PFI:AIR - TT: Hydroacoustic Cavitation for Reclaiming Clay and Sand from Hydrofracturing Fluids and Solids

这个PFI：空气技术转换项目将应用一种新的砂-粘土分离技术来处理水力压裂废固相泥浆、钻井泥浆和流体。这将允许粘土在钻井泥浆和其他粘土应用中重新使用，沙子可以作为支撑剂重新使用，而不是作为固体废物丢弃。该项目将有助于促进美国的能源独立、国家安全和经济竞争力，因为它解决了天然气行业的两个问题-即如何回收传统填埋的固体，以及如何管理镭。更广泛地说，这里开发的固体回收和镭管理策略也可以用于PA、TX、WY、CO、WV和LA的其他天然气和石油开采作业。固体的再利用将减少水力压裂附近的交通，并减少运往垃圾填埋场的废物量和开采的新材料的量。该项目将实现水声空化-高级氧化(HAC-AO)处理水力压裂废渣的试点规模应用。重要的是，当盐分水平比海水高4-10倍时，HAC-AO提供了在有镭和高盐盐水存在的情况下处理固体的能力。与该市场领域的其他技术相比，此功能具有优势。当这些固体可以回收和再利用时，运营成本将显著降低。例如，将HAC-AO应用于混合水力压裂固体废物水泥浆，可回收约15%~20%的固体颗粒作为优质粘土，35%~45%的固体颗粒可回收作为良好的砂支撑剂。这就只剩下35%-40%的资金可以浪费了。考虑到粘土和沙子的购买成本以及固体填埋费，对于传统上会被浪费的再生材料来说，这种回收相当于每吨数百美元。这个项目解决了从研究发现转化为商业应用的以下技术差距。具体地说，在HAC-AO暴露并激活受污染的粘土表面后，在高盐度卤水存在下的粘土-阳离子-镭相互作用和阳离子-粘土缔合动力学。压裂卤水中的镭活度往往在几千pCI/L范围内。先前的研究结果表明，当粘土被HAc-AO活化时，其捕获镭的能力增加。重要的是，这意味着其他固体和液体在被浪费时，反过来会含有更少的镭，使得它们没有必要用卡车运送到放射性废物地点；如果出现更严格的监管--这可能会发生。HAC-AO系统可以从水力压裂固体废物、泥浆和流体中回收粘土和硅砂支撑剂。当宾夕法尼亚州立大学的研究小组在这些先前的研究中处理水力压裂废盐水时，几乎所有其他废弃的粘土都可以回收。在该项目期间，研究生将通过与行业合作伙伴Hydro Recovery LP的互动获得创业体验。该项目聘请Hydro Recovery LP提供废物，并在快速变化的水力压裂行业内指导商业化。这两个项目在从研究发现到商业现实的技术转换工作中至关重要，研究生将在此过程中受益于与海德鲁恢复公司的密切合作。

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project will apply a novel sand-clay separation technology to processing hydrofracturing waste solid slurries, drilling muds, and fluids. This will allow the clays to be reused in drilling mud and other clay applications, and the sand to be reused as proppant, rather than being discarded as solid wastes. This project will help promote American energy independence, national security, and economic competitiveness, because it solves two issues in the natural gas industry - namely how to reclaim solids that are conventionally landfilled, and how to manage radium. More broadly, the solids reclamation and radium management strategies developed here could also be used at other natural gas and petroleum-extraction operations in PA, TX, WY, CO, WV, and LA. The reuse of the solids will reduce traffic near hydrofracturing and decrease the volumes of waste hauled to landfills and the volumes of new material that is mined. The project will result in a pilot scale application of hydroacoustic cavitation-advanced oxidation (HAC-AO) for treatment of hydrofracturing waste solids. Importantly, HAC-AO offers the ability to treat solids in the presence of radium and hypersaline brines, when salt levels are 4-10 times higher than ocean water. This feature provides an advantage when compared to other technologies in this market space. When these solids can be reclaimed and reused, operations costs will be significantly diminished. For example, when HAC-AO was applied to a mixed hydrofracturing solid waste slurry, about 15-20% of the solids could be reclaimed as high-quality clay, and 35-45% reclaimed as good sand proppant. That left only 35-40% remaining to be wasted. When considering clay and sand purchasing costs, and solids landfilling fees, this reclamation represented several hundred dollars per ton for the reclaimed material that would conventionally be wasted.This project addresses the following technology gaps as it translates from research discovery toward commercial application. Specifically, clay-cation-radium interactions in the presence of hypersaline brines and cation-clay association kinetics, after the HAC-AO has exposed and activated fouled clay surfaces. Radium activities in hydrofracturing brines are often thousands of pCi/L range. Prior results show that the clays, when activated by HAC-AO, increase their capacity to capture radium. Importantly, this means that the other solids and liquids, when wasted, will conversely host less radium, making it unnecessary to truck them to radioactive waste sites; if more stringent regulations arise-as may happen. An HAC-AO system can reclaim both clay and silica sand proppant from hydrofracturing solid waste slurries and fluids. When the Penn State team processed hydrofracturing waste brines in these prior studies, nearly all of the otherwise wasted clay could be reclaimed. During this project, graduate students will receive entrepreneurship experiences through interaction with the industrial partner, Hydro Recovery, LP. The project engages Hydro Recovery LP to both provide the waste materials and guide commercialization within the rapidly changing hydrofracturing industry. These two items are vital in this technology translation effort from research discovery toward commercial reality and graduate students will benefit from working closely with Hydro Recovery during the process.