Air emissions from natural gas exploration and mining in the Barnett shale geologic reservoir

Air emissions from natural gas mining and production in the Bamett Shale geologic formation within the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex were evaluated. There was a statistically significant probability that other chemicals would be present with methane, including toluene, xylenes, benzene, o-xylene, chloromethane, ethylbenzene, etc. Many of the chemicals identified were hazardous air pollutants, known/suspected carcinogens, mutagens, developmental toxicants, and neurotoxicants. Strong relationships between toluene and m- and p-xylene, benzene and toluene, and benzene and xylene were identified. Principal Component Analysis revealed specific chemicals associated with specific natural gas mining and production processes, e.g., fracking, flaring, venting, compression and tanks holding produced water/condensate, and injection of produced water into wells. High volume releases of natural gas from blown wells, venting, and flaring operations emitted a characteristic suite of chemicals. These emissions were sporadic, and further studies will require ambient air monitoring for at least the 24-hr used in this study. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 105th AWMA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2012 (San Antonio, TX 6/19-22/2012).