Hydraulic fracturing (fracing) is a water intensive process that can use up to 6 million gallons of water per well with a large portion returning to the surface as wastewater. The majority of this water is disposed of through deep-well injection, representing a non-sustainable practice for the fracing water life cycle. In an effort to increase re-use practices, a better understanding of this wastewater is needed, along with investigating appropriate treatment technologies; especially how these waters change over time. As such, this research aims to characterize this wastewater and how it changes over time, along with several treatment options and the resulting water quality. Water samples were collected over a 7-month time period from a single hydraulically fractured well (Weld County, CO). These water samples include the fresh water used to make the fracturing fluid, the fracturing fluid itself, and nine flowback waters at 1, 4, 7, 15, 22, 55, 80, 130, 220. We are currently studying the chemical characteristics of these waters through LC-MS, GC-MS, IC-MS, organic matter characterization (EEMS), its Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM), and numerous wastewater indicators (TOC, COD, Turbidity, etc.). Results show changes in the polar/non-polar ionizable fractions (GC and LC-MS) of the flowback waters, as well as the various wastewater indicators (TOC, COD, Alkalinity). Description of these indicators and waters will be discussed, in order to gain a better understanding of what is returning, and how these fractions change over time. Research will also be described about treatments targeting suspended solids (coagulation/flocculation), dissolved organic carbon (biological oxidation), and total dissolved solids (hybrid membrane system) of these returning wastewaters.

Characterization and treatment of hydraulic fracturing wastewater over time from northeast Colorado

251st National Meeting (2016)

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