Steve Fitzpatrick GPC Clarkston Science Department

The Fracturing Truth: UsingHydraulic Fracturing for

Mining Fossil FuelsSteve Fitzpatrick

GPC Clarkston Science Department

http://fairfield.edu/

We utilize fossil fuels everyday; in fact

it is almost impossible to avoid them.

Fossil fuels are as important to our daily

existence as they are to the functioning

of our civilization itself.

Hydraulic fracturing is a new technique that

is used to obtain these energy resources.

Fossil fuels

Hydraulic fracturing for fossil fuels

Over vast amounts of geological time

these remains have been transformed into

deposits containing high amounts of

compounds that contain only hydrogen and

carbon: hydrocarbons.

The history of fossil fuels

Fossil fuels defined

Fossil fuels are combustible energy

resources that are derived from the

remains of certain organisms.

There are an enormous amount of

hydrocarbons on and in the Earth: over

100,000 are known. Many of these occur in

the chemical solution known as crude oil.


Hydrocarbons

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/

http://www.earthtimes.org

Methane is the simplest

hydrocarbon. It occurs naturally on

Earth as a gas, or in the gas

phase.

Fossil fuel deposits are found in

sedimentary rock layers. The study

of these layers and their development

over time is called stratigraphy.

In fossil fuel exploration and

development it is important to

understand stratigraphy with regards

to Earth’s geological history.


Fossil fuel deposits

http://woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu

The two basic types of fossil fuels, oil/gas and coal, require very specific underground

temperature and pressure conditions to form as well as lots of time.

The process of forming sedimentary rocks and deposits is called diagenesis.


Diagenesis

http://www.unisum.ch/

Coal is a solid fuel source that is composed of the ancient tissues of woody plant

matter that have been transformed into a hydrocarbon-bearing rock through

diagenesis.


Coal

http://techalive.mtu.edu

The origin of petroleum and natural gas is in the tissues of ancient microorganisms..

Their remains do not decay completely and these develop into an assortment of

complex hydrocarbon polymers. Polymers are large chain-like molecules.

http://www.livescience.com

Petroleum and natural gas


“The oil window”

The age of a given oil

deposit as well as the temperature

within the oil window is critical to the

exploration for oil.

Anything outside of the shaded area

in the graph means that usable

petroleum is not present: it either

hasn’t had enough time to develop or

it is volatilized, or “burned away” by

the heat.

The science behind fossil fuels

http://geomuseu.ist.utl.pt

Oil and gas originate as kerogen, a thick

mixture of organic chemical compounds. It

is insoluble to other oils, it doesn’t mix well

with them. Some coal contains a type of

kerogen.

When heated to the right temperature,

under proper pressure at depth, kerogen

will release petroleum and natural gas.

The rocks, such as shale, in which this

happens become known as source rock.

Kerogen


http://geomuseu.ist.utl.pt

What is the difference between “oil” and “natural gas”?


Liquids and gases are both

considered to be fluids. Fluids are

energetic, liquid or gas phase

substances. They take the shape of

whatever container they are in.

Solids, like coal, do not behave this

Liquids are “heavier” or denser thus they are more affected by gravity than

gases. Oil is a liquid and natural gas is literally a gas.

http://www.nasa.gov

What is the difference between “oil” and “natural gas”?


Oil, liquid crude oil, is a solution of

many different hydrocarbons. It is

quite complex. Natural gas is much

simpler, it is mostly composed of

methane, the simplest hydrocarbon.

There is one thing that all of the

natural hydrocarbons have in

common: they represent large

amounts of potential energy.http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr

Chemical potential energy


Hydrocarbons in general contain

more stored energy than many

other types of compounds. This

energy, held within molecular

bonds, is known as chemical

potential energy.

This potential energy is held in the bonds between carbon and hydrogen. In

combustion oxygen bonds to hydrogen and carbon. The formation of these

bonds releases energy or heat.

https://www.cdli.ca/

Oil and natural gas as fluids

The fact that oil and gas are fluids

is important. When fluids are

introduced to a system they go into

equilibrium. This is both dependent

on the energy of the fluid and the

pressure on the system itself.


For instance when you let air out of a balloon it disperses into the atmosphere until the

initial pressure of the gas is the same as atmospheric pressure.

Liquids evaporate for much the same reason.

http://www.school-for-champions.com

Traps


Oil and natural gas “stay

put” underground because

they are held there within

geological formations

known as traps.

Impermeable cap rock

prevents highly mobile

hydrocarbons from

migrating upwards.


Both oil and natural gas are less

dense than water so they will

always migrate upwards beyond

water.

When cap rocks are disturbed

either naturally such as in

earthquakes, or due to drilling, oil

and gas migrate upward through

the openings.

Traps

In addition to having low relative densities, oil

and natural gas are often under pressure

deep underground. This causes them to

rapidly mobilize to zones of lower pressure

when a trap has been breached.

