# Site Visit Report

Seneca Resources Corporation

Covington, PA

February 4

, 201 5i TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

1.0 I NTRODUCTION

................................ ................................ ................................ ................. 1

- 1

2.0 B ACKGROUND AND O BJECTIVES

................................ ................................ ....................... 2

- 1

3. 0 S HALE G AS E XTRACTION W ASTEWATER M ANAGEMENT

................................ ................. 3

- 1 3.1 Company Background

................................ ................................ ......................... 3

- 1 3.2 Wastewater Services

................................ ................................ ............................ 3

- 1 3.3 Wast ewater Concentrator Information

................................ ................................ . 3

- 2 3.4 Concentrated Wastewater Streams

................................ ................................ ...... 3

- 5 3.5 Costs

................................ ................................ ................................ ..................... 3

- 6

Appendix A: LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ON THE SENECA RESOUR CES,

COVINGTON, PA SITE V ISIT

Appendix B: SITE VISIT PHOTOGRAPHS

Appendix C: MONITORING DATAii LIST OF FIGURES Page

Figure 3

- 1. Facility Flow Diagram

................................ ................................ .............................. 3

- 3

Figure 3

- 2. Direct Contact Heat Exchange and Evaporation Zone

................................ ............. 3

- 4

Figure 3

- 3. Entrainment Separator

................................ ................................ ............................... 3

- 4

Figure 3

- 4. Schematic of Evaporation Zone and Entrainment Separator

................................ .... 3

- 51

- 1

1.0 I NTRODUCTION

On August 6 , 201 4 , the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) met with representatives from Seneca Resources Corporation (Seneca Resources ) and Heartland Technology Partners, LLC (Heartla nd Technology Partners ) at Seneca Resources’ Cherry Flats Compressor Station in Covington, PA. Collocated at the compressor station is a facility owned by Seneca Resources and operated by Heartland Technology Partners to manage produced water generated by area Seneca Resources unconventio nal oil and gas wells. The facility operates Heartland Technology Partners’ L ow M omentum

– H igh T urbulence ( LM

- HT® ) Concentrator to achieve zero liquid discharge of produced water. Energy for the wastewater concentrator is provided by w aste heat (exhaust) from the compressor engines.

Site visit participants are listed below. Contact inform ation is included in Appendix A.

U.S. EPA Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology Engineering and Analysis Division

Jesse Pritts Karen Milam

E astern R esearch G roup, Inc

. (ERG) (EPA Contractor)

Debra Falatko Cortney Itle Sarah Yates

Seneca Resources Corporation

Randy Garett ( works for K evlor a contract operator for Seneca )

Heartland Technology Partners, LLC

Terry Beasy Bern ard Duesel Craig Clerkin John Weigold2

- 1

2.0 B ACKGROUND AND O BJECTIVES

The recent increase in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction activities through practices such as hydraulic fracturing has increased the need for management and disposal options for flowbac k , long

- term produced water, and other wastewater that is generated. EPA is evaluating oil and gas extraction wastewater management practices, including CWT facilities accepting oil and gas extraction wastewaters. As part of this evaluation, EPA is collecting data from a variety of sources, including site visits at CWT facilities and other facilities that manage oil and gas extraction wastewaters. The goals of these site visits are to evaluate treatment technologies (including factors such as their c ost and performance), evaluate types and volumes of wastewater managed and the characteristics of these wastewaters, evaluate residuals management practices, and understand the economic and financial factors affecting the industry. EPA is not endorsing th e use of specific technologies.

EPA conducted a site visit at Seneca Resources’ Covington, PA facility to collect background information on the oil and gas extraction wastewater management industry and observe wastewater management operations. Before the v isit , the EPA reviewed information about facilities in Pennsylvania that manage oil and gas extraction wastewater. During this review, the EPA identified Seneca Resources as a company active in shale oil and gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale Play. Furt her, the EPA learned that a concentrator located at Seneca Resources ’ Cherry Flats compressor station received oil and gas extraction wastewater for management using technologies designed to remove TDS from wastewater.

