Mars on Earth

(/var/esa/storage/images/our_activities/technology/14101-12-eng-GB/Technology.jpg) repeat; background-size:980px 184px; }#tab UL LI.active A H4{text-decoration:none;color:#bb540b;} #tab UL LI.active A:hover H4{color:#fe7616;} #bg_top{ width:100%; height:160px; /* default background colour, for all layout engines that don't implement gradients */ background: #a64500; background: -moz-linear-gradient(60deg, #a64500 0%, #fe7616 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left bottom, right top, color-stop(0%,#a64500), color-stop(100%,#fe7616)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-linear-gradient(60deg, #a64500 0%,#fe7616 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */ background: -o-linear-gradient(60deg, #a64500 0%,#fe7616 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */ background: -ms-linear-gradient(60deg, #a64500 0%,#fe7616 100%); /* IE10+ */ background: linear-gradient(60deg, #a64500 0%,#fe7616 100%); /* W3C */} #bg_bottom{ width:100%; height:50px; /* default background colour, for all layout engines that don't implement gradients */ background: #8d3b00; background: -moz-linear-gradient(60deg, #8d3b00 0%, #bb540b 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left bottom, right top, color-stop(0%,#8d3b00), color-stop(100%,#bb540b)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-linear-gradient(60deg, #8d3b00 0%,#bb540b 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */ background: -o-linear-gradient(60deg, #8d3b00 0%,#bb540b 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */ background: -ms-linear-gradient(60deg, #8d3b00 0%,#bb540b 100%); /* IE10+ */ background: linear-gradient(60deg, #8d3b00 0%,#bb540b 100%); /* W3C */ color:#fe7616;} #footer_bottom UL LI a{color:#fdcc6d;} #footer{background: #a64500 url(/var/esa/storage/images/our_activities/technology/8592527-12-eng-GB/Technology.jpg) no-repeat top left;} ? European Space Agency Space for Europe Space News Space in Images Space in Videos About Us Welcome to ESA DG's News and Views For Member State Delegations Business with ESA ESA Exhibitions ESA Publications Careers at ESA Our Activities Space News Observing the Earth Human Spaceflight Launchers Navigation Space Science Space Engineering Operations Technology Telecommunications & Integrated Applications Preparing for the Future For Public For Media Media ESA TV Videos for professionals Photos For Educators For Kids ESA Technology Technology Transfer About technology Foundation of innovation A solid investment Going up Competitive edge Supporting science Giant leaps Cross-Cutting Initiatives Strategy and harmonisation About strategy and harmonisation Generic technology programmes Basic Technology Research Programme (TRP) General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) Technology Transfer Programme (TTP) European Components Initiative (ECI) Technology in domain programmes Technology in Domain programmes Services ESA Conferences RSS feeds Subscribe

ESA > Our Activities > Technology

Dutch students explore ESA's Mars Yard Mars on Earth4 July 2013

A little corner of ESA’s technical heart that is forever Mars: this rubble-strewn model of the Red Planet is used to put prototype planetary rovers through their paces. Officially known as the Automation & Planetary Robotics Lab, its nickname is the ‘Mars Yard’.

Dutch students explore this alien environment in the photo shown here, part of a series taken by image gallery TechniekBeeldbank.nu. The site offers the media positive images of engineering to appeal to young people.

Prototype rover in Mars Yard

The Mars Yard is housed in ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, in the Agency’s Automation & Robotics Section. 

An 8 x 8 m square filled with sand and different sizes of gravel and rocks, the Mars Yard offers a small crater, a boulder field, a sandy dune and a gravel slope area.

Motion tracking system

This martian testbed serves to assess rover locomotion and navigation as well as the positioning of robotic arms – then check how all these elements operate together in practice, as integration is a major challenge in space robotic systems. 