If the lowest pressure happens to be the

Earth’s surface then these fluids will migrate

there. The classic image of the “oil gusher”

originates in this fact. In the past oil gushers

were common.


Under pressure

http://www.pbs.org

History of the use of fossil fuels

Oil in prehistory

Human beings used bitumen or asphalt

(particularly thick oil deposits) as adhesives

since prehistoric times. There is evidence of

it’s use by prehistoric humans. They may

have used bitumen to attach the heads to

spears.

Where oil is plentiful, such as in the Middle East, it emerges from the ground

in seeps. In the past oil has been readily available to people in this manner.

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com

Oil at the dawn of civilization


The use of petroleum is first seen in the archeological

record on the banks of the Euphrates River 6000 years

ago. Asphalt was quarried there for use as mortar and

decoration.

Bitumen was used around

4000 B.C. in Mesopotamia

as caulk for building. It was

also used in Ancient Egypt

for mortaring the pyramids.

http://www.kenney-mencher.com http://kata-aletheia.blogspot.com/

Historic use


Despite some early use oil has not been

widely utilized throughout most of history. Until

recently oil has historically been used as

either a sealant, a building material, “paint”

or… as a medicine.

Native Americans used fossil fuels from seeps

as medicine for hundreds of years before it

was used in the 19th Century as a “tonic”.

http://explorepahistory.com/

Historic use


In 1849 a Canadian geologist named Abraham

Gesner distilled crude oil to create a new lamp

oil called kerosene. Ultimately kerosene

replaced whale oil and Gesner would become

known as the "Father of the Petroleum Industry“

although he made he neither achieved wealth or

fame in his lifetime.

The fact that petroleum products are readily

combustible was key to the shape of things to

come.

http://nsis.chebucto.org

The first oil well


A few years later in 1859 The

Pennsylvania Rock Oil

Company contracted Edwin

L. Drake to drill a well near

Titusville, Pennsylvania. The

purpose of the well was to

extract crude oil for lighting

fuel. This was the world’s

first oil well; it was the

beginning of the oil industry.http://www.britannica.com

The rapid rise of oil use


The oil industry truly began with the

inception of John D.. Rockefeller’s

Standard Oil of Ohio in 1870. In 1901

the first Texas “oil gusher” Spindletop

came into production. Two years later

Henry Ford began mass-producing an

automobile named the Model T.

The Model T ran on a little-used byproduct of petroleum, gasoline. The

rapidly increasing numbers of automobiles drove up oil production

exponentially.

http://filmmakerscollab.org

Energy content

The reason for the use of gasoline in

automobiles was due to it’s relative

efficiency. Gasoline like many other

petroleum products yields a relatively

high amount of energy per unit mass,

much greater than other resources.

The fossil fuel industry

For instance the petroleum product that we all probably used today, gasoline,

yields about 44 kJ/g (kilojoule/gram) of energy. One kilojoule is enough to lift

225 pounds 3.3 feet off the ground.

https://www.wou.edu

Oil production


The rapid rise of petroleum use in motor

vehicles throughout the 20th Century

meant that the fossil fuel, or petroleum,

industry eventually became one of the

forces that shaped our modern world.

For instance each day in 2012, 89,292.5

barrels of crude oil was produced. Given

the volume of a standard oil drum (55

gallons) that is close to 2 billion gallons

per year!

http://www.agricorner.com

Exploration, extraction, refinement an d use


One hundred years ago locating oil and

gas was something of a gamble. Today

through geophysical means, mostly

seismic, is used to locate oil reserves.

Geophysics utilizes energy signals to

understand Earth’s interior.

Once this crude oil is extracted (pumped

from wells) is has to be refined.

Once crude oil is refined at least half of it usually goes to gasoline production.

The rest is potentially utilized to help make over 6000 other products!

http://energy.gov

Peak oil


By definition oil and gas are mined. Mining

implies that the resource is not put back: it is

non-renewable.

“Peak Oil” or Hubbert Peak Theory was based

on the work of American geophysicist M. King

Hubbert predicted that the production of any

given oil field was finite and the volume of

production would follow a bell-shaped curve over

time with a characteristic peak followed by a

steady decline.

http://www.resilience.org

Unconventional oil and gas resources

Recent problems and solutions

Although oil and gas are

nonrenewable resources,

resources that are finite in

volume and extent, there has

been a resurgence in the

discovery and productions of

petroleum resources.

This is because unconventional petroleum sources are now being utilized

such as tar sands (oil saturated ancient sands) and oil shale. Oil shale is

a sedimentary rock that contain kerogen.

http://carnegieendowment.org

Recent problems and solutions

Geological and geophysical

investigations have revealed

petroleum sources in rocks that

are much less permeable than

traditional oil and gas bearing

rock. These are sedimentary

rocks with tighter pore

structures than many of the

currently depleted reservoirs.

