preparation: Execution Phase

The execution phase is tightly connected to well site preparation, which includes the construction of Chevron’s well pad sites and preparation for future drilling activity and the completion of the wells. While trying to achieve the above activities, one has to bear in mind that larger pad site provides more areas for safer drilling work; however, it also means more cost during the preparation phase. As a result, a balance between appropriate pad size and safe operation must be created for future execution work to continue.

In order to keep sustainability and protect the groundwater, a large portion of Chevron’s well pad sites is used for water storage by using tanks, as shown in figure 5. This new method of exploiting water tanks reduces harm to the groundwater from the water wastes but also raises the cost of the projects.

Lastly, in order for future drilling work to be down and the wells to be completed, plastic liners will be put on part of the well pads’ surface to serve as containment on top of which the drilling and completion activities can be done. The plastic liners may be seriously damaged during heavy industrial performances; however, there should be methods to reuse these liners after the project is done.

6.3. Drilling and Completing Wells: Performance Phase

With the help of advanced industrial technology, numerous horizontal wells can be drilled all together from one single pad location, which is much more sustainable since only one well pad is needed for the purpose of drilling multiple horizontal wells. After the wells are drilled, hydraulic fracking process comes into place, the overall flow chart of the process can be seen in figure 6, which consists of water acquisition, chemical mixing, well injection, wastewater and water treatment/disposal. With the help of hydraulic fracking, which requires a large amount of water to operate, natural gas that is deep below the surface can be pumped up and released.

6.4. Well Production and Operations: Operational Phase

After all the above activities are completed, natural gas can be produced from the wells. In order to achieve that, production equipment will be installed onto the well and the produced natural gas will be transferred to users through pipelines. Some brine water, a mixture of salt water and total dissolved solids, which can be seen in figure 7 will also be produced during the process and is commonly disposed after the projects are down. It is our responsibility, for this design project particularly, to treat the wasted brine water and make it into marketable by-products.

7. ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

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7.1. Contamination of Drinking Water Aquifers

Hydraulic fracking has revolutionized the oil and gas industry worldwide but has been accompanied by highly controversial incidents of reported water contamination. This happens mainly because during certain operations of the hydraulic fracking process, the fracturing fluids which is contaminated may flow into drinking water supplies. Even though the contamination of drinking water aquifers is an inevitable consequence of hydraulic fracking, numerous researches have shown that it would not cause major health issues or risks to the public (Llewellyn, Dorman, Westland, Yoxtheimer, Grieve, Sowers, … Brantley, 2015).

7.2. Chemicals Used in Fracking Process

The chemical combinations and concentrations used in the fracking process is undisclosed, considered by the industry to be trade secrets; but there are still some common chemicals that are familiar to most people, such as acids and Sodium Chloride. Many of these chemicals are known to be harmful, both to human and animal populations but are highly irreplaceable due to their unique purposes and functions. A table of typical chemical additives used in fracking water can been seen in figure 8. (West Virginia Rivers Coalition, n.d.).

7.3. High Water Usage

Water acts as a primary fluid during hydraulic fracking process and serve multi-functions during different performances of projects. Most of this water comes from nearby natural sources such as lakes, rivers and also municipal supplies; some of it also can be taken from groundwater when there is a sufficient quantity. Due to the significant function of water, Marcellus shale related industry commonly has very high water usage on site. From the data provided by FracFocus National Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Registry, a peak Marcellus Shale activity can use up 1.2 and 3.5 gallons of water per well, some of the larger projects may use up to 8.4 million gallons per day. With such a high demand of water usage, concerns over the more arid regions have been raised.

7.4. Fugitive Methane

Methane is the primary component of natural gas, which is the main energy source provided by Marcellus shale. Methane goes into air in a form called fugitive methane as a product of burning natural gas. This product is a major greenhouse gas and may cause serious environmental problems, especially climate change. In fact, fugitive methane created in Marcellus shale industry outnumbers the greenhouse gas emissions of other heavy industry such as iron and steel manufacturing so on. Additionally, groundwater methane may also contaminate water quality or even lead to explosion in extreme cases. Therefore, it is much needed to reduce the emission of fugitive methane in order to keep sustainability.

