Beyond Hydrofracking

Author(s):  
Alex Prud’Homme

The shale gas industry is still in its adolescence. And as adolescents are wont to do, it presents us with a dilemma: while the energy supplies in shale are too important to overlook, the potential health and environmental impacts of extracting them are too great...

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr Sarah A Clancy ◽  
Rachel Brown ◽  
Gavin stewart ◽  
Rob Ward ◽  
Richard Davies

With the possible development of a shale gas industry within the UK, many review studies have been written in an attempt to further understand and identify potential environmental impacts related to shale gas extraction. However, until now, these review studies have not been critically assessed to determine their rigor. This article outlines the protocol for a systematic map of review studies on the potential environmental impacts of shale gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing. The main aim of this study is to systematically map peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed review studies and assess the abundance and quality of the evidence. Secondary objectives will also be explored in relation to assessing the distribution of the literature available on different environmental impacts, including impacts to water, land and air. The results of this systematic map will be used to inform recommendations for further research. This protocol outlines the reasoning, objectives, inclusion and exclusion criteria, search strategy and the screening processes for the systematic map. This report includes details on the plans for data extraction and data synthesis


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng Wang ◽  
Lifa Zhou

<p>Hydraulic fracturing is one of the key technologies to stimulate shale gas production and may have some environmental impacts while enhancing shale gas development. Through the introduction of hydraulic fracturing technology from the design and construction aspects, analysis of its potential adverse environmental impacts in water resource consumption, surface water and groundwater pollution, geological disasters, and other aspects, and based on the existing problems to form targeted solutions.</p><p>According to EIA report, during the stimulation process of shale gas fracturing, the amount of water resources is about 10,000m<sup>3</sup>, of which 20%-80% can be returned, and the flowback rate of Shale gas in China is 20%-60%, which means that at least 20%-40% polluted water containing various chemical raw materials will be hidden in the formation for a long time. The shale flowback rate in China is significantly lower than that in the United States, not only due to formation conditions, but also due to equipment and technology. In view of this situation, it is necessary to control the whole process from design to construction.</p><p>In the design process of hydraulic fracturing of shale gas, real-time control of the fracture range is carried out in conjunction with seismic monitoring and software simulation fitting, so as to reduce the consumption of water resources on the premise of achieving the purpose of increasing production. Especially, to reducing the fracturing program as much as possible in the water-scarce areas, so as to ensure the security of public water resources. Reduce the use of chemical additives to alleviate the pollution of surface water and groundwater. After detection of possible pollution, determine the amount of pollution sources on site and carry out comprehensive pollutant recovery and treatment. Strictly prohibit high-risk pollution sources from entering the fracturing fluid process. At the same time, the fracturing fluid is used to recycled and purified. In terms of geological disasters caused by fracturing, high-risk geological disaster zones should be identified and monitored in advance to prevent large-scale geological activities caused by micro-earthquakes caused by fracturing from causing uncontrollable geological disasters.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 820-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang He ◽  
Fengqi You

Using detailed techno-economic-environmental models, we investigate the environmental impacts and production costs of the mega-scale shale gas-to-olefins projects in the U.S.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1151-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin W. Milt ◽  
Tamara D. Gagnolet ◽  
Paul R. Armsworth

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