New tracers can identify frac fluids in the environment

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=133027

[font face=Serif]Press Release 14-140
[font size=5]New tracers can identify frac fluids in the environment[/font]

[font size=4]Scientists develop new geochemical tracers, tested at sites in West Virginia and Pennsylvania[/font]

[font size=3]October 20, 2014

Scientists have developed new geochemical tracers that can identify hydraulic fracturing flowback fluids that have been spilled or released into the environment.

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When drillers inject frac fluids into a shale formation, they not only release hydrocarbon, but also boron and lithium that are attached to clay minerals in the formation.

As the fluids react and mix at depth, they become enriched in boron and lithium.

As they're brought back to the surface, they have distinctive fingerprints that are different from other types of wastewater, including wastewater from a conventional gas or oil well, and from naturally occurring background water.

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[rickford66]

1. Why can't unique chemical tracers be added to fracking fluid before drilling?

Oh.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. (Believe it or not) this method is actually superior!

https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=133027

…

It's possible to identify the presence of frack fluid in spilled or discharged flowback by tracing synthetic organic compounds that are added to the fluid before it's injected down a well, Vengosh said, but the proprietary nature of these chemicals, combined with their instability in the environment, limits the usefulness of such tracers.

By contrast, the new boron and lithium tracers remain stable in the environment.

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