Update: Fracking soap is hazardous to your health
If you ever wonder how people who live near fracking spend their holidays, here is one example:
People in Mansfield, Texas near the EagleRidge Energy natural gas wells reported that their yards where covered in foam and foam was hanging from some of the area trees. The foam also covered the playground and play equipment in the park and was seen floating on the pond.
This is where the picture of the hazardous Mansfield foam resided.
I received a request from a Mansfield resident who claims
to be the owner of the foam photo.
She said she did not intend for it to be public but
it’s all over Twitter and Facebook and it’s in the CBS news story.
Anywho, I don’t want to upset the lady because being showered with
hazardous foam is upsetting enough, so I removed it.
Some of the wells at this site were fracked about three weeks ago and others are older wells. When another workover rig appeared at the site, residents were told that debris is forming in one of the wells and it is not producing as expected. If the debris is caused by hydrocarbon eating bacteria the foam will include a biocide/herbicide. You should read what industry says about that here: In Their Own Words: fracking biocides are just bleach
Several residents reported seeing the foam/bubbles in their yard on Saturday. That night they smelled “bad” odors and then on Sunday morning there were more bubbles.
At the same Mansfield community meeting where Mark Grawe said that Denton residents are on the Homeland Security watch list (audio recording), he also promised to let the people in Mansfield know what is happening. That would indicate that someone at EagleRidge is in control but, as we learned in Denton, they lose control and try to keep it secret.
The residents wanted to know if the foam was toxic, would it hurt their pets and if the playground was safe for their children. Well, no one knows and here’s why:
1. Industry does not have to disclose the chemicals used at any stage of the drilling and fracking process. Sure, they do a partial disclosure of the fracking chemicals but not full disclosure. And, if the chemicals were not used during fracking, then we have no way to know.
2. We have to rely on industry to let us know what they were doing and we can’t expect that they will be forthcoming with the truth.
So all we can do is assume toxicity and guess at what was happening.
Here’s one guess:
Nitrogen foam fracking is a more widely used form of nitrogen gas fracking. Instead of pumping almost pure, compressible nitrogen gas into the rock formation, nitrogen is mixed with water and other additives and then cooled to form a denser foam-like liquid. Nitrogen foam fracking fluids are made up of somewhere between 53% and 95% nitrogen gas, with the percentage depending on proppant type and characteristics of the formation.
The higher density and viscosity of nitrogen foam means it is a better proppant carrier and is capable of fracturing at greater depths than pure nitrogen gas fracking. On the other hand, it is not a completely waterless technique.
Mansfield residents have been advised to request MSDS sheets from this event.
Another guess:
LINK
Used in a gel-like state, frac fluids consist of water and polymers, or long organic molecules that form a thick liquid. Both oil-based and foam-based frac fluids use nitrogen bubbles to achieve the fracture. Carbon dioxide can be used, as well, to minimize formation damage.
This morning, EagleRidge treated the Mansfield residents to this as they woke up:
These events conflict with a statement made by Mark Burroughs, Mayor of Denton, at a city council meeting to the Vintage residents that fracking only lasted a short time then everything would be over. It’s never over.
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Cities supposedly have access to the MSDS sheets for the fracking operations. Our Environmental Services Dept. (yes, that’s correct) was very proud to show them to us back about 3 years ago. We assume other cities in our area have them as well. Of course, there are many ingredients missing from these sheets. FRACFocus was supposed to make it all better by filling in all the blanks.
It’s always worth asking for these sheets and asking questions of the specific city and ask them to do their own research, too. You’re right, of course, the story line is it’s over in 3 days and everyone lives happily ever after. What a fairy tale! It’s intense, industrial mining operations inside our neighborhoods. They lied when they got all those leases signed. And all of this is still very experimental…no telling what they’re doing.
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When I tried to get the MSDS sheets from the Denton Fire Department where they are supposedly kept, they could only find a very few. The rest were missing.
I don’t full understand the fracking process, but are the foam (along with the bubbles) coming up through the ground? If so, does this act as a seal to prevent gas from escaping? Sorta like fix-a-flat or tube seal? I am sure the industry wouldn’t describe it as such, but if so that is very freighting.
We don’t know for sure what they were doing.
Maybe the shale gas industry wanted to make North Texas look like a winter wonderland with all that foam landing on residents’ lawns. Gasland seems like Narnia in that, “It is always winter and never Christmas.” And the big royalty checks that were to keep on coming, don’t. All we need is for someone to break the witch’s spell… Where’s Aslan?
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My guess:
This may be the result of foaming during some sort of water treatment operation.
Excess foaming is refered to as runaway “floc”.