Specialised equipment for precisely recording the robots' performance includes motion-tracking infrared cameras.

window.fbAsyncInit = function () { // init the FB JS SDK FB.init({ appId: 168192766674156, // App ID status: true, // check the login status upon init? cookie: true, // set sessions cookies to allow your server to access the session? xfbml: true // parse XFBML tags on this page? }); }; (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Rate this Views Share Currently 4.5 out of 5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 Rating: 4.44/5(34 votes cast) Thank you for rating!

You have already rated this page, you can only rate it once!

Your rating has been changed, thanks for rating!

3022 Tweet Automation & Robotics Techniek Beeldbank Technology image of the week archive Connect with us LATEST ARTICLES · Time for SocialSpace at German Aer… · Water in a martian desert · Laser communications set for Moon … · Flawless launch of Alphasat, Europ… · Alexander’s space clinic FAQ Jobs at ESA Site Map Contacts Terms and conditions

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Proba-2 eye-to-eye with Typhoon Soulik

Proba-2 image of Typhoon Soulik17 July 2013

The swirling eye of Typhoon Soulik as it approached Taiwan last Friday is caught by a tiny espresso cup-sized camera on one of ESA’s smallest satellites, Proba-2.

The following day Typhoon Soulik brought torrential rainfall and winds exceeding 120 km/h to Taiwan and China, triggering mass evacuations.

Less than a cubic metre in size, Proba-2 focuses on observing solar activity and space weather. But it also keeps a small eye on its homeworld.

Among the 17 experimental technologies hosted on Proba-2 is the compact Exploration Camera, X-Cam. Housed on the underside of the satellite, the monochrome X-Cam observes in the visible and infrared with a 100° field of view.

X-Cam comes with embedded intelligence to let it judge the best automatic exposures for optimised image quality.

Similar compact imagers could in future keep watch on satellite surfaces to look out for damage or environmental effects.

Swiss manufacturer Micro-Cameras & Space Exploration Swiss manufacturer Micro-Cameras & Space Exploration is due to fly cameras on ESA's Sentinel-1 Earth Observation mission – launching this year – as well as the ExoMars and BepiColombo science missions later this decade.

And in 2014 the company’s miniature imager on Rosetta’s lander should provide us with our closest view yet of a comet’s surface.

 

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Natural gas liquids prices trend down since the start of 2012

: U.S. Energy Information Administration based on Bloomberg Financial-reported prices at Mont Belvieu, Texas.
Note: Natural gasoline is the product name used by the spot and futures markets to describe pentanes and hexanes. These are the primary components of pentanes plus, the term used by EIA in its surveys and reports.

Republished: July 29, 2013, 4:15 p.m.: Text was modified to update content.

Daily spot prices for natural gas liquids (NGL)—ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline—have moderated because of a combination of ample supply, flat or moderating demand, export constraints, and domestic infrastructure constraints.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration based on Bloomberg Financial-reported prices at Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Ethane spot prices have been below the 2007-to-2012 range for every trading day in 2013 so far. For the first six months of 2013, ethane prices averaged 27 cents per gallon, over 45% below the price for the first six months of 2012. Ethane prices have been low compared with natural gas prices, prompting gas processors to leave it mixed in the natural gas stream, a phenomenon referred to as ethane rejection. Accordingly, net ethane production was down 9% for the first four months in 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, which may be applying some amount of price support.

Ethane demand comes almost exclusively from petrochemical plants, which have significant capital costs and take several years to build. Pipelines or liquefaction facilities to export ethane also face time and cost constraints, but there are projects underway to send ethane to the Gulf Coast to be processed, to export it to Canada, and to liquefy it and export it to Europe. The United States very recently began exporting ethane from the Marcellus shale play to Canada (week of July 21).

Spot propane traded at an average of 89 cents per gallon in the first half of 2013, compared to $1.12 per gallon in the first half of 2012. Since July 2012, propane prices have remained relatively flat. The average propane price for the second half of 2012 was also 89 cents per gallon, the same as for the first half of 2013. Propane is a petrochemical feedstock, similar to ethane, but also serves as an important home-heating fuel. Net propane production was up 8% through April 2013 compared to the same time period in 2012. The price effects of increased production have been mitigated by increased exports. Propane/propylene exports, primarily going to Latin America, are up 42% through April this year versus the same period last year.

