Serena Shanbhag Vasilios Manousiouthakis SID: 603903512 ChE 100 Homework 1 Outline of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) process Hydraulic

fracturing, or fracking, is the pumping of crude oil, diesel, water or chemicals into a reservoir with such force that the reservoir rock is cracked and results in greater flow of oil or gas from the reservoir (1). It is a well stimulation process to maximize the extraction of underground resources. Process 1. The necessary site infrastructure and well construction is built. a. Production wells are only drilled in the vertical direction b. Production wells may be paired with horizontal or directional sections c. Vertical well sections may be drilled 100-1000 feet below the land surface d. Horizontal well sections may extend 1000-6000 feet away from the well 2. Fluids made of water and chemical additives pumped into geological formation at high pressure a. This may cause stress on surface water and ground water due to the withdrawal of large volumes of water used. 3. When pressure exceeds rock strength, fluids open or enlarge fractures that can extend several hundred feet away from the well. 4. A propping agent is pumped into the fractures to keep them from closing when the pumping pressure is released 5. Fracturing is completed 6. The internal pressure of the geologic formation cause the injected fracturing fluids to rise to the surface where it may be stored in tanks or pits prior to disposal or recycling. 7. Recovered fracturing fluids are referred to as flowback. 8. Flowback are disposed by either discharge into surface water or underground injection. a. Surface water discharges regulated by National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System i. Requires flowback to be treated prior to discharge ii. Treatment typically performed by wastewater treatment facilities b. Underground injection of flowback regulated by EPA Underground Injection Control (UIC) program or a state with primary UIC enforcement authority. c. Adverse impacts from discharges into surface waters or from disposal into underground injection wells 9. Air pollution may result due to release of volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, and greenhouse gases. 1. http://www.spectraenergy.com/Natural-Gas-101/Glossary-of-EnergyTerms/F/

Report on Global Warming Global warming is the fast, unusual increase in the Earths average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels. (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/) . Examples of greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone and methane and these contribute to what scientists have termed the greenhouse effect. This phenomenon supposes that heat caused by infrared radiation is absorbed by these greenhouse gases and although greenhouse gases make up only 1% of the Earths atmosphere, they regulate our climate by trapping heat and holding it in a kind of warm air blanket that surrounds the planet (1). Greenhouse effect is essential for life on Earth but too much is not good and humans contribute in excess to this effect by the following: burning natural gas, coal, and oil; farming practices; factories that produce long lasting industrial gases; deforestation; and population growth. Alternative theories to global warming suppose that humans are not to blame for the rise in global temperatures and it is all part of a natural cycle. One specific theory in that the climate is governed by highspeed atomic particles (cosmic rays) coming from exploded stars. Cosmic ray intensities lead to cloud condensation nuclei and these intensities change frequently because the suns magnetic field varies in its ability to repel cosmic rays (2). Another theory is called the bio thermostat which holds that negative feedbacks from biological and chemical processes entirely or almost entirely offset whatever positive feedbacks might be caused by rising CO2. These processes act as a global bio thermostat keeping temperatures in equilibrium (3). The next theory of climate change contends that global temperature variations were due to the slow down of the oceans Thermohaline Circulation so ocean currents affect the atmosphere. Some people have also supposed that planetary motion can explain global warming since natural gravitational and magnetic oscillations of the solar system modulate solar variations which in turn drive climate change (3). The last alternative theory found is of solar variability in which changes in the brightness of the sun cause changes in cloud formation, ocean currents, and wind that cause climate to change (3). Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the chief greenhouse gas that results from human activities and causes global warming and climate change. The concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are increasing at an accelerating rate from decade to decade. The upper safety limit for atmospheric CO2 is 350 parts per million (ppm). The world's most current data for atmospheric CO2 is measured at the Mauna Loa Observatoy in Hawaii. Measurements are made and reported independently by two scientific institutions: Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The two terms global warming and global climate change both refer to different things. Global warming refers to the long-term trend of a rising average global temperature and climate change refers to the changes in the global climate which result from the increasing average global temperature. Human greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming, which in turn is causing climate change. Although some use the terms interchangeably, global climate change seems more appropriate based on the arguments given in this essay and the fact that scientists first used the term global climate change as opposed to global warming (4).

1. http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/a/greenhouse.htm 2. http://www.landlearnnsw.org.au/sustainability/climate-change/what-isit/theories/cosmic-rays 3. http://www.au.agwscam.com/pdf/seven%20theories%20of%20climate %20change.pdf 4. http://www.skepticalscience.com/climate-change-global-warming.htm