7.5. Surface Runoff from Drill Pads

Potential sources of runoff from drill pads are fuels and oils for the drilling rig and on-site equipment, flow back, or leak of produced water, (Holloway& Rudd, 2013). When a well is

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hydraulically fractured, somewhere between 18 and 80 percent of the fracking fluid injected into the well will return to the surface and then runoff into surface water. This flow-back water is heavily contaminated by the chemicals in the fluids, as well as dissolved salts and heavy metals from deep within the earth and may cause various health risks for local residents (Greenpeace USA, 2016)

7.6. Spills and Leaks of Hydraulic Fracking Fluids

Due to equipment failure or operate errors of the drill rig, hydraulic fracking fluids may spill or leak and contaminate surface or groundwater with toxic chemicals in the fluids. Researchers have estimated that in Pennsylvania, between approximately 0.4 to 12.2 spills would happen for every 100 wells; the frequency is rather high and has raised many environmental concerns (United State Environmental Agency, 2015).

7.7. Leaks From Pits Liners and Storage Tanks

Due to some inevitable flaws of the material and other operating failure, hydraulic fracking fluids may also leak from pits liners and storage tanks. Without proper containment, the fluids and produced water will then runoff into surface water or seep into groundwater and make serious contamination, which highly concerns the public.

7.8. Handling, Treatment and Disposal of Fracking Wastewaters

The wastewaters of fracking include many toxic chemical components, making it difficult to handle, treat or dispose. According to Greenpeace organization publication, once fracking wastewater is formed it will then be contaminated by heavy metals and radioactive elements, making the product deadly toxic. (Greenpeace USA, 2016).

7.9. Infrastructure Impact

a. Land Use

Hydraulic fracking well sites take up several acres of land where plants and vegetation have to be cleared off. With the installment of drilling equipment and the increase of traffic, a large amount of farm and forestland has to be transformed into well pad sites for industrial purposes. These well pad sites might be damaged and scared as a result of the hydraulic fracking process and hard to be reused as farmland.

b. Pipelines

Pipeline has impacted three aspects of environmental concerns, which are listed below. Soils: The installment of pipelines may affect the soil conditions. Soils can be eroded,

contaminated, and even can be acidified by local emissions of chemicals causing acid rain, which will scar the land for years.

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Geology and terrain: Possible alterations of geology may also occur as a result of building pipelines. These changes can cause landslides, along with many accompanying risks to the safety of the surrounding environment.

Vegetation: In order to build pipelines, vegetation and plants need to be cleared off. Even the crops or plants are not taken off from the farmland, they can be negatively affected by surface disturbance, changes in water flows, and air contamination (L. of P. 2012).

c. Noise

During the process of pad construction and completion of the well, numerous equipment will be utilized, such as drilling and trucking equipment, the operation of these appliances would result in noises which may affect the surrounding residents. Large gas compressors and more transportation devices will also be put into use during hydraulic fracking once the well site in established. Inevitably notable noise will soon follow as a consequence of the operation of gas compressors and the increase of traffic, which may lead to many adverse effects on animals and even plants.

d. Traffic

Traffic increases drastically near hydraulic fracking sites since many processes during the operation, such as bringing equipment initially, completing wells, and hauling produced water, require the use of heavy vehicles like trucks. The growing traffic would lead to wear and damage to the local roadways and bridges; and there is also a high potential for hydraulic fracking fluids and produced water to leak during transportation, which in turn will contaminate surface and ground water.

e. Processing Facilities

Once the hydraulic fracking process is done, numerous processing facilities will be put into use for waste disposals, water treatment and many other purposes. These large-scale facilities typically have a high demand for water and land usage and will also bring increased traffic and noises. As a result, the operating of processing facilities related to hydraulic fracking causes as much concerns as the issue itself.

8. SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability is the ability for a certain desired behavior to continue; more specifically, it is a balance between exploiting limited environmental resources and meeting social needs through engineering process. Sustainability is one of the most fundamental principles to follow during many processes of industry. While providing for the tremendous amount of social needs, engineers should also take the environmental resources limit and economic condition that are associated with the needs into account. For Marcellus shale development specifically, sustainability requires related corporations to think and plan with foresightedness when

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building pad well sites and completing hydraulic fracking process. Engineers need to have the ability to take the best use of the limited natural gas resources and also make it possible for future development to be maintained and continued without exhausting the Appalachian Basin areas. Also, proper maintenance, regulation and treatment processes are needed to reduce the possibility of produced water leakage to its minimum, so the environment and local residents would not suffer from the development of Marcellus shale.

9. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

9.1. Federal Regulations

For federal regulations about hydraulic fracking, specifically, there are numerous laws and acts that are applicable to the issue which will be listed and discussed down below:

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1974This Act was implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and outlined the minimum requirements for a state to obtain primary enforcement and regulatory responsibility for underground drilling and injection activities.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 In Subtitle C of this Act particularly, it requires EPA to regulate the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste that is produced during the fracking process.

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA) in 1986Section 313 of this Act requires EPA and the States to collect data on releases and transfers of listed toxic chemicals that are manufactured, processed, or otherwise used above threshold quantities by certain industries.

The Clean Water Act This Act sets limitations of the concentration and quantity of pollutant that can be disposed into waters of the United States and sets regulatory monitoring and recording requirements for the implementation.

The Clean Air ActThis Act indicates that EPA has the authority to regulate the emission of hazardous air pollutant, which can be found during the hydraulic fracking process, to protect the health and well-fare of the public.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

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This Act offers a federal Superfund to clean up abandoned waste sites, including hydraulic fracking sites, which may contain hazardous substances.

9.2. Federal Exemptions

Hydraulic fracking has long been controversial issue because it is exempted for a vast variety of federal regulations and laws. These exemptions are listed below:

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

After conducting a series of determinations, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) excluded oil, gas, and geothermal production wastes as hazardous wastes which would be regulated under subtitle C of this Act. Instead, the by-products of these types of wastes flexible enough to be exempted but would still be regulated under subtitle D of RCRA.

Clean Air Act

Most oil and gas production sites are exempted from the requirement to obtain a Title V permit since the amount of their emissions are slightly below the categorical standard; the oil and gas exploration wells are excluded from the regulation of major source as well.

Clean Water Act

After several amendments were made about the Act, the water runoff of the exploration, production, and processing of oil and gas was exempt from being required to obtain permits from the EPA.

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

Two amendments of SDWA were added after EPA published its report about the potential and actual impacts of hydraulic fracturing of coalbed methane wells on drinking water.

National Environmental Policy Act

Five circumstances, which include certain oil and gas related activities, are exempted from getting an additional environmental impact statement (EIS).

Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)

Up to 2014, the oil and gas industry has still not been added to be regulated by section 311 of EPCRA which means it is exempted from reporting its data of releases and transfers of certain chemicals to the EPA.

9.3. Pennsylvania Regulations

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Besides federal regulations and laws, there are also numerous Acts that were implemented by the State of Pennsylvania and they are listed down below:

Act 13 of Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas ActThis act is a major overhaul of the oil and gas laws in Pennsylvania; it provides an environmental protection for unconventional wells and imposed an Impact Fee on them.

Pennsylvania Oil and Gas ActThis is one of the primary laws that regulates natural gas in Pennsylvania which established the permitting process, bonding requirements, technical standards and other issues about the production of oil and gas.

Impact FeeThis is created under Act 13 to charge a certain amount of fee from natural gas corporations for every unconventional well of theirs that is actively operating and drilling.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Decision on Act 13This decision struck down certain parts of the original Act 13 and made adjustments to it.

10. WATER TREATMENT - PRODUCED WATER

10.1. Background

After a well site is put into use to produce gas, the process of hydraulic fracturing exploits a large amount of water for many different purposes. This water will then be contaminated by total dissolved solids (TDS) and other naturally occurring metals, such as barium and strontium, then become produced water. According to recent researches, from 20% to 40% of the water of a gas well will flow back to the ground surface and become produced water. Besides the fracturing chemicals added during gas drilling, this water absorbs other contaminants from the environment in the deep which makes it difficult and also expensive to recycle and reuse (Marcellus-shale.us, n.d.).

For a typical well pad of Chevron that consists of 10 wells, approximately 40 barrels with a concentration of nearly 40000 ppm total dissolved solids will be produced every single day on site. This huge amount of produced conventionally would be put in temporary storages and then be transported for treatment or disposal. Nevertheless, it is rather expensive to store such a large amount of brine water and keep the tanks well-maintained. Also, there are some risks of material wear-off and operating failures which may lead to spill and leak of the contaminated produced water. Therefore, an innovative method of treating the produced water and make it

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into marketable products is important for the sustainability of the environment and also the industry.

