Recycling of flowback and produced water for subsequent hydraulic fracturing has emerged as an essential technology for unconventional oil and gas development in the Marcellus region. Recycling has also led to large impoundments and lengthy periods of impoundment. During storage, microbial populations arise that cause the evolution of malodorous and toxic compounds such as sulfide and fermentation products. These same populations may also affect the solubility fate of metals and naturally occurring radioactive materials in the impoundment. Aeration and biocides are common strategies to control the microbial populations and prevent anaerobic conditions from developing. Microbial communities were examined in source water, hydraulic fracturing fluids, produced water, and impoundments using conventional, high-throughput, and next-generation (Illumina) sequencing. The microbial communities that emerge in wellhead samples were distinct over time from the source water and hydraulic fracturing fluids through production. Similarly, during impoundment of produced water, microbial communities evolve that were distinct with management strategy. Some populations in the produced water and impoundments were similar to known anaerobic, halophilic populations observed in both offshore and onshore conventional produced waters. Metagenomic analyses reveals distinct functional capabilities of the communities in produced water with both time and geochemical parameters of the wastewater. Overall the findings reveal the microbial communities that exist in novel environments associated with hydraulic fracturing and suggest that recycling of flowback water is likely to introduce deleterious populations into newly fractured wells that can accelerate the onset of sour-gas production.

Ecological changes in bacterial communities in water from hydraulic fracturing and production phases of natural gas development from the Marcellus play

247th National Meeting (2014)

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