Advanced petroleum and natural gas production technologies are increasingly
used to help meet the demand for energy in both the United States and globally. As
conventional resources become more scarce, research and innovation by the oil and gas
industry has resulted in techniques for tapping unconventional resources, including
hydrocarbons trapped in shale formations found in a number of locations throughout the
United States. A key technology for accessing such resources is hydraulic fracturing
(fracking), which has transformed natural gas production over the past several years and
is also being applied for oil production. These new energy supply technologies also bring
new environmental management challenges. Among the issues of concern are the air
pollution emissions from fracking operations and whether they can potentially impact air
quality at well sites and in surrounding communities.
A significant opportunity exists to improve the sustainability of energy production
by reducing the air emissions from fracking operations. This Master’s Project focuses on
the characterization and modeling of these air emissions to help improve environmental
management efforts by the industry and to inform the application of regulations for
guiding efforts to reduce emissions. The emissions addressed include criteria air
pollutants and their precursors. The work involved identifying major sources of emissions
during fracking operations, evaluating current models used for air emissions
characterization, and developing refinements to the models to enable better emissions
management. The project team travelled to a well site and to testing facilities to learn
about operations in two different shale formations and to gather data needed to improve
emissions characterization. These visits enabled the team to gain a deeper understanding
of the nature of fracking equipment, operations and air emissions test protocols.
The project results include an improved characterization of air emissions from
equipment used in fracking, specifically for the high-power diesel frac pumps that were
found to be responsible for the largest portion of emissions. The project also developed
recommendations for improving the existing air emissions models for purposes of
regulatory reporting and compliance, and also for potential ways to decrease air
emissions from fracking operations.