10.2. Common Practice

There are numerous common practices to for produced water treatment; the most conventional methods will be listed and discussed down below:

Water ConditionersWater conditioners contain chemicals that can neutralize the natural occurring metal compounds in produced water. More specifically, water conditioners can alter the crystallization behavior of barium and strontium ions so their concentration of will be induced, making produced water less contaminated. (Water Conditioners, n.d.).

Water SoftenersSofteners are usually used in treating produced water, which has high level of mineral substance. Lime is a common water softener added into produced water to take of the soluble metal ions. Water softeners can replace the calcium and magnesium in the water with sodium. They can also reduce the iron and manganese in the water (Water softeners, n.d.).

Activated Carbon FiltrationActivated Carbon Filtration is a mature technic in water treatment. It works by absorbing the compounds in order to remove the bad taste, bad smell, and some of the harmful chemicals. Activated Carbon is a porous material that has huge total surface area. Chemicals will be held on the large surface. (Water filters, n.d.).

Ultraviolet (UV) Water FiltersUltraviolet filters use short-wavelength ultraviolet light to kill bacteria or make it less active. However, chemical pollutants won’t be affected by UV Filters because UV light is only effective to organism. What’s more, the treatment will be effective only inside of the treatment area, so the treated water should be used as soon as possible (Water filters, n.d.).

Sand FiltrationSand filtration is a physical way to treat water in a large scale. There are two types of sand filtration: slow sand filtration and rapid sand filtration. Both kinds of sand filtrations are composed of a sand bed with specially qualified sand. Slow sand filtration is slower in process but it can remove smaller particles, substances dissolved in the water and most pathogens (Oki, 2013).

10.3. Findings

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With a vast amount of produced water treatment method, many researches and findings have been done to evaluate the specific advantages and disadvantages of each of the method and to determine if it is suitable for large-scale treatment process for hydraulic fracking fluids. The finding results will also be presented down below:

Water Conditioners

For the first method of adding in water conditioners, the output water will be cleared of sodium, calcium and magnesium ions, which makes the water highly reusable since it increases heating efficiency and soap efficiency with low running cost. Nevertheless, water conditioners won’t treat anything else but specific ions in the produced, so it is hard to be exploited in large scale. The typical system will cost $224 and $511 for large residential or industrial use.

Water Softeners

For the second method of adding in water softeners, compared to the first method specifically, it is not very suitable to treat the water for irrigation purposes since the chemicals in water softeners are harmful to crop growth. In addition to that, this method is expensive to install and maintain; it generally costs $765 per 35,000 grain capacity and $869 per 48,000 grain capacity, making it not very suitable for large scale exploitation.

Activated Carbon Filtration

The third one is activated Carbon (AC) water filters. It is effective in removing organic contaminants from water, and it will also remove chlorine. But it doesn’t remove microbes, sodium, nitrates, fluoride, which means it does not reduce the overall hardness of the produced water much, making it not efficient for hydraulic fluids treatment. As for the cost of the system, it costs around $550 for a whole hose system.

Ultraviolet (UV) Water Filters

Next comes ultraviolet (UV) water filters. The system is generally used for killing bacteria and viruses in brine water but is also considerably efficient in filtering out contamination chemicals, with a very high filtration capacity of 10 gallons per minute. However, the disadvantage is that the UV water filter is not able to remove any dead cells and contaminants out of the storage tank, which means more facilities need to be put in for further treatment process and an increase of cost. A complete UV water filter system normally costs approximately $500.

Sand filters

Sand filters remove most bacteria and turbidity in a physical fashion. Nevertheless, it is best used for less contaminated water conditions such as swimming pools and ponds due to because its relatively low filtration capacity. Produced water from hydraulic fracking process can be too much to process for a sand filter facility. Pricewise, it only costs $300. (Common water problems. 2003).

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10.4. Recommendations

As for the recommendations for the methodology of treatment of the produced water, our design team picks the reverse osmosis (RO) filtration system as one of the most sustainable solutions to treat hydraulic fluids. More specific introductions and rationales will be listed down below:

Design IdeaThe general idea of this design is to treat brine water in reverse osmosis filters and then reuse the product after filtration. Reverse osmosis is a water purification process which exploits a semi-permeable membrane, a membrane that only allows certain atoms to pass through, to remove and filter out metal ions and other chemical contaminants, leaving only pure water. The model of a reverse osmosis tube is shown in figure 9. Due to the nature of chemical potential difference, a solution that is less concentrated will have the tendency to flow to the solution with a high concentration. According to this property, exchanges of molecules will occur when putting both produced water and fresh water in a U-shaped tank with a semi-permeable membrane to apart them. Specifically in the reverse process, water molecules in the produced water tend to migrate to the less concentrated fresh water tube; however, other salt molecules will be blocked by the membrane. Thus, when applying a pressure higher than the osmotic pressure of the produced water, water molecules will be pushed out of the brine mixture and flow into the fresh water tank and reused for many other purposes.

