hydrofrac'ing/benzene
Dew,
I'm not a frac fluid expert so I don't really know whether there is benzene is used, however, I don't see how or why it would be useful and thus my skepticism. Most hydrofrac'ing fluids are 90 to >99% water (i.e. "slickwater" fracturing). Surfactants, biocides, and scale/corrosion inhibitors are also mixed in the water but I don't think benzene serves any of those purposes. If you can lay hand on SPE-115766, -122931, -119898 they might be of interest. The first is a general overview and the other 2 specifically address environmental aspects of hydraulic fracturing. The 2nd paper does not mention benzene at all while the 3rd mentions benzene management in the context of "flowback". Having benzene in the water produced back from the stimulated well (the flowback water) makes much more sense than adding benzene to the injected water. The nature of these reservoirs is that any complex or large hydrocarbon molecules will be highly degraded and one of the products of that degradation will be benzene. The purpose of the fracturing is to open up permeability and desorbtion of the volatile hydrocarbons into the created fractures. Consequently, benzene along with methane and any other volatile compound present goes into the water stream produced back to the surface. So as usual, the wailing and teeth knashing masses are trying to fix a symptom rather than the problem (unless killing the patient is considered a successful treatment of the problem).
regards,
Charlie
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