News Release

Fracking fluid chemicals uncovered, helping test for contamination

Science needs to catch up with the public awareness, say researchers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Elsevier

The organic chemicals in fracking fluid have been uncovered in two new studies, providing a basis for water contamination testing and future regulation. The research, published in Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry and Science of the Total Environment, reveals that fracking fluid contains compounds like biocides, which are potentially harmful if they leak into the groundwater.

The authors behind the new study say it's time for the relatively new science to catch up with the extensive public awareness. They say an increasing research focus on contamination from fracking fluid will lead to more attention and regulation in the future.

Fracking is a process used to release oil and natural gas from underground shale rock. It works by injecting fracking fluid - water with chemicals added - at high pressure into wells to create cracks in the rock. When the pressure is released, oil and gas can be recovered.

The fracking fluid comes back out at the surface as flowback water, which can contaminate the surface water and ultimately the groundwater if it is not properly disposed. Fracking companies add certain chemicals to prevent bacterial growth, for example, but until now the precise organic content had not been established. The new studies discuss the organic constituents, providing a way to detect contamination in the water system and proposing methods to recycle the water safely.

"A few years ago we started thinking that this could be a significant environmental water problem," explained Dr. Imma Ferrer, lead author of the research from the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA. "In some cases, the fluid has leaked from pipes and into groundwater. Before we can assess the environmental impact of the fluid, we have to know what to look for. If we find out what's in it, we can check if the groundwater is contaminated."

Previous studies have examined fracking fluid for inorganic content, including salt and radioactive elements that come from the rock formations. This new research focuses on organic compounds - the bigger molecules that companies add in to the fluid. The researchers combined two main techniques to identify these organic compounds: liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

The results reveal around 25% of the organic compounds the researchers believe to be present in fracking fluid. This includes surfactants - molecules that are commonly found in soaps - and biocides - potentially harmful compounds that kill microbes in the fluid and the well casing.

"We haven't found everything, but we think these are the most important organic compounds. We've identified the compounds that are necessary to test for contamination in groundwater and drinking water," said Dr. Ferrer.

"It's really exciting because I realized there had been a lot of research done on inorganic compounds, but the organic ones had been left a little bit aside. We now have sophisticated analytical techniques we can use to investigate this relatively new area, and this is really our chance to use these tools to identify as many compounds as we can."

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Article details:

"Chemical constituents and analytical approaches for hydraulic fracturing waters" by Imma Ferrer and E. Michael Thurman (doi: 10.1016/j.teac.2015.01.003). The article appears in Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Volume 5 (February 2015), published by Elsevier.

"Characterization of hydraulic fracturing flowback water in Colorado: Implications for water treatment" by Yaal Lester, Imma Ferrer, E. Michael Thurman, Kurban A. Sitterley, Julie A. Korak, George Aiken and Karl G. Linden (doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.01.043). The article appears in Science of the Total Environment, Volumes 512-513 (15 April 2015), published by Elsevier.

The articles are available for free on ScienceDirect until end June 2015:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214158815000045

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969715000583

After this time copies of the papers are available to credentialed journalists upon request, contact Elsevier's Newsroom at newsroom@elsevier.com or +31 20 4853564.

About Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry

Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry is devoted to publishing concise and critical overviews of the rapid changes and development in the field of environmental analytical chemistry. The acquisition of good quality chemical data in environmental systems and the sound interpretation of this data is the basis for enhancing our understanding of the environment. TrEAC provides timely coverage of the novel and innovative use of analytical methods for the investigation of environmentally relevant substances and problems. http://www.journals.elsevier.com/trends-in-environmental-analytical-chemistry/

About Science of the Total Environment

Science of the Total Environment is an international journal for publication of original research on the total environment, which includes theatmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, andanthroposphere. The total environment is characterized where these five spheres overlap. http://www.elsevier.com/locate/stoten

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions -- among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey -- and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com

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Elsevier
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