Water Treatment - Oil and Gas 

Environmental Compliance Conference Appalachian Basin -Washington, PA

M A Y 13 - 14 , 2 0 14
2

Shale in the News 
Well Development 
4

Production - Drilling 

Horizontal wells are more efficient in production and leave a 

smaller footprint than traditional vertical wells.

Two well types: vertical and horizontal
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6

Production - Drilling 
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Production - Drilling 

Well Casing

▶ Metal casing assures 

integrity of the well from 

end-to-end

▶ Cement seals the steel 

casing throughout the entire 

well and prevents the 

release of hydrocarbons
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Production – Hydraulic Stimulation 

Data Monitoring Van

Pump Trucks

Blender

Chemical Storage

Working Water Tanks

Sand Storage Units

Tanks of Filtered Water for Re-use

Data Monitoring Van

Well Heads

Pump Trucks

Blender

Chemical Storage

Working Water Tanks

Sand Storage Units

Tanks of Filtered Water for Re-use
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Production – Hydraulic Stimulation 

Blender

Chemical Storage

Tanks of Filtered Water for Re-use
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Production – Hydraulic Stimulation 

▶ >60 years and >1 million 

wells in 27 states

▶ 90 percent of oil and gas 

wells use hydraulic 

stimulation

▶ 99.5 percent use water 

and sand mix

▶ One fracture uses 3 to 5 

million gallons of water
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Current Pennsylvania Water Usage 

5,930

1,680 1,550

268 182

30

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

Power

generation

Industrial Public water

systems

Other Mining Marcellus

Shale

Drilling

Millions of Gallons per Day

Susquehanna River Basin total water demand according to the Gas Technology Institute

General approximations used for illustrative purposes only
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Production – Hydraulic Simulation 

Water and Sand: 

99.5%

Typical Deep Shale Gas Fracturing Mixture

All products are rarely used in one shale play

Other: 0.5%

Acid

Friction Reducer

Surfactant

Gelling Agent

Scale Inhibitor

pH Adjusting Agent

Breaker

Crosslinker

Iron Control

Corrosion Inhibitor

Antibacterial Agent

Clay Stabilizer
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Production – Flowback Characteristics 

Iron 

(mg/ L) 

Sulfate 

(mg/ L) 

Barium 

(mg/ L) TDS (mg/ L) 

Marcellus 40 -60 80 -20 0 20 0 -30 0 38,50 0 -

230 ,0 0 0

Utica 20 -50 40 0 -1,0 0 0 30 0 -50 0 50 ,0 0 0 -

30 0 ,0 0 0

Barnett 10 -30 250 -40 0 20 0 -60 0 23,60 0 -

98,90 0
Treatment 
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Reuse of Flowback Water Summary 

Sludge to Landfill 

Determine Chemical 

Loading for Frac Fluids

Reuse Treated Flowback

3.

Flowback

1.

Fresh Water

2.

Frac

4.

Treatment

5.

Treated Flowback Treatment

4.
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Treatment 

▶ Filtration

▶ Physical/ chemical

▶ Electrocoagulation

▶ Chlorine dioxide

▶ Evaporation/ crystallization
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Rain-for-Rent Bag Filter 
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Bag Filters 

▶ Inexpensive

▶ Filtering reuse water 

requires higher amounts 

of fresh water for 

blending 

▶ No electrical 

requirements
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RETTEW Mobile Treatment System 
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Fountain Quail Rover System 
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Mobile Chemical/ Physical Treatment 

▶ Higher-quality reuse 

water

▶ Requires blending with 

fresh water

▶ Reduces trucking to 

permanent facilities 

from remote wells
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Electrocoagulation 

▶ Oxidizes and eradicates 

heavy metals without 

filters or chemicals

▶ Relatively energy-

inefficient

▶ Requires skilled 

operators and 

maintenance personnel
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Chlorine Dioxide ▶ 95 percent of global 

output is used to bleach 

wood pulp

▶ Used as a combination 

oxidizer/ biocide

▶ Almost always created 

onsite with a chlorine 

dioxide generator as it is 

extremely hazardous to 

transport 
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Aquatech Mobile Evaporator 
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Fixed Facility 

▶ TerrAqua Resource Management

▶ Eureka Resources

▶ HydroRecovery
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Aquatech Modular Zero Liquid 

Discharge System 
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Evaporation 

▶ Generate solid waste 

for disposal

▶ Energy-inefficient

▶ Zero liquid discharge 

systems create no 

reuse water
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Production Steps - 

Flowback ▶ Filtration $0 .50 to $1.35/ bbl – Fixed location that includes disinfectant 

chemical, filters, fuel, unit, chemistry, and 

operations

▶ Chemical or physical $4.0 0 to 

$10 .0 0 / bbl

– Mobilization/ demobilization, setup and 

tear down, operations, chemicals, and 

sludge disposal (non-hazardous waste)

▶ Injection Wells $4.0 0 to 

$15.0 0 / bbl

▶ Evaporation $9.0 0 to $15.0 0 / bbl
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Thank you!

Ryan Mastowski, EIT

rmastowski@rettew.com