The use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking of shale has catapulted the US into one of the leading producers of natural gas in 2012. The producers are interested in the natural gas composition (C1 to C6 hydrocarbon and BTU content). Local Environmental Agencies will be concerned with leakage of methane from the fracking operation both from a reduction in the O2 level where employees work or a large leakage of a potential greenhouse gas during production. Another application involves the investigation of contamination of methane in local water supplies or streams. Data will be presented utilizing the PID Analyzers Model 312 portable gas chromatograph (GC) configured with a flame ionization detector (FID) that will detect hydrocarbons from ppm to percent levels. A dual column system is used for the various fracking applications described above. The portable GC has an embedded PC with PeakWorksTM software for GC control and peak integration. The internal battery and the pressurized cylinder will allow the GC to operate for 8-10 hours. This flexible and sensitive field portable GC is ideal for monitoring environmental concerns associated with fracking operations.

Environmental and process measurements in fracking operations with a portable gas chromatograph

248th National Meeting (2014)

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