Treatment of contaminated Flowback water in shale gas development

Flowback water from shale gas well drilling has a high TDS (total dissolved solids) content, ranging from 5000 ppm to 261,000 ppm, along with a TSS (total suspended solids) content of 300–3000 mg/L. Recently, the rapid expansion of shale gas production in Marcellus Formation has raised serious environmental concerns about the large amount of flowback water in this area. In this project a process based on ceramic membrane filtration and ion-exchange is optimised for the treatment of the flowback water from Marcellus Formation. Mixed bed ion-exchange will then be employed to reduce the high TDS concentration of flowback water. Finally, a preliminary cost estimation of the proposed treatment process will be conducted. The studied process contains a combination of two MF (microfiltration) membranes. After treatment, all TSS and >99% of TDS should be successfully removed from the flowback water to meet the criteria for surface discharge. The cost estimation of the treatment is expected to be around 18.4 $/m3