July 31, 2014 -- ProChemTech International has reported that its Chief Chemist, Timothy Keister, CWT, presented a paper, "Conversion of
Marcellus Production Wastewater into Salable Products" at the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2014 Shale Engineering Conference, held July 21-23, 2014, in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The technical paper described the chemical and process technology needed to convert Marcellus
gas shale wastewaters into salable commodity chemical products: barite, strontium sulfate, chemical-grade sodium chloride (common salt), and calcium chloride solution. Converting Marcellus
wastewaters into chemical products eliminates a major
environmental wastewater disposal problem confronting continued development of the Marcellus gas play: disposal of production wastewater.
Also discussed was the current proposal to construct a facility based on this technology at the Jefferson County, Pa., industrial park for an estimated cost of $25 million. This proposed facility would have 30 employees producing 8 tons of barite, 14 tons strontium sulfate, 170 tons sodium chloride, and 365 tons calcium chloride -- 30-percent solution per day from 250,000 gallons of Marcellus wastewater.
The facility would be "zero discharge" as to process wastewater with a minimal amount of solid waste production to be landfilled. This is in marked contrast to current disposal technology, which is limited to
deep well injection. The facility would have a positive cash flow from sale of chemical products and show a substantial profit with a "tipping fee" of just $0.20/gallon for accepting wastewater for disposal.