Water purification often involves the use of chemicals which, when added to wastwater streams form flocculants. Particulates in the wastewater, especially metals, cling to the floc, and the wastewater is “clarified” when the floc is removed by skimmers.
Water treatment chemicals often means / consist of Dithiocarbamate salts. Which is to say carbon disulfide based “salts”. If one wonders how these wastewaters can become so explosive; one might consider this basic fact.
Excess foaming due to runaway floc has been a major challenge for wastewater treatment facilities of all types. BTW – You don’t want to come into contact with this type of foam. It will be expected to be contaminated by heavy metals, by design. Thank you Sharon Wilson.
As always, this is very interesting.
The foam was coming from a wellsite. We don’t know what they were trying to do. Operator said, “cleaning out well” and someone suggested trying to get rid of excess water.
My solar panels are producing more energy than I need today.
Dithiocarbamate salts are also widely used as industrial biocides in boilers and such. Foaming can be a problem.
Dithiocarbamate compounds are used widely as extreme pressure additives in lubricants. Molybdnum disulfide etc.
In the late 1980s, UNOCAL patented a “stabilized” dithiocarbamate formula – for use as a downhole solvent for EOR – which was described as a safer form of carbon disulfide.
The truth remains: CS2 has long been the solvent of choice for unclogging fouled oil wells.
That explains why we see these salts listed on FracFocus, why CS2 shows up in the gas patch and why all this stuff is so highly explosive.
Precisely so.
Please notice that where “Boron Salts” do show up on the Frackd Focus sites, the authors never list a CAS# …. or quantities used ….. for this chemistry. These are always listed as proprietary information.
I fail to understand why anyone, in any profession, would take ANY of the information on any those sites seriously.
These sites are worse than useless, in my opinion.
Wasn’t it on FracFocus that we first notices the salts? I find it somewhat useful.
Perhaps.
The use of dithiocarbamate salts for EOR has been widely disclosed in various patent applications over the years. This use is hardly a secret.
To me; this whole thing IS all about FOCUS. They want you to focus on a certain group of chemicals. I wish you would focus on another.
It just so happens that the chemistry I think you might focus on is precisely the chemistry which Industry chooses not to disclose on their sites.
Was wondering if CS2 will react with copper metal?
Any body know?
I am not a chemist.
My understanding is that CS2 is corrosive to copper pipes and tubing. The same is true of H2S, SO2, COS, and other sulfur compounds; I believe.
In a wastewater environment, my understanding is that “free” copper will react with and cling to “free” (unbound) CS2; and precipitate as flocculant.
The nature of the various reactions between copper and CS2 appears to be fairly complex, and there is much written on this subject – in several different contexts.
Why do you ask?
If I hang a freshly preped copper pipe in the air, say 3 feet above the ground surface, and CS2 is in the air being emitted from an O&G source, what will happen to the copper? What color will it turn? Also, what state is the CS2 likely to be in–gas, liquid or solid particles?
I love this conversation. It’s narrowing things down.
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Again, I am not a chemist at all, and I’m not sure that even a chemist could answer your question completely. Airborne sulfur compounds will be expected to blacken that copper I think. I don’t know that this effect could ever be attributed to CS2 though, as opposed to the other sulfur species.
I mean, industry would blame it on SO2 emissions anyway, which are acknowledged, regulated, permitted, and are infinitely less toxic.
What I know about it is that SO2 is fairly stable and will NOT readily react with copper in normal atmospheric environments. Now, know that SO2 is very toxic to humans who inahle it.
Any CS2 that you are likely to encounter will be in gaseous form.
(Although apparently it is more correct to say that CS2 exists in the atmosphere as a vapor, and typically not in true gas form.)
I’m not sure I understand this distinction; but I believe that CS2 in vapor “phase” refers to an aerosol mist (of ultra-fine particulates). Either way, you will smell it; and it won’t smell good.
My understanding about the toxicity of SO2 is that this is a basic asphyxiant.
Which is to say, the only way breathing SO2 can kill you is if there is so much SO2 present that one chokes from a lack of oxygen.
That has nothing at all to do with substances like H2S or CS2, which are highly toxic and can kill instantly.
I am aware of several published accounts of SO2 exposures causing irritation and exacerbating asthma symptoms, and so on.
I don’t want to try to argue that this isn’t so; however, I will openly question the quality of the information that indicates that these people were not being exposed to the organic sulfur species at the same time they were reportedly breathing SO2.
Just one aspect of SO2 toxicity—SO2 is readily dissolved in water where-in “acid rain” is formed. This dissolution can occur in rain droplets, dew, and fog when SO2 is emitted as a gas from sources such as gas plants. When humans breathe in this acid laden water droplets, bad things happen.