Frack Attack by Elijah Witherspoon

Project Idea!

danny_ragsdale — 2015-09-16 15:48:09 UTC

The basic idea behind our project is to create an object that can either lessen or negate the effects of the natural gas technique "hydraulic fracturing", or "fracking"

Historical Context

witherspoon_beast — 2015-09-16 15:55:04 UTC

During ancient empires they did not have access to natural gas and oil. However they did have access to timber. The Roman Empire specifically had a deforestation problem due to the fact that they were using the surrounding forest as fuel and building materials, much like we do with our fossil fuels today. We abuse them for fuel and use oil for products such as plastic containers and tires for cars.

With an increased demand for resources and food, constant pressure was put upon the land and soil to provide food for a growing economy. Regular clearing and plowing exhausted existing soil, which eventually became infertile.

danny_ragsdale — 2015-09-17 15:42:17 UTC

As visible in the picture below, much of fracking cases take place in hydrofrac zones underneath aquifers. This poses a threat to the ground water reserves because of the 2-8 million gallons of water, 400,000 gallons of chemicals and thousands of gallons of sand, only 20%-40% is recovered and transported to a "produced water" pit. The rest is left in the soil to contaminate the ground water. This leads to the contamination of ground wells and results in the creation of unsafe drinking water for hundreds of families in the immediate area.

danny_ragsdale — 2015-09-17 15:49:24 UTC

Here is an image of a frack pond. It's a man made pond containing several of the deadly, cancer-causing and neurotoxin related chemicals used in fracking fluid. These chemicals come from the "produced water" recovered from the fracking site.

What in the World is "Fracking"

witherspoon_beast — 2015-09-20 19:00:19 UTC

Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", is the process of shooting pressurized water, chemicals, and sand into shale deep within the earth and cracking it to release the natural gasses. In the process of doing this millions of gallons sand and chemical infused water are lost forever in the soil and ground water. The water that is recovered goes to a "produced water" pit where it is the evaporated out of the pit and into the atmosphere. Along with the water, the chemicals are also evaporated into the atmosphere, damaging the ozone layer. The earth is not rid of these chemicals forever. They fall back to the surface as acid rain only to end back up in the the soil and ground water where the unrecovered fracking fluid still resides. Fracking is an extremely dangerous and potentially fatal process which is being allowed to continue by the governments and private industries of natural gas rich countries. As for us in the United States, where we are sitting on what's been described as a "sea of natural gas", fracking has become an immediate problem in our society.

Advantages

danny_ragsdale — 2015-09-21 14:31:33 UTC

Fracking with carbon dioxide has a number of advantages. Not only would it eliminate the very large amount of waste water used.

This could also solve multiple other problems, in conventional fracking over half of the water stays behind in the rock and the water that is collected is then evaporated into the atmosphere to only fall back down as acid rain later. The water left behind in the rock slows down the fracking process and could block the path of natural gas. When carbon dioxide is used instead of water most of it come out of the well. (It can then be captured and used again).

Citations

danny_ragsdale — 2015-09-22 14:43:08 UTC

Topf, Andrew, Mr. "Water-less Fracking Could Be Industry Game Changer | OilPrice.com." OilPrice.com. CNBC, Fall 2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. "HEADQUARTERS." Headquarters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Usarmycorps, 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.

Solution

danny_ragsdale — 2015-09-22 14:45:45 UTC

It's possible to fracture gas rich rock pumping pressurized carbon dioxide (CO2) into wells to shatter the rock and push out more oil and gas without using any water at all.

CO₂ is injected in a liquid state using conventional fracturing pumps. Because of its density, CO₂ can carry high concentrations of proppant. CO₂ can be pumped with synthetic and natural polymers, lease crude, or diesel as a foam or micro-emulsion. This raises the hydrostatic head and lowers the viscosity of the system, thus reducing treating pressures and horsepower costs.

Co2 storage unit

danny_ragsdale — 2015-09-24 00:33:00 UTC