EAGER: Engineering Microbial Mats for the On-Site Treatment of Wastewater from Unconventional Gas Production

CBET 1353858比比匹兹堡大学拟议的项目提案旨在通过工程微生物垫为非常规天然气作业过程中产生的废水开发一种新颖的、现场的、低成本的处理机制。非常规天然气钻井作业产生的废水，称为采出废水，既含有有助于天然气开采的添加剂，也含有来自地下地层的极高水平的总溶解固体(TDS)。非常规采气方法产生的废水具有独特的特点，这使得处理和处置这一废水成为一个重大的、目前尚未解决的技术挑战。微生物垫是聚集和分层的细菌联合体，具有复杂的内部化学和能量梯度，以及高度多样化的专门微生物代谢。微生物垫的高耐盐性、便于迁移和去除的固定性质以及多种污染物去除机制(如生物诱导的沉淀、矿化或生物吸附)表明，它们在污水处理中具有很好的应用价值。这项技术的目标是将采出的废水处理得足够好，以便在压裂作业中重复使用，保护水资源不受过度开采的影响，并将处置的影响降至最低。为了重复利用产出的废水，钻探人员主要关注可能导致油井结垢或结垢的成分，即钡、锶、铁和生物结垢。此外，钻探者对自然产生的放射性物质(规范)的积累感到担忧。所有现有数据表明，微生物垫是一种成功的去除采油废水中令人担忧的成分的处理方案；然而，应用微生物垫处理采油废水是全新的，这项工作将有助于证明其可行性和潜力。非常规天然气生产，通常被称为？水力压裂？对于水力压裂，使用新技术来获取困在地质地层中的天然气，这些地层以前是无法开采的。具有成本效益的、国内生产的天然气在美国的许多行业都具有显著的经济效益。然而，水力压裂过程中产生的废水，即所谓的“产出废水”的管理，目前是一个尚未解决的技术挑战。采油废水的含盐量大约是海水的五倍，每口井产生200-400万加仑的废水。现有技术无法经济有效地应对这种盐分含量和数量。该项目将研究一种新的现场处理技术-微生物垫，用于处理采出的废水，然后在未来的水力压裂作业中重复使用。微生物垫代表了一种新的处理技术，只需要最少的能源投入和维护，可以在现场部署，以消除用卡车运输大量水进行处理的相关影响。

CBET 1353858BibbyUniversity of PittsburghThe proposed project proposal seeks to develop a novel, on-site, and low cost treatment mechanism for wastewaters produced during unconventional gas operations by engineering microbial mats. Wastewaters produced by unconventional gas drilling operations, termed produced wastewaters, contain both additives to assist in gas extraction and extremely high levels of total dissolved solids (TDS) originally derived from subsurface formations. The unique characteristics of wastewaters from unconventional gas production methods make treatment and disposal of this waste stream a significant and currently unsolved technical challenge. Microbial mats are agglomerated and layered bacterial consortia with complex internal chemical and energetic gradients and a high diversity of specialized microbial metabolisms. The characteristics of microbial mats, namely high salt stress tolerance, fixed nature facilitating transport and removal, and multiple mechanisms of contaminant removal, i.e. biologically induced precipitation, mineralization, or biosorption, suggest their utility in treatment of produced wastewaters. The goal of this technology is to treat produced wastewater well enough for reuse in fracturing operations, protecting water resources from over exploitation and minimizing the impacts of disposal. In order to reuse produced wastewater, drillers are primarily concerned with constituents that may cause scaling or foul a well, namely barium, strontium, iron, and biological fouling. Additionally, drillers are concerned about the accumulation of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORMs). All available data suggest microbial mats as a successful treatment scheme for removing constituents of concern from produced wastewaters; however, the application of microbial mats for the treatment of produced wastewaters is entirely novel and this work will serve to demonstrate both its feasibility and potential.Unconventional gas production, often termed ?fracking? for hydraulic fracturing, uses new technology to access gas trapped in geological formations that were previously inaccessible. The cost effective, domestic production of natural gas has significant economic benefits in a wide range of US industries. However, the management of wastewaters produced during hydraulic fracturing, termed ?produced wastewaters?, is a currently unsolved technical challenge. The salt content of produced wastewater is approximately five times that of ocean water and each well produces 2-4 million gallons of wastewater. Existing technologies are unable to cost effectively cope with this salt content and volume. This project will investigate a novel on-site treatment technology, microbial mats, for the treatment of produced wastewaters prior to reuse in future hydraulic fracturing operations. Microbial mats represent a novel treatment technology that would require minimal energy input and maintenance, and could be deployed onsite to eliminate the impacts associated with trucking large volumes of water for treatment.