The compressor station facility is ow ned by Seneca Resources, while the collocated

concentrator is owned by Seneca Resources and operated by Heartland Technology Partners to manage produced water generated by area Seneca Resources unconventional oil and gas wells. Terry Beasy and Bern ard Duesel of Heartland Technology Partners led the discussion of Seneca Resources’ wastewater concentrator operations and the site tour. The remainder of this report summarizes information discussed during the August 6, 2014 site visit

.3

- 1

3.0 S H ALE G AS E XTRACTION W ASTEWATER M ANAGEMENT

During the site tour of Covington, PA operations, Heartland Technology Partners provided an overview of shale gas extraction wastewater management . Topics discussed include d :

 Company Background

 Wastewater S ervices

 Wastewater Concentrator Information

 Concentrate S treams

 Costs

3.1 Company Background

Seneca Resources was founded in 1934. According to Seneca Resources website,

“ Seneca operates more than 3,000 shallow wells and more than 150 deep shale wells in New York state and Pennsylvania. Seneca controls 745,000 net prospective acres in the Marcellus Fairway in Pennsylvania, which are part of its approximately one million acres located throughout the Appalachian Basin in New York and Pennsylvania. Of Seneca 's Marcellus holdings, approximately 80 percent is fee acreage, with the mineral rights owned outright by Seneca with no royalty obligation or lease expiration. The remaining Marcellus land rights, approximately 20 percent, are leasehold interests, most of which are held by production.” 1

H eartland Technology Partners was founded in 200 8 by partners that developed and patented the LM

- HT® Concentrator technology. The company currently has about 30 employe e s throughout the U.S. Heartland Technology Partners approached Seneca Resources, along with many other oil and gas companies, to promote their wastewater management technology. Using money from private investors, Heartland Technology Partners installed their technology for Seneca Resources in 2011 and suppl ied operat ors at no cost for six months to demonstrate the technology. The facility was moved to a new location and a fter a few months, Seneca Resources asked Heartland Technology Partners to build and operate th is facility for Seneca Resources.

3.2 Wastewat er Services

Seneca Resources’ facility accepts shale gas wastewater from local a rea shale gas extraction operations

. Accepted wastewater is predominantly produced water with a salt concentration of approximately 2 35 ,000 mg/L total solids , but also flow back wastewater with total solids concentration typically between 90,000mg /l to 235 ,000 mg/l

. The facility operated by H eartland Technology Partners is very versatile

. T he wastewater management process uses evaporation to concentrate the wastewater and reduce its volume, thereby greatly reducing transportation costs. Evaporated water ( vapor ) is vented to the atmosphere. The extent of evaporation performed is dependent on desired reuse or disposal as follows:

 Reuse for hydraulic fracturing . Wastewater (ap proximately 9.6 pounds per gallon ) is concentrated to 10 pounds per gallon

. The concentrated wastewater is then

1 http://www.natfuel.com/seneca/east_division.aspx

.3

- 2 transported to shale gas wells wh ere it is blended with fresh water and used f or hydraulic fracturing , or used in winter completion operations for freeze protection

. If the produced fluids are reused, they generally get sent back to the well.

 Disposal. Alternatively

, the facility can concentrate the wastewater to heavy slurry that can be solidified and disposed at a landfill

.
Regardless of how the treated wastewater is managed (wastewater reuse or waste slurry to land disposal) , the facility is “ zero discharge ,” with no wastewater discharged either directly to receiving streams or indirectly via a publicly

- owned treatment works.

3.3 Wastewater Concentrator Information

The facility was designed to manage a maximum of 30,000 gallons or 750 bbl. per day of

wastewater in the slurry mode for disposal

, but in the 10 pound per gallon mode the facility can
process a little more volume. T his is possible because more water is left in the 10 pound per gallon water , which allows more thr oughput

. The recycling of produced water for frac tur ing in new wells created a use for all local produced waters
, and operations of the collocated

concentrator facility were shut down pending increased need to dispose of production water. Figure 3

- 1 presents a flow diagram of the system. Figure 3

- 2

, Figure 3

- 3 , and Figure 3

- 4 provide photographs of select individual units. App endix B provides site visit photographs.3

- 3 Figure 3

- 1 . Facility Flow Diagram 2

2 Source: Heartland Technology Partners, http://www.heartlandtech.com/about/core

- technologies/3

- 4

Wastew ater is received at the facility by tanker truck. The driver backs the truck onto the unloading pad and use s a keypad to enter a code to track the wastewater unloaded into the facility. Hear t land Technology Partners ’ personnel indicated that b ecause the wastewater has been tested at the well, i ndividual waste water loads are not sampled or analyzed upon delivery. T he wastewater is drained from the tank truck into an open top pit to permit visual inspection for abnormality . From the pit, the wastewater is pumped to an appropriate storage tank . The f acility has three 1 6,800

- gallon feed storage tanks for a total wastewater feed storage capacity of 50

, 400 gallons.

