Temporal and Thermal Changes in Density and Viscosity of Marcellus Shale Produced Waters
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 12
Abstract
Subsurface processes alter the physical and chemical properties of fluid injected for hydraulic fracturing, with implications for its transport and fate in fractured or porous media. Models used to evaluate potential hydraulic fracturing–fluid migration lack formation-specific data to constrain temporal and thermal variation of the physical parameters that govern fluid movement. Density increases of 9.8% and viscosity increases of 26.5% were observed in produced water samples from three horizontally-drilled wells in the Marcellus shale, Pennsylvania, USA over a period of 11 months after hydraulic fracturing. Fluid density and viscosity rapidly increased during the first two weeks after fluid injection because of greater concentrations of dissolved inorganic ions, and plateaued within two months. When experimentally subjected to formation-relevant temperatures, mean density and viscosity decreased by up to 2.7 and 44.4%, respectively, between 20 and 60°C. These measurements yield new data to better constrain constitutive relations in flow and transport models evaluating the migration of hydraulic-fracturing fluid between a wellbore terminus and other subsurface locations.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded through National Science Foundation Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) Award #1247338 and the Subsurface Energy Resources Center at the Ohio State University. The authors thank the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and specifically Richard W. Hammack and Angela Hartsock with NETL, Elizabeth L. Rowan with the U.S. Geological Survey, and the authors’ industry partner for coordinating and facilitating sampling for this study.
References
Barbot, E., Vidic, N. S., Gregory, K. B., and Vidic, R. D. (2013). “Spatial and temporal correlation of water quality parameters of produced waters from Devonian-age shale following hydraulic fracturing.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 47(6), 2562–2569.
Blauch, M., Myers, R., Moore, T., and Lipinski, B. (2009). “Where is all the salt coming from and what are the implications?” Society for Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Eastern Regional Meeting, SPE, Richardson, TX.
Chapman, E. C., et al. (2012). “Geochemical and strontium isotope characterization of produced waters from Marcellus shale natural gas extraction.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 46(6), 3545–3553.
Cluff, M. A., Hartsock, A., MacRae, J. D., Carter, K., and Mouser, P. J. (2014). “Temporal changes in microbial ecology and geochemistry in produced water from hydraulically fractured Marcellus shale gas wells.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 48(11), 6508–6517.
Cox, R. A., Culkin, F., Greenhalgh, R., and Riley, J. P. (1962). “Chlorinity, conductivity and density of sea-water.” Nat., 193(4815), 518–520.
Dresel, P. E., and Rose, A. W. (2010). “Chemistry and origin of oil and gas well brines in western Pennsylvania.”, PA Geological Survey, Harrisburg, PA, 1–48.
Eckstein, Y., Heimlich, R. A., Palmer, D. F., and Shannon, S. S., Jr. (1982). “Geothermal investigations in Ohio and Pennsylvania.” Rep. LA-9223-HDR, DE82016129, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM.
Gassiat, C., Gleeson, T., Lefebvre, R., and McKenzie, J. (2013). “Hydraulic fracturing in faulted sedimentary basins: Numerical simulation of potential contamination of shallow aquifers over long time scales.” Water Resour. Res., 49(12), 8310–8327.
Gregory, K. B., Vidic, R. D., and Dzombak, D. A. (2011). “Water management challenges associated with the production of shale gas by hydraulic fracturing.” Elem., 7(3), 181–186.
Hayes, T. (2009). “Sampling and analysis of water streams associated with the development of Marcellus shale gas.”, Marcellus Shale Coalition, Pittsburgh.
Jiang, M., Hendrickson, C. T., and VanBriesen, J. M. (2014). “Life cycle water consumption and wastewater generation impacts of a Marcellus shale gas well.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 48(3), 1911–1920.
Jones, G., and Talley, S. K. (1933). “The viscosity of aqueous solutions as a function of the concentration.” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 55(2), 624–642.
Jurus, W. J., Whitson, C. H., and Golan, M. (2013). “Modeling water flow in hydraulically-fractured shale wells.” Society for Petroleum Engineers Annual Technical Conf. and Exhibition, Society for Petroleum Engineers, Richardson, TX.
Li, B., Wong, R. C. K., and Milnes, T. (2014). “Anisotropy in capillary invasion and fluid flow through induced sandstone and shale fractures.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 66, 49–56.
Lutz, B. D., Lewis, A. N., and Doyle, M. W. (2013). “Generation, transport, and disposal of wastewater associated with Marcellus shale gas development.” Water Resour. Res., 49(2), 647–656.
Myers, T. (2012). “Potential contaminant pathways from hydraulically fractured shale to aquifers.” Ground Water, 50(6), 872–882.
Orem, W., et al. (2014). “Organic substances in produced and formation water from unconventional natural gas extraction in coal and shale.” Int. J. Coal Geol., 126, 20–31.
Shaffer, D. L., Arias Chavez, L. H., Ben-Sasson, M., Romero-Vargas Castrillón, S., Yip, N. Y., and Elimelech, M. (2013). “Desalination and reuse of high-salinity shale gas produced water: Drivers, technologies, and future directions.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 47(17), 9569–9583.
Sharqawy, M. H., Lienhard, J. H., and Zubair, S. M. (2012). “Thermophysical properties of seawater: A review of existing correlations and data.” Desalin. Water Treat., 16(1–3), 354–380.
Simmons, C. T., Fenstemaker, T. R., and Sharp, J. M., Jr. (2001). “Variable-density groundwater flow and solute transport in heterogeneous porous media: Approaches, resolutions and future challenges.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 52(1–4), 245–275.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2013). Annual energy outlook 2013, U.S. Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC.
Vidic, R. D., Brantley, S. L., Vandenbossche, J. M., Yoxtheimer, D., and Abad, J. D. (2013). “Impact of shale gas development on regional water quality.” Science, 340(6134), 826–835.
Warner, N. R., et al. (2012). “Geochemical evidence for possible natural migration of Marcellus formation brine to shallow aquifers in Pennsylvania.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 109(30), 11961–11966.
Yi, T., and Peden, J. M. (2013). “A comprehensive model of fluid loss in hydraulic fracturing.” SPE Prod. Facil., 9(4), 267–272.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 12 • December 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 19, 2014
Accepted: May 4, 2015
Published online: Jul 9, 2015
Published in print: Dec 1, 2015
Discussion open until: Dec 9, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.