Will Propane Save Fracking?

interesting.... good catch.

a lot of time, money, and tech. tied up in that water and pond pumping technoilogy.

When fracking is done there is a real fracturing of the bedrock formation. Normally these gas deposits are contained in very deep formations and contained by an overlying impervious rock formation. Once the impervious rock is fractured there will be linkage directly to the overlying aquifers. The deep petroleum and gas flows upward through these fractures. The gas (methane, H2S) as well as other hydrocarbons enters the aquifer via these fractures. That is where most of the contamination comes from and it will not matter what type of fracking is used.

I am guessing LPG is considered environmentally friendly in that water is not used to frack as normal. I have seen water wells fracked with CO2 and it is much cleaner than LPG or water.I am not a big advocate for fracking gas wells in many areas. I am sure there are some areas it can be done without issue but overall the studies needed before fracking is not done. If you FU the aquifer in too many areas, we may have greater issues than energy to contend. There is a good documentary called Gasland out recently and worth the view. My link is but a small excerpt and some may see a little tree hugger in the Youtube version. The full documentary is worth the view. I think LinkTV may have a free version of the full documentary for downloading.

Funny that they have been fracking the dickens out of shallower formations in western NY state for decades and no aquifer contamination has resulted from the fracking. If what you state is true, that the frack will go through the over lying formations, including a dolomite section that is harder than hail, then why has the "black water" (sulfer loaded water) not entered any aquifer in this area? Every well drilled up there passes through a formation loaded with this nasty foul smelling fluid (you can smell a well being drilled from a mile away) and I have never heard of anyone around Jamestown, or East Aurora, or Mayville, or Corfu, or any other burg in that area ever mention a problem with this in there aquifers.

Fracking can be quite acceptable in many areas. All I would say is that if these gas producers want to frack they should study the neighbourhood, sample wells, and do a critical revue of the geological formation. Once they open the doorway to the aquifer, it will be difficult to shut. If they frack in areas they know will be problematic, then they need to review the type of fracking and sometimes use straddle packers to isolate zones to be fracked. Or even not frack in many areas as it might be a problem with overlying aquifers. I suspect it was just dumb luck in Western NY but that is now good data the gas companies could use in their favour. I am sure their are other areas that caused problems and that too should be the data the gas companies use.

Dumb luck? For over 30 years and thousands of wells? And dumb luck in Ohio, West Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado.....

Gasland is a farce.

There is time for clear thinking 101, in particular for #2.

Hydrocarbons were percolating up since eons (billions of years in Earth's history). Those encountering no big resistance percolated up into air and get used up. Those encountering impermeable layer collected in pockets beneath we can drill for today. It is nothing, but the (small) portion of hydrocarbon, that was unable to escape in the normal fashion.

Drilling, even your water well involves casing. That is a steel pipe put into the hole to prevent unclean surface water to contaminate your well water.. Drilling for hydrocarbons is the same, on a larger scale. The drilling for gas in the fracking zone involves drilling down some 10thousand feet, then out a mile or so. Obviously, thru an impermeable layer into a gas containig layer. NOBODY lets the valuable gas escape willy nilly into the environment. And there will always be people willing to sue on whatever real reason or pretext. What else is new??

Loose talk from a brain feeding on docudrama (mostly drama) result only in mixing apples to oranges to potatoes: loose mishmash.

Just read a story of some people getting methane in their drinking water, blaming the drillers, getting something blown up, even getting sick (??!!??) from it.

Funny, except it ain't so.

In the old country, there was a century long drilling for oil and gas. Frequently the drillers instead encountered plentiful water in the form of an artesian well (coming up under its own pressure without stopping), by not hitting an impermeable cap. Then they asked the locals, if they want it, or should they cap the well. Mostly they wanted to keep it. Deep wells yielded hot mineral water for public swimming facilities useable even in winter, as the water was usually hot enough. Shallower wells gave drinking water and fed hothouses.

I lived with one in the plaza, where we got the excellent, guaranteed clean water for household use. There was just one trick: When one went to collect water, we had to observe a few inch long blue flame, as a sure sign, that methane bubbling out of the water was safely burning off. If not, a burning match caused a big whoosh, as the collected methane gently exploded.

Now, in an area where water is known to contain dissolved methane only a fool would let it in the house without separating it out. A whoosh in a kitchen can be a rattling experience, or worse. No, it does not cause any illness, or all our cows would be sick (figure that one out for yourself). Any municipalty have to be well informed. If in doubt, for about $100 a water testing facility will provide you with a multi page report on your well water. City water does have such questions well taken care of.

I am from PA and been involved in the Natural Gas Industry and Coal Mining Industry in one way or another, from a toddler whose family worked in both industries to doing QC oversight on the well pads and the manufacturers of pipe and equipment. Any one remember the Centrailia, PA mine fire? Well, we have a lot of underground mine fires in PA, and I personally have seen waters that could be lit from Eastern PA to Western PA. Think back about how these resources were discovered, not drilled. A closed loop system doesn't have the conditions, but pons, creeks, and wells have long displayed these characteristics naturally. The producer of gasland worked as a clerk at Wegmans and since is paltry land parcel was not of interest to the drill rigs, he did gasland to make a buck.

Been communicating with GasFrac VP down here in W. PA and the concept is interesting and cost competitive. In fact it has been used south of Pittsburgh and the results are being evaluated now. Gasfrac has a great PPT that should be viewed by anyone interested in shale gas.

Will Propane Save Fracking?

No fracking way!!!