Normal butane and isobutane spot prices have recently moved together, falling by 22% and 23%, respectively, in the first half of 2013 compared with the first half of 2012. By the end of June 2013, both products were near or below the 2007-to-2012 range for this period. Since both normal butane and isobutane are important blendstock for motor gasoline, lower-than-usual gasoline demand may be reducing demand for these products and applying downward pressure on their prices. Increased supply may also be pushing prices down. Net production levels of normal butane and isobutane were up 9% and 12%, respectively, for the first four months of 2013 compared to the first four months of 2012.

Natural gasoline prices fell by about 8% in the first half of 2013 compared to the first half of 2012, averaging $2.14 per gallon, down from $2.34 per gallon. Natural gasoline prices have remained highly correlated to movements in crude oil prices in recent months, unlike the prices of other NGL products. Production of natural gasoline (which is referred to as pentanes plus by producers and in EIA reports) is up about 8% so far this year compared to the same period last year. Natural gasoline can be used as a diluent (a diluting agent) for heavy crude oil, or as a blendstock for motor gasoline (regular 10% ethanol blend as well as high-percentage ethanol blends known as E85).

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Suez Canal, Sumed Pipeline are key parts of Egypt's role in international energy markets

Egypt plays a vital role in international energy markets through the operation of the Suez Canal and Suez-Mediterranean (Sumed) Pipeline. In 2012, about 7% of all seaborne traded oil and 13% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) traded worldwide transited through the Suez Canal. Egypt's 2011 revolution and the unrest that has followed have not had any noticeable effect on oil and LNG transit flows through the Suez Canal or Sumed Pipeline.

Source: Suez Canal Authority (with EIA conversions) and EIA analysis based on APEX Tanker Data.

The Suez Canal is an important transit route for oil and LNG shipments traveling northbound from the Persian Gulf to Europe and North America and southbound from North Africa and countries along the Mediterranean Sea to Asia. Changes to total oil and LNG flows through the Suez Canal in 2012 mainly occurred because of events outside of Egypt, particularly the restart of Libyan oil production and changing dynamics in LNG markets. Further, the Sumed Pipeline is the only alternative route nearby to transport crude oil northbound if loaded tankers are too large or ride too low in the water to navigate through the Suez Canal.

Oil flows. In 2012, southbound oil flows reached a record high as Libyan oil shipments through the Suez Canal quadrupled in 2012 compared with the previous year, reflecting the ramp-up of Libyan oil production after its civil war. In 2012, about 2.97 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of total oil (crude oil and refined products) transited the Suez Canal in both directions. This is the highest amount ever shipped through the Suez Canal, and made up about 7% of total seaborne traded oil. Crude oil flows through Sumed decreased in 2012 to 1.54 million bbl/d, as more crude oil was shipped through the Suez Canal via tankers.

LNG flows. Total Suez LNG flows as a percentage of total LNG traded worldwide fell to 13%, or 1.5 trillion cubic feet, in 2012, compared with 18% in 2011 for two main reasons. First, northbound LNG flows through the Suez Canal fell by nearly one-third in 2012 largely because of decreased LNG exports from Qatar to the United States and Europe. Second, northbound flows also fell because of reduced LNG exports from Yemen as a result of sabotage attacks on a gas pipeline.

Supply chain. Although external factors have to this point played a larger role in altering hydrocarbon flows through Egypt's transit points, unrest in Egypt still presents a risk, and the Egyptian army continues to guard the Suez Canal. Closure of the Suez Canal and the Sumed Pipeline would necessitate diverting oil tankers around the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope. That would add 2,700 miles to ship oil from Saudi Arabia to the United States, increasing both costs and shipping time, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Moreover, shipping around Africa would add 15 days of transit to Europe and 8-10 days to the United States, according to the International Energy Agency.

