• Transactions of the KSME C: Technology and Education
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.75-81
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• 2013

Shale gas has the potential to significantly change the way of the world's energy use. However, there are increasing concerns on environmental problems, particularly with respect to water use and wastewater treatment. This paper highlights issues related to shale gas water management and technologies currently used to address them. It also presents perspectives of emerging technologies for the treatment of shale gas wastewater, including forward osmosis (FO) and membrane distillation (MD).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.279-284
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• 2015

As non-conventional oil resources such as shale gas have been widely developed, proper treatment of flowback and produced water is becoming important. However, application of conventional water treatment techniques is limited due to high concentration of pollutants such as oil and grease, organics, harmful chemicals, and inorganic ions. In this study, we examined the feasibility of using forward osmosis (FO) and air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) as novel treatment options for shale gas wastewater. Laboratory-scale FO and MD devices were fabricated and used for the experiments. Results showed that FO could be used to treat the synthetic wastewater. Using 5 M NaCl as the draw solution, the flux was approximately $6L/m^2-hr$ during the treatment of low range wastewater (TDS: 66,000 mg/L). Nevertheless, AGMD was more effective to treat high range wastewater (Total Dissolved Solid: 260,000 mg/L) than FO.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.441-447
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• 2016

Development of shale gas has drawn increasing attention since it is one of promising alternative energy resources. However, contamination of groundwater and surface water during the extraction of shale gas is becoming a serious environmental issues, which brings the needs to treat wastewater generated from hydraulic fracking. In this study, the feasibility of membrane distillation (MD) for the treatment of shale gas wastewater was investigated using a laboratory scale experimental setup. Flat-sheet MD membranes were used to treat produced water from a shale gas well in the United States. Different configurations such as direct contact MD (DCMD) and air gap MD (AGMD) were compared in terms of flux and fouling propensity. The foulants on the surface of the membranes were examined. The results suggest that MD can treat the shale gas produced water containing more than 200,000 mg/L of total dissolved solids, which is impossible by other technologies such as reverse osmosis (RO) and forward osmosis (FO). In this study, we investigated the possibility of processing and characterization of shale gas produce wastewater using membrane distillation. Laboratory scale membrane distillation experimental device was developed. It was compared the flat-sheet direct contact membrane distillation and flat-sheet air gap membrane distillation. AGMD flux in lower than the flux of DCMD, it was expected that the contamination caused by organic matters.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.154-165
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• 2014

Development of unconventional natural resources such as shale gas, shale oil and coal bed methane, has been activated and improved the productivity due to the recent technology advance in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. However, the flowback water mixed with chemical additives, and the brine water containing oil, gas, high levels of salts and radioactive metals is produced during the gas production. Potential negative environmental impact due to large volumes of the produced wastewater is increasingly seen as the major obstacles to the unconventional natural resource development. In this study an integrated framework for the flowback and brine water treatment is proposed, and we reviewed the upcoming state of the art technology in water treatment. Basic separation processes which include not only membrane, evaporation, crystallization and desalination processes, but the potential water reuse and recycling techniques can be applied for the unconventional natural resource industry.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.511-519
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• 2016

Shale gas has become increasingly important as a viable alternative to conventional gas resources. However, one of the critical issues in the development of shale gas is the generation of produced water, which contains high concentration of ionic compounds (> TDS of 100,000 mg/L). Accordingly, membrane distillation (MD) was considered to treat such produced water. Experiments were carried out using a laboratory-scale direct contact MD (DCMD). Synthetic produced water was prepared to examine its fouling propensity in MD process. Antiscalants and in-line filtration were applied to control fouling by scale formation. Fouling rates (-dJ/dt) were calculated for in-depth analysis of fouling behaviors. Results showed that severe fouling occurred during the treatment of high range produced water (TDS of 308 g/L). Application of antiscalant was not effective to retard scale formation. On the other hand, in-line filtration increased the induction time and reduced fouling.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.418-429
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• 2014

Induced seismicity related to four energy development technologies that involve fluid injection or withdrawal: geothermal energy, conventional oil and gas development including enhanced oil recovery (EOR), shale gas recovery, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) is reviewed by literature investigation. The largest induced seismic events reported in the technical literature are associated with projects that did not balance the large volume of fluids injected into, or extracted from the underground reservoir. A statistical observation shows that the net volume of fluid injected and/or extracted may serve as a proxy for changes in subsurface stress conditions and pore pressure, and other factors. Energy technology projects that are designed to maintain a balance between the amount of fluid being injected and the amount of fluid being withdrawn, such as geothermal and most oil and gas development, may produce fewer induced seismic events than technologies that do not maintain fluid balance, such as long-term wastewater disposal wells and CCS projects.