Look, this is a piece by a researcher trying to develop funds to fund research. Notice at the beginning he talks about the fluid being slick. Then he says it must be viscous. Then he says the viscosity must revert so it can be removed and pumped out. But, he never tells you what it is or how industry does it. And, you could spend the rest of your day trying to figure it out. Instead he talks about the cast of horrible additives without naming them. Recently I attended a talk by an anti-fracking additive who went on and on about horrible slick water. She never revealed what it is so I asked her what is it. My question was met with absolute science. So, I then said: OK I:ll tell you what it is. It is water with the addition of guar gum. Guar gum comes from a tree in India. When powdered and added to plain water it increases the viscosity of the water so that sand grains are held in suspension and are carried into the small fractures. Now guar gum has the wonderful property of breaking down to the viscosity of plain water under either of two conditions. First if the solution is warmed and second if the solution rises to a high pH. So, slick mud is injected at ambient temperature. Because the subsurface temperature rises with depth and because horizontal wells are generally of great depth the temperature of the oil-gas bearing zones are generally more than 150 degrees F. The slick mud viscosity breaks naturally and the fluid is pumped out leaving the sand propant in place. Now the additional property is edible and is found in food products in nearly every pantry. Just look at the contents label on the food products in your pantry. So there is no danger to the environment from the slick mud itself. Now there are other compounds that are added in miniscule amounts and there are material safety data sheets on these compounds that disclose the health hazards. Ergo, the research has already been done. Oh, one of the additives in a project might be sodium hydroxide which would be added to chase water. By chasing the slick mud with alkaline water will break the viscosity and help remove the slick mud from the borehole. Small amounts of the mud NaOH water can be easily neutralized in the mud stream when the fracking mud is recovered at the surface. So, this looks like research into something that really doesn't need it. And, there is no case that I know of groundwater contamination by the frack fluid. Please let me know if I am wrong. W.M. Turner, Ph.D. Genesis Resources, Oil Field Operator. wturner@waterbank.com
Published by William Turner, Trustee, Chief Hydrogeologist, CEO, QB, and licensed escrow officer at WaterBank
Look, this is a piece by a researcher trying to develop funds to fund research. Notice at the beginning he talks about the fluid being slick. Then he says it must be viscous. Then he says the viscosity must revert so it can be removed and pumped out. But, he never tells you what it is or how industry does it. And, you could spend the rest of your day trying to figure it out. Instead he talks about the cast of horrible additives without naming them. Recently I attended a talk by an anti-fracking additive who went on and on about horrible slick water. She never revealed what it is so I asked her what is it. My question was met with absolute science. So, I then said: OK I:ll tell you what it is. It is water with the addition of guar gum. Guar gum comes from a tree in India. When powdered and added to plain water it increases the viscosity of the water so that sand grains are held in suspension and are carried into the small fractures. Now guar gum has the wonderful property of breaking down to the viscosity of plain water under either of two conditions. First if the solution is warmed and second if the solution rises to a high pH. So, slick mud is injected at ambient temperature. Because the subsurface temperature rises with depth and because horizontal wells are generally of great depth the temperature of the oil-gas bearing zones are generally more than 150 degrees F. The slick mud viscosity breaks naturally and the fluid is pumped out leaving the sand propant in place. Now the additional property is edible and is found in food products in nearly every pantry. Just look at the contents label on the food products in your pantry. So there is no danger to the environment from the slick mud itself. Now there are other compounds that are added in miniscule amounts and there are material safety data sheets on these compounds that disclose the health hazards. Ergo, the research has already been done. Oh, one of the additives in a project might be sodium hydroxide which would be added to chase water. By chasing the slick mud with alkaline water will break the viscosity and help remove the slick mud from the borehole. Small amounts of the mud NaOH water can be easily neutralized in the mud stream when the fracking mud is recovered at the surface. So, this looks like research into something that really doesn't need it. And, there is no case that I know of groundwater contamination by the frack fluid. Please let me know if I am wrong. W.M. Turner, Ph.D. Genesis Resources, Oil Field Operator. wturner@waterbank.com