E xhaust from the compressor station ’s six 1

, 380 horsepower reciprocating engines is collected into a n exhaust manifold and pulled by vacuum (provided by an induced draft fan) into the evaporator ( see Figure 3

- 2 and Figure 3

- 4 )

. Wastewater feed from the storage tanks is injected into the evaporator , directly contacting the hot exhaust. In the evaporator, t he wastewater feed is subjected to a tortuous path flow, which breaks the liquid into small droplets, providing high interfacial surface area for heat transfer and evaporation

. From the evaporator section , the exhaust/brine mixture enters an entrainment separator ( see Figure 3

- 3 and Figure 3

- 4 ), where the concentrated brine droplets are separated from the exhaust and drain into a sump locate d under the separator. T he resulting brine exceeds wastewater saturation, inducing the precipitation of salt solids. A sump pump transfers brine and solids from the sump to a thickener tank, where salt solids /brine settles to the bottom and are removed, wh ile the lower

- density supernatant liquid (lower salt content) is recycled back to the evaporator section

. The supernatant recycle rate is adjusted to achieve the target brine salt concentration. Concentrated 10 pounds per gall on brine is stored in two 1 6,800

- gallon brine storage tanks

. T he 12.5 pound per gallon slurry can be stored in a 20,000 gallon tank

.

Figure 3

- 2

. Direct Contact Heat Exchange and Evaporation Zone 3 Figure 3

- 3 . Entrainment Separator 4

3 Source: Heartland Technology Partners, http://www.heartlandtech.com/about/core

- technologies/

4 Source: Heartland Technology Partners, http://www.heartlandtech.com/news/docs/140205

- EUEC

- adiabatic.pdf3

- 5 Figure 3

- 4

. Schematic of Evaporation Zone and

Entrainment Separator 5

Water vapor (steam) is typically released directly to the atmosphere from the separator

. However, as an option, the steam can be routed to a shell and tube heat exchanger to c ondense it into water containing approximately 139 parts per million salts

. Cooling water for the heat exchanger is provided by wastewater feed. T he condensate is stored in one 1 6,800

- gallon condensate tank

. Presently a small amount is produced and used for the fracturing of new wells. In some areas were a water supply may be in short supply, a larger amount can be condensed for reuse in the fracturing operati ons.

3.4 Concentrated Wastewater Streams

As noted in Section 3.2

, the concentrator has the ability to produce brines of various concentrations. Heartland Technology Partners monitors the brine specific gravity, which is correlated to salt content or weight of the water

.

O nly o ne stream that leaves the facility is managed as waste : heavy slurry ( 37 percent water) , which is generated only when lighter concentrat ions of brine are not generated. The heavy slurry is t rucked to Waste Management, Inc. for solidifi cation and disposal via landfill at the Waste Management Phoenix landfill in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania

. The facility would generate a maximum of 45 to 50 ton s of solids per day, if operating a t full capacity and treating the highest concentration feed stream

.
According to Heartland Technology Partners personnel

, landfills in PA can accept wastes for disposal that meet disposal criteria

, and information for disposal can be found by reviewing the waste disposal permit filed with the state. Based on these findings, Heartland Technology Partners instead develop ed a technology tha t retain s all of the salts, which when presented for disposal passed all tests . I n this way; Heartland Technology Partners has not experienced any issues with the Ph oe nix landfill accepting their waste brine slurry.

5 Source: Heartland Technology Partners, http://www.heartlandtech.com/news/docs/140205

- EUEC

- adia batic.pdf3

- 6

3.5 Cost s

Capital and operating and maintenance costs of the system are not available at this time. The system includes a natural gas

- fueled generator to provide electrical power for operating the system. The system was installed in 2011. Although Heartland Technology Partners provide s at least one operator per shift

, system operation and maintenance is only a small portion of shift personnel time

. For example, facility personnel stated that the primary system maintenance requirement is to clean and inspect the entrainment separator for approximately 15 minutes per day. Heartland Technology Partners personnel stated that relatively low maintenance requirements enable the system to operate with high online percen tage.

Heartland Technology Partners personnel estimate that local commercial facilities currently charge a fee per barrel for wastewater treatment and disposal , and a fee per barrel for wastewater treatment and reuse on a barrel

- in/barrel

- out basis

. It cos ts $14 to $18 to truck and

treat wastewater at the next nearest waste water treatment facility located in Ohio. Producers use the service s that H e artland Technology Partners provides because it is significantly less expensive than other alternatives

.

Acco rding to Heartland Technology Partners personnel , their LM

- HT® Concentrator provides several benefits as compared to traditional mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) and crystallization technologies :

 Firs t, direct contact heat exchange eliminates the need for heat exchange equipment , which is prone to scaling and associated periodic shutdown and maintenance.

