The Hydraulic Fracking Process
Fracking is a contemporary method of extracting oils and gases that has become quite the vexation for many societies around the world. Fracking is the process in which liquid is injected at a high-pressure rate into different forms of rocks in order to forcefully open exiting fissures in order to extract oils or gases. During this process, water, sand and chemicals are inserted into the rock at high pressure; this part of the process allows the gas to flow to the head of the well and outward. Geological formations often contain large amounts of valuable gases and oils but have a low permeability leading to poor flow rate. The combination of hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling has been able to address this problem, opening the shale deposits
and gaining access to the multitude of valuable gases and oils within the formation. Fracking has become an extremely controversial issue because the consequences of fracking include; wasting large amounts of water, large volumes of toxic chemicals are used, fracking is contaminating the surface water and soil, and fracking poses many health threats to humans exposed. While fracking has proven itself to be a convenient method for the extraction of natural gases, the consequences of the process far exceed the benefit. During the fracking process many toxic chemicals are used, including substances such as kerosene and diesel fuel, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, hydrochloric acid, and sodium hydroxide. While the gas and oil industry will argue that chemicals typically make up approximately only 0.5 and 2.0% of the total volume of the fracturing liquid and majority of the composition is water, the amount of chemicals per operation is quite significant. Fracture treatments can use 50,000 to 350,000 gallons of water per coalbed methane well, and deeper horizontal shale wells can approximately use anywhere from 2 to 10 million gallons of water per a single well.
and gaining access to the multitude of valuable gases and oils within the formation. Fracking has become an extremely controversial issue because the consequences of fracking include; wasting large amounts of water, large volumes of toxic chemicals are used, fracking is contaminating the surface water and soil, and fracking poses many health threats to humans exposed. While fracking has proven itself to be a convenient method for the extraction of natural gases, the consequences of the process far exceed the benefit. During the fracking process many toxic chemicals are used, including substances such as kerosene and diesel fuel, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, hydrochloric acid, and sodium hydroxide. While the gas and oil industry will argue that chemicals typically make up approximately only 0.5 and 2.0% of the total volume of the fracturing liquid and majority of the composition is water, the amount of chemicals per operation is quite significant. Fracture treatments can use 50,000 to 350,000 gallons of water per coalbed methane well, and deeper horizontal shale wells can approximately use anywhere from 2 to 10 million gallons of water per a single well.