Simultaneous Removal of Inorganics and Organics from Fracking Water Using Supercritical Water

Recent advances in horizontal drilling and fracking technology for use in shale formations has significantly increased oil and gas production in the United States- At the same time, they have also brought about a number of issues that await solutions, such as the large amount of water that is needed for pumping into the wells and treatment and disposal of the water mixture that flows back to the surface, either initially as flowback water or later in production as produced water- Heavy concentrations of both organics (mostly phenols and pyridines) and inorganics (mostly salts) in flowback water and produced water have made them difficult to treat and dispose- The problem is exacerbated by the scattered location of the wells, which are typically in remote areas far from freshwater sources and water treatment plants, therefore requiring modular solutions that have to be economical on the small scale- Treatment of fracking water using supercritical water, despite its technical superiorities compared to the currently in use reverse osmosis technology, has generally been confined to the laboratory scale due to cost considerations-