 Second, unlike the LM

- HT® Concentrator, most other evaporator/crystallizers cannot operate in conditions exceeding the wastewater saturation

, as sol ids foul and plug the equipment. Accordingly, to produce crystallized salts, traditional treatment requires two technologies ( MVR and crystallization) as compared to Heartland Technology Partners’ single concentrator unit.

 Third, only the direct contact heat exchange portion of the LM

- HT® Concentrator is subjected to high temperatures (waste heat at 600 to 1,000°F), requiring highly corrosion resistant metal alloy ; the remainder of the system operates at 140 to 180°F and is constructed of corrosion resist ant but less

- costly materials. In contrast, the relatively large indirect heat exchangers and vessels used in MVR/crystallization system s that are subject to high temperatures require high er end (costly) materials of construction.

 Fifth, the LM

- HT® Concentrator uses relatively few moving parts, limited to the induced draft fan and wastewater pump , reducing operating and maintenance

costs . The LM

- HT® Concentrator down time is lower than either the MVR or the crystallizer alone

.A PPENDIX A

L IST O F P ARTICIPANTS ON THE S ENECA R ESOURCES , C OVINGTON , PA S ITE V ISITA

- 1 Table A

- 1. List of Attendees

First Name Organization Phone Number Email

Jesse Pritts U.S. EPA, Engineer (202) 566

- 1038 Pritts.Jesse@epa.gov

Karen Milam U.S. EPA, Economist (202) 564

- 9752 Milam.Karen@epa.gov Randy Garrett Seneca Resources , Plant

Operator 231

- 313

- 0969 Covingtoncso@gmail.com

Terry Beasy Heartland Technology Partners

,

Operations Manager (219) 863

- 1355 tbeasy@heartland

- companies.com

Craig Clerkin Heartland Technology Partners

,

Vice

- President, Engineer ing 608

- 516

- 7012 cclerkin@heartland tech com

Bernie Duesel Heartland Technology Partners

,

Vice

- President, Research and Development (201) 965

- 2303 bduesel @heartland tech .com

John Weigold Heartland Technology Partners,

Marketing Manager (617) 823

- 8097 jweigold@heartlandtech.com

Debra Falatko ERG, Engineer (703) 633

- 1607 Debra.Falatko@erg.com Cortney Itle ERG, Engineer (703) 424

- 8360 Cortney.Itle@erg.com

Sarah Yates ERG, Engineer (703) 633

- 1661 Sarah.Yates@erg.comA PPENDIX B S ITE V ISIT P HOTOGRAPH SB

- 1

Exhaust Manifold Behind Compressors Exhaust Manifold to CWT Building, Truck Unloading Pad on Right

Open Top Wastewater Pit, Wastewater Feed and Brine Storage Tanks in Rear Truck Unloading Pad and Open Top Wastewater Pit

Downflow Evaporator on Left, Inlet to Entrainment Separator on Right Downflow Evaporator on Left, Inlet to Entrainment Separator on RightB

- 2

Entrainment Separator on Left, Thickener Tank on Right Wastewater Feed Sample Tap

Wastewater Feed Sample Tap Thickener Tank Supernatant Recycle Sample TapB

- 3

Concentrated Brine Sample Tap Steam Condensate Sample Tap

Increasing Salt Content from Wastewater Feed (Right) Through Salt Cake (Left) Heartland LM

- HT® Concentrator Control PanelA PPENDIX C M ONITORING D ATAC

- 1 Sample / Date
CONDENSER WATER

11/8/2013

Analyte CONDENSER WATER
EPA 200.7Total (ug/l)
Barium (7440

- 39

- 3) 8590
EPA 200.8Total (mg/l)
Arsenic (7440

- 38

- 2) <0.001
Cadmium (7440

- 43

- 9) <0.0001
Chromium (7440

- 47

- 3) 0.0029
Lead (7439

- 92

- 1) <0.001
Selenium (7782

- 49

- 2) <0.001
Silver (7440

- 22

- 4) 0.00075
EPA 245.1Total (mg/l)
Mercury (7439

- 97

- 6) <0.0002
EPA 300.0Unknown (mg/l)
Chloride (16887

- 00

- 6) 139
SM 2320BUnknown (mg/l)
Alkalinity (as CaCO3) 322

SM 2540CUnknown (mg/l)

Total Dissolved Solids 324
SM 2540DUnknown (mg/l)

Total Solids 4

SM 4500

- H+BUnknown (s.u.)

pH 6.4
SM 5210BUnknown (mg/l)

BOD

- Five Day 37.9
SM 5310CUnknown (mg/l)
Total Organic Carbon (7440

- 44

- 0) 24.1