A new technique to clean waste water used in oil and natural gas production could reduce the environmental impact of controversial drilling practices, a study funded by the Department of Energy showed on Thursday. The nascent technology, which uses swelling glass to remove impurities in water, could be applied to fluids used in hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", a process which blasts shale rock with chemical-laced water to release gas and oil and has raised concern among environmentalists.
Last week, a Chesapeake Energy natural gas well in Pennsylvania spilled fracking fluid into a local creek after a blow-out, stoking a debate about the dangers of the process. Chesapeake has suspending fracking in Pennsylvania since the spill. "ABSMaterial's Osorb technology has been shown to clean flow back water and produced water from hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells," the DoE said in a statement.
The technology, which is only in pilot stage, has been tested on flow-back water from the Marcellus, Woodford, and Haynesville shale formations and produced water from the Clinton and Bakken formations. It has attracted commercial interest from several energy producers, the DoE said. "Very few technologies effectively address dissolved hydrocarbons, slicking agents, and polymers that prevent flow-back water from being recycled or discharged," the statement said.
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