Oil and natural gas production. Egypt's oil and gas production has largely been unaffected by the social unrest. The most visible effect of the revolution on Egypt's energy sector has been a series of attacks on the Arab Gas Pipeline that contributed to a significant drop in the country's pipeline gas exports. In addition, growing local demand for oil and gas amid stagnant production has led to energy shortages, contributing to continued protests and sporadic unrest in the country.

For more information on Egypt's energy sector and world oil transit points, see EIA's recently released Country Analysis Brief on Egypt and Special Topic Report on World Oil Transit Chokepoints.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

What are the major sources and users of energy in the United States?

The major energy sources in the United States are petroleum (oil), natural gas, coal, nuclear, and renewable energy. The major users are residential and commercial buildings, industry, transportation, and electric power generators. The pattern of fuel use varies widely by sector. For example, oil provides 93% of the energy used for transportation, but only about 1% of the energy used to generate electric power. Understanding the relationships between the different energy sources and their uses provides insights into many important energy issues.

Primary energy includes petroleum, natural gas, coal, nuclear fuel, and renewable energy. Electricity is a secondary energy source that is generated from these primary forms of energy.

Primary energy sources are commonly measured in different units: barrels (= 42 gallons) of oil, cubic feet of natural gas, tons of coal. To compare across fuels, we need to use a common unit of measure. The United States uses Btu, or British thermal units, which measure fuel use by the energy content of each fuel source.

Total U.S. energy use in 2011 was about 97.5 quadrillion (=1015, or one thousand trillion) Btu. One quadrillion Btu, often referred to as a "quad," therefore represents about 1% of total U.S. energy use.

In physical energy terms, 1 quad represents 172 million barrels of oil (about 10 days of U.S. oil use), 50 million tons of coal (enough to generate about 3% of annual U.S. electricity use), or about 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (equal to 4% of annual U.S. natural gas use in 2011).

The number of quads used in 2011 from each primary energy source is shown in the pie chart on the left. Petroleum (oil) provides the largest share of U.S. primary energy, followed by natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, and renewable energy (including hydropower, solar, geothermal, wind, and biomass).

Primary energy is used in residential and commercial buildings (including homes, businesses, schools, and churches), in transportation, and by industry. Primary energy is also used to generate electricity. The bar chart shows the amount of primary energy used in each of these sectors. As you can see, electric power generation is the largest user of primary energy, followed by transportation.

The electric power sector uses primary energy to generate electricity, which makes electricity a secondary, rather than a primary, energy source. Nearly all electricity is then used in buildings and by industry. This means that the total levels of energy used by residential and commercial buildings, industry, and transportation are actually higher than the amounts shown on the graphics when electricity is added in.

The lines in the figure below connecting the primary-energy-sources on the left with the demand-sectors on the right summarize the source-sector linkages in the U.S. energy system. For example, because all nuclear energy is used in the electric power sector to generate electricity, and nuclear represents 21% of the primary energy used by that sector, the line between nuclear energy and the electric power sector shows 100% on the nuclear (supply source) side and 21% on the electric power (demand sector) side.

The mix of primary energy sources varies widely across demand sectors. Energy policies designed to influence the use of a particular primary fuel for environmental, economic, or energy security reasons often focus on sectors that are major users of that fuel.

For example, because 71% of petroleum (oil) is used in the transportation sector, where it provides 93% of the total energy used, policies to reduce oil consumption have tended to focus on the transportation sector. These policies usually seek to increase fuel efficiency or promote alternative fuels. Ninety-one percent of coal, but only 1% of oil, is used to generate electricity, suggesting that policies affecting electricity generation are likely to have a much larger impact on coal use than oil use.

Some primary energy sources, such as nuclear and coal, are entirely or predominately used in one sector. Others, like natural gas and renewables, are more evenly distributed across sectors. Similarly, while transportation is almost entirely dependent on one fuel (oil), electric power uses a variety of fuels.

Linkages between fuels and sectors can and do change over time, but the change tends to occur slowly. For example, coal was once used extensively as a fuel for heating homes and commercial buildings, but that use has dwindled to almost nothing in the United States over the past half-century. Although renewable energy is still relatively small as a share of total primary energy in the transportation and electric power sectors, its role has been growing.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

What is an oil refinery?

