Recycled Water Becoming More Cost-Effective For Fracking

Could technology make fracking wastewater less controversial?

Halliburton, the biggest fracking services provider in the world, seems to be trying to find out.

The energy behemoth used about 25 billion gallons of water for fracking between 2011 and 2013 out of nearly 100 billion gallons used nationally , according to the Midland Reporter-Telegram. And Halliburton has been adding more crews to its fracking business in North America this year, Bloomberg reported.

The company appears to be investigating technology that could reduce the amount of fresh water used in its processes.

"With 70 to 80 percent if its wells located in drought-stricken areas, the company is increasingly investing in treatments and technologies for recycling produced water," the Midland-Telegram report said.

Dean Prather, a technology manager for Halliburton, described this as an industry trend.

“All of our customers want to get away from fresh water,” he said, per the report. "Treatments and technologies include ultra-violet light to control bacteria and dry powder gel agents to eliminate mineral oils, Prather said."

Produced water, if treated, can be used indefinitely, according to Bailey Morgan, a sales manager at Halliburton, per the report.

“The water molecule has such a strong bond that’s really hard to break,” Morgan said in the report. “In theory, if we can go to 100 percent produced water with a customer they can recycle that water a million times and never exhaust the water molecule.”

Technological advances are making it more economically viable for energy companies to recycle water.

“It used to be more expensive — that’s why it wasn’t popular,” Morgan said in the report. “But as technologies change and the fluid systems change, it gets more cost-effective.”

But there are risks involved, as well.

“It’s a huge risk; you can spend millions and cause problems if you use too much recycled water,” said Mark Patton, engineer for HydroZonix, a water treatment solutions company for the energy industry, per the report.

Water is a challenging issue for the shale gas industry. It faces questions from regulators about adverse impacts on the water supply as well as criticism for the amount of water it consumes.

Research findings released by Stanford University scientists in August said that "energy companies are fracking for oil and gas at far shallower depths than widely believed, sometimes through underground sources of drinking water," the Los Angeles Times reported.

For more oil and gas news, check out Water Online's Produced Water Solution Center.

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