In order to treat the brine water produced on site for this specific design project, 4 stage RO filtration systems is needed (system diagram shown in figure 10). In the first stage, pre-filtration will take place in the sediment filter, screening out dirt, sands and other particles. Then the produced water will go to stage 2, where activated carbon filters will reduce the unpleasant smell and taste of the brine water. Then a high pressure pump will lift up the pressure of the brine water, forcing the molecules to migrate and flow to the RO membrane. Due to the unique property of RO membrane, only water molecule is able to travel through and come out from the other side as permeate water (process shown in figure 11). Then the permeate water will go through stage 4, where the polishing filter that contains also activated carbon filters will make sure the output water is crystal clear. The overall design of the system can be seen in figure 12 where a CAD drawing of the RO filtration if provided.

Till this point, 95% to 99% of the dissolved salt is in the reject stream. The product of the filtration is only clear water with very low concentration of salt or particles, which means it can become marketable product for many purposes, such as irrigation, or steel manufacturing.

Rationale for the opportunityRO filtration system has numerous advantages which explains why it is reasonable to treat produced water by using this method. Firstly, RO filtration is very efficient. A

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typical 2 stage RO filter can leave 95% to 99% of the dissolved ions in reject stream, keeping the majority of its yield clear water (Ali Al-Karaghouli, Larry Kazmerski, 2015). Secondly, RO filtration performs the separation without changing the phase of the produced water, which means lower energy input and lower cost. Lastly, RO equipment has been well-developed for many years. The operation is fully standardized or even automatic, meaning less risks of operation failure and fewer need for labor skill training.

Economic viability of the system

According to cost analysis of RO filtration system conducted by researches, at normal condition, in order to treat produced water with 35000 ppm of total dissolved solids (TDS), at a temperature of 30 , the total water production cost is $0.986/m℃ 3 with different distribution between electricity cost, plant construction cost and so on. For this particular design project, 400 barrels of brine water with 40000 ppm of TDS are produced on site every day, which would approximately cost $47.33 per day for water treatment.

11. CONCLUSIONS

Sustainability is the ability to continue; in the specific case of Marcellus shale development, sustainability requires industries to keep a balance between the exploitation of limited natural gas resources and providing for the society with sufficient energy. In order to meet this requirement, recycling and reusing of waste product can be critical which is why it is necessary to treat the brine water produced during hydraulic fracking process.

Taking into account of the condition of Chevron’s well pad sites and many alternative brine water treatment methods, our design team comes up with the recommendation of installing reverse osmosis filtration system on site to filter out clean water out of chemical contaminants and reuse it for other purposes such as irrigation. RO system is an environmental sustainable method in that it occupies less land when compared to large water storage tanks and it releases almost no waste products to the surrounding areas. It is also economic sustainable since it is highly efficient in treating brine water and requires only a small amount of energy input. The cost of the system is relatively high comparing to some of the common practices, but it yields a decent amount of clean water as products which may also bring profits to the company when properly used.

In conclusion, installing reverse osmosis system is a highly sustainable method of treating brine water produced by Marcellus shale development and can be used for the purpose of making marketable by-products for Chevron.

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FIGURES

Figure 1. Location of Natural gas

Figure 2. Percentage of natural gas usage distribution

Figure 3. Shale in the lower 48 states

Figure 4. Depth of Marcellus Shale Base

Figure 5. Water storage tanks

Figure 6. Flowchart of Hydraulic Fracking process

Figure 7. Untreated Brine Fluid

Figure 8. Typical Chemical Additives Used in Fracking Water

Figure 9. Model of Reverse Osmosis Tube

Figure 10. 4 Stage Reverse Osmosis Filtration System

Figure 11. Process of Reverse Osmosis System

Figure 12. CAD Model of reverse Osmosis System