Unconventional oil and gas resources

http://www.kgs.ku.edu/

What is “fracking”?

Hydraulic fracturing

“Fracking” is a colloquial term for

hydraulic fracturing, which is simply the

fracturing of rock using high pressure

fluids.

There is a wide range of Earth materials

of interest that can be extracted using

hydraulic fracturing: anything even water

or uranium ore particles. Recently

though, the primary material use of

hydraulic fracturing has been to obtain oil

from oil shale formations.http://www.wdde.org

Early use of hydraulic fracturing


Hydraulic fracturing was first

experimentally attempted in 1947 in

Kansas. 1000 gallons of a gasoline and

sand mixture was used.

Although the experiment was not very successful, two years later Haliburton, an

oilfield service company, performed the first two commercial operations in Texas

and Oklahoma. The technique proved to be successful in a short amount of time.

http://www.kgs.ku.edu

The process


Specialized machinery pumps fluids

directly into wellbores in rock formations.

These fluids are mostly water plus a

chemical “lubricant”. Then a proppant,

sand or aluminum oxide particles, is placed

in the new fractures to hold them open.

This increased porosity allows drilling

operations to extract oil from previously

unrecoverable sources.http://www.kgs.ku.edu

Current production


Hydraulic fracturing sites are often large-scale operations. They can employ

hundreds of specialists. The work is usually done 24 hours a day, seven days a

week; 365 days a year.


Current production



There are dozens of shale plays in the United States alone. A play is a series of

productive oil fields that share a distinct geology.

Economic effects


Oil output has increased by 30% since

2008. Gas production has increased by 1/3

since 2005. This overall increase has seen

the development of economies on local,

national and international levels.

The use of hydraulic fracturing has ensured

a more secure supply of oil for energy. It

has also provided for the creation of

thousands of new jobs.http://www.economist.com

Controversy


Controversy has surrounded

the use of fracking in the oil

industry ever since large-

scale development began.

Much of this has to do with

possible environmental and

health impacts

http://environment.yale.edu

Oddly enough there may be two environmental benefits at least from the use of

natural gas obtained by fracking: cleaner air and reduced Greenhouse emissions

(versus burning coal).

Known impacts


There are quite a few proven and

potential impacts on health and the

environment due to hydraulic

fracturing…

• Although ~99% of most fracturing

fluids is comprised of sand water,

the other ~1% is comprised of

chemicals with high toxicity levels.

• Although efforts are taken to mitigate risks, the high mobility of certain

fluids coupled with uncertainty of fracture formation poses risks.

http://www.nature.com

Known impacts


• There have been reports of methane

contamination in groundwater. Highly

mobile and volatile methane is hard to

contain in many cases. Even so

methane has been known to

contaminate wells without the presence

of fracturing operations.

• Since fracturing utilizes rapid kinetic

movement and pressure changes toxic

minerals from below aquifers can be

disturbed and released into the water.

http://illinois.edu

Possible impacts


• Fracking can also potentially effect surface

water such as reservoirs and rivers.

Groundwater and surface waters are not

separate but continuous systems.

• In addition to the release of toxins into

ground or surface water, hydraulic

fracturing could potentially activate

fractures and faults that exist within an

adjacent volume of rock to the fracturing

operation.

http://www.watershedcouncil.org/

Current legislation in the United States


On the Federal level the Clean Water Act and

the Safe Drinking Water Act cover hydraulic

fracturing in a non-specific manner.

Since hydraulic fracturing is a practice that is in it’s

inception there are currently few laws covering it.

States have differing laws and environmental

regulations covering such industries. Most states

have an oil and gas commission that deal with

issues related to oil and gas development.http://www.wral.com/

http://www.alabamarivers.org

Future projections


As hydraulic fracturing, and all that it entails such as,

continues to increase it would make sense for further study

of the environmental and health impacts to continue.

Hydraulic fracturing has proven to be of benefit to the

economy and to fossil fuel supplies. Regardless the risk for

impacts on the environment and human life cannot be

ignored. As we continue to gain data, legislation will

doubtless be required to regulate the possibility of the

detrimental effects that hydraulic fracturing can have.

http://stateimpact.npr.org

Citations

Acknowledgements

• Smil, V. (2008) Oil. Oneworld Publications, Oxford

• Crawford, M. (2013) Fracturing Rocks to Unlock New Oil.

Mechanical Engineering 12,135:24-29

• Weinstein, M. (2007) Hydraulic Fracturing in the United States and

the European Union: Rethinking Regulation to Ensure the

Protection of Water Resources. Wisconsin International Law Journal

30,4:882-911

• Courtney, A. (1996) Energy from Fossil Fuels.

https://www.wou.edu/las/physci/GS361/Energy_From_Fossil_Fuels.

htm

Thank you!Do you have any questions?

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Steve Fitzpatrick GPC Clarkston Science Department