Hydraulic Fracturing/Petroleum

Hydraulic fracturing is quickly becoming a popular issue in the country as previously hidden information about the techniques, chemicals used, and actual environmental impact is assessed and published for open viewing to the public by universities and concerned citizen organizations.

Hydraulic fracturing is a method that uses sand-water mixtures that are forced into underground wells under pressure; the pressure splits the petroleum-bearing sandstone, thereby allowing the oil to move toward the wells more freely.

I recently wrote a paper about the current situation involving the extraction of oil from the Bakken formation, and the excess amount of waste involving natural gas that is burned off into the atmosphere by oil companies in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, and it's implications to the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases, and also from a business-ethics perspective and how the corporate social responsibility of oil companies is drastically, and incomprehensibly lax.
I will post my paper, along with its citations and related published articles and journals soon.

Here is a list and reduced glossary of some of the chemicals, processes, and terms used and involved in the hazardous waste produced from fossil fuels:

asphaltenes

The part precipitated by addition of a low-boiling paraffin solvent such as normal pentane and benzene-soluble fraction, derived from carbonaceous sources such as petroleum, coal, or oil shale.

boiler slag

A black granular material that is coarser than conventional fly ash.

BTEX

The BTEX chemicals (benzene, toluene, ethylben-zene, and xylenes) are volatile monoaromatic hydrocarbons that are commonly used in crude petroleum and petroleum products.

characteristic hazardous waste

Waste solids, liquids, or containerized gases that exhibit ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity characteristics.

coal bottom ash

The coarse, granular, incombustible byproduct that is collected from the bottom of furnaces that burn coal.

coal combustion by-products (CCBs)

Fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas emission that are produced when coal is burned.

drilling mud

Waste stream associated with drilling operations, including oil-based mud (OBM), synthetic-based mud (SBM), and water-based mud (WBM).

drilling wastes

Wastes that are associated with oil exploration and production (E&P).

exploration wastes

Wastes that are primarily related to drilling and well completion.

fly ash

The fine powder formed from the mineral matter in coal, consisting of the noncombustible matter in coal plus a small amount of carbon that remains from incomplete combustion.

flue gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum

Also known as scrubber gypsum; it is the by-product of an air pollution control system that removes sulfur from the flue gas in calcium-based scrubbing systems.

fossil fuels

The biomass that produces coal, gas, oil, and tar sands.

heavy crude

Crude oil that contains a relatively high portion of residuum.

listed hazardous wastes

Wastes from nonspecific sources and wastes from specific sources and discarded commercial chemicals.

methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE)

MTBE is a gasoline additive and is highly water soluble.

naphtha

The petroleum fraction ranging from low-boiling C₄ hydrocarbons to those boiling as high as approximately 220°C.

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Often referred to polynuclear aromatics (PNA); they are a class of very stable organic molecules composed of only carbon and hydrogen.

produced water

Water produced in association with crude oil.

proppants/frac sand wastes

Semisolid sludge consisting of aluminum silicate beads and formation sand.

residuum

The petroleum fraction boiling above 343°C.tank bottom wastes

Sediment that accumulates in the bottom of oil field vessels and pipelines when fluid turbulence is low.

waste oil

Oil arising as a waste product of the use of oils in a wide range of industrial and commercial activities.

workover and completion wastes

Wastes from operations in which an oil well's head is partially open to the atmosphere and is filled with a water-base fluid that maintains pressure on the formation to prevent blowout.

**************Here is a list of oil refining products, definitions, and processes: **************

alkylation

A process using sulfuric acid or hydrofluoric acid as a catalyst to combine light olefins and isobutane to produce a high-octane product known as alkylate.

°API gravity

A scale of liquid specific gravity (SG) that indicates the lightness or heaviness of hydrocarbons, defined by [(141.5/SG) -131.5].

catalytic cracking

A process for the breaking-up of heavier hydrocarbons into lighter hydrocarbon fractions by the use of heat and catalysts.

cetane number

A measure of ignition quality for kerosene, diesel, and heating oil, using a single-cylinder engine.

coking

A process for thermally converting and upgrading heavy residues into lighter products and by-product petroleum coke.

crude oil

A complex mixture of hydrocarbons containing low percentages of sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen compounds and trace quantities of many other elements.

deasphalting

A process for removing asphaltic materials from reduced crude, using liquid propane to dissolve nonasphaltic compounds.

hydrocracking

A process used to convert heavier feedstock into lower boiling point, higher value products. The process employs high pressure, high temperature, a catalyst, and hydrogen.

hydrodesulfurization

A catalytic process for the removal of sulfur compounds from hydrocarbons using hydrogen.

isomerization

A catalytic process for the conversion and skeletal rearrangement of straight-chain hydrocarbons into branched-chain molecules of higher octane number.

methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)

An ether added to gasoline to raise octane number and enhance combustion.

octane number

A measure of resistance to knocking of gasoline under laboratory conditions that simulate city driving conditions.

olefins

Unsaturated hydrocarbons, such as ethylene and propylene, that have a double carbon bond, with the molecular formula C_nH_2n.

paraffins

Saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons with the molecular formula C_nH_{2n + 2}.

reforming

A process for the transformation of naphtha into products with higher octane number. Reforming comprises isomerization, cracking, polymerization, and dehydrogenation.

visbreaking

A low-temperature cracking process used to reduce the viscosity or pour point of straight-run residues