retep Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Halliburton fluids disclosure, http://www.halliburton.com/public/projects/pubsdata/hydraulic_fracturing/fluids_disclosure.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted December 16, 2012 Author Share Posted December 16, 2012 Halliburton fluids disclosure, http://www.halliburton.com/public/projects/pubsdata/hydraulic_fracturing/fluids_disclosure.html Very interesting. Thanks. Some of the chemicals used there are seriously toxic. Halliburton have a poor track record. Will they be involved in fracking here in the uk? ---------- Post added 16-12-2012 at 11:06 ---------- That’s an answer I've been looking for but can’t find on Google, but I did find this. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Last summer a Halliburton executive did the unthinkable: He took a big ol' swig of hydraulic fracturing fluid. No, he didn't have a death wish. And yes, he appears to be doing just fine. He did it to prove a point: fracking fluid need not be toxic. What the exec drank was a new formulation of fracking fluid made with ingredients sourced from the food industry rather than the chemical industry. In addition to the harmful frack chemicals oil companies put down the wells, they also pull out some pretty nasty stuff. The water that's found at the depth the industry drills to is often extremely salty and laced with naturally occurring heavy metals and radioactive isotopes. Disposing of this waste water has been a challenge. Reports have indicated that some frack water has previously been improperly treated before being dumped into rivers that are also used a source for drinking water. Ah, ok. So you could pump the purest non-polluting fluid into the well and it'd most likely still return to the surface as a toxic soup that then has to be stored on-site and then disposed of safely. This looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nagel Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 A question for you. Why does the hydraulic fluid for fracking have to be laced with toxic chemicals? Is there any way that acceptable results could be achieved without using toxic chemicals? IMO if that were possible it could remove some of the issues, for example if the fracking fluid was made up of water, sand and non-polluting organic compounds. It's been a long time since I did physics but I do know that hydraulic fluid does not have to be toxic Dunno. I'm only ever involved in the drilling phase, making the hole in the ground. I'm fairly clueless about what they do with it after. I've also never worked on an unconventional gas project. They frac normal oil and gas wells to increase production, and have done for many decades, but I'm long gone by the time it gets to that phase. I'm sure you could find out something online about the reasons various chemicals are added. I imagine they will be for corrosion inhibition, anti-bacterials so the well doesn't go rotten and maybe something to break the shale down so the gas is released? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anywebsite Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 To be honest I don't know what water they can use so that is why I asked. Obviously if it's mains water that might be an issue. Likewise if they get permission to use rivers or aquifers then that could be an issue too. If they can pump it from the sea that might be better but then I guess it might not be possible on all sites. It's yet another part of the mystique around fracking. While everybody argues pointlessly about minor earthquakes and fracking that will take places thousands of feet too deep to have any impact on the surface, we are deflected away from the potential polluting effects of the surface operations (chemicals, storage, transport, disposal, well integrity) and key questions about use of scarce resources like water. There's no mystique if you do the proper research. Apparently they can use sea water & it's actually easier for them to use sea water, they need to add a lot of salt if fresh water is used. There's no shortage of mains water at the moment either, but it's unlikely they'll need to use that. There's only ever a shortage of drinking quality water in this country, it's never what other countries would call a drought, it's only ever very temporary & there's never a shortage of dirty water or sea water. If droughts were a real problem then water companies would fix their leaky pipes. Anyway, there's never a drought of sea water & it's never far away, since we're on an island. Use of water is as much of a non-problem as the 0.5 Richter scale maximum allowed earthquake magnitude. There are environmental risks with every energy source. Either we accept them & regulate to try to minimise them, or the lights go out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted December 16, 2012 Author Share Posted December 16, 2012 There's no mystique if you do the proper research. Apparently they can use sea water & it's actually easier for them to use sea water, they need to add a lot of salt if fresh water is used. There's no shortage of mains water at the moment either, but it's unlikely they'll need to use that. There's only ever a shortage of drinking quality water in this country, it's never what other countries would call a drought, it's only ever very temporary & there's never a shortage of dirty water or sea water. If droughts were a real problem then water companies would fix their leaky pipes. Anyway, there's never a drought of sea water & it's never far away, since we're on an island. Use of water is as much of a non-problem as the 0.5 Richter scale maximum allowed earthquake magnitude. There are environmental risks with every energy source. Either we accept them & regulate to try to minimise them, or the lights go out. Mains water IS drinking water. It's our household supply. Droughts are a real and regular problem in this country. Make no mistake. But despite that the water companies don't have a track record of fixing leaks. The UK has one of the highest levels of water stress (i.e. one of the lowest levels of availability of water per person) in the whole of the EU, with the south of the UK most badly affected. If you're using the argument that we have plenty of water right now maybe you forgot that only 9 months ago large sections of the country were in drought. And will be again soon enough. Yes there are environmental risks with all types of industry but time for perspective again - Caudrilla plan 800 sites in Lancashire alone. That is right next to towns and villages, not isolated out in the sea etc.. where most extraction currently takes place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retep Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Perhaps we could all sit around the hand wringers hands to keep warm, if it gets too hot we can use their tears to cool us down. Eyup caveman don't thee make them sparks, tha'll cause progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted December 16, 2012 Author Share Posted December 16, 2012 Perhaps we could all sit around the hand wringers hands to keep warm, if it gets too hot we can use their tears to cool us down. Eyup caveman don't thee make them sparks, tha'll cause progress. How is fracking progress? It's just another (potentially heavily polluting way) to burn more fossil fuels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retep Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 How is fracking progress? It's just another (potentially heavily polluting way) to burn more fossil fuels. Try progressing without it, better still let us know your alternative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxmaximus Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Try progressing without it, better still let us know your alternative. Rapid human progress comes at times of greatest need so it’s likely that the availability of cheap fossil fuels has slowed our progress into more sustainable and cleaner energies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retep Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Rapid human progress comes at times of greatest need so it’s likely that the availability of cheap fossil fuels has slowed our progress into more sustainable and cleaner energies. Tell that to the Chinese and Indians they seem to be progressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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