A refinery is an industrial complex that manufactures petroleum products, such as gasoline, from crude oil and other feedstocks. Many different types of refineries exist across the country. What differentiates one refinery from another are their capacities and the types of processing units used to produce these petroleum products. This article describes some key refinery processes and provides links to more in-depth articles about the individual processes.1

Refineries have a distillation column and then can have any combination of secondary processing units depending on the type of crude oil they process and the products they want to produce. A refinery's capacity refers to the maximum amount of crude oil designed to flow into the distillation unit of a refinery, also known as the crude unit. The simplest refineries have a distillation column and nothing else. These refineries are often referred to as topping refineries.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Today in Energy, July 5, 2012.

Crude oil is made up of a mixture of hydrocarbons, and the distillation process aims to separate this crude oil into broad categories of its component hydrocarbons, or "fractions." Crude oil is first heated and then put into a distillation column, also known as a still, where different products boil off and are recovered at different temperatures. Lighter products, such as butane and other liquid petroleum gases (LPG), gasoline blending components, and naphtha, are recovered at the lowest temperatures. Mid-range products include jet fuel, kerosene, and distillates (such as home heating oil and diesel fuel). The heaviest products such as residual fuel oil are recovered at temperatures sometimes over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The diagram above presents a stylized version of the distillation process. The simplest refineries stop at this point.

More sophisticated refining equipment such as catalytic crackers, reformers, and cokers reprocess the heavier fractions into lighter products to maximize the output of the most desirable products.

A distillation column separates crude oil into different petroleum products based on differences in boiling points. By itself the crude distillation column has low yields of high-value transportation fuel products. Many of the other unit operations involve chemical processes that create products by either reshaping hydrocarbons, combining small hydrocarbons into larger hydrocarbons, cracking larger hydrocarbons into smaller higher-value hydrocarbons, or removing impurities such as sulfur. Each secondary processing unit after the distillation column has a specific purpose, whether it is increasing separation; upgrading low-value products, like residual fuel oil, to high value products, like distillate; increasing octane; or enhancing environmental compliance by removing sulfur and other pollutants.

See the following articles for a more in-depth description of refinery processes:

Catalytic reforming – Today in Energy, April 9, 2013Distillation and refinery capacity – Today in Energy, July 5, 2012Refinery complexity – Today in Energy, October 11, 2012 Vacuum distillation – Today in Energy, December 10, 2012Fluid catalytic cracking – Today in Energy, December 11, 2012Hydrocracking – Today in Energy, January 18, 2013Delayed coking and fluid coking – Today in Energy, January 28, 2013Alkylation – Today in Energy, February 13, 2013

Two key characteristics of crude oil are density and sulfur content. Density ranges from light to heavy, while sulfur content is characterized as sweet or sour. The purchase costs of various crude oils depend mainly on density and sulfur content, and other factors such as location and transportation costs.

Refining capacity in the Gulf Coast has large secondary conversion capacity including hydrocrackers, cokers, and desulfurization units. These units enable the processing of heavy, high sulfur (sour) crude oils like Mexican Maya that typically sell at a discount to light, low sulfur (sweet) crudes like Brent and Louisiana Light Sweet.

Many East Coast refineries have less secondary conversion capacity, and in general they process crude oil with lower sulfur content and a lighter density. This lighter, lower sulfur crude oil commands a premium price on world markets. See related article — Today in Energy, September 26, 2012

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

What is shale gas and why is it important?

Shale gas refers to natural gas that is trapped within shale formations. Shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks that can be rich sources of petroleum and natural gas. Over the past decade, the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has allowed access to large volumes of shale gas that were previously uneconomical to produce. The production of natural gas from shale formations has rejuvenated the natural gas industry in the United States.

Of the natural gas consumed in the United States in 2011, about 95% was produced domestically; thus, the supply of natural gas is not as dependent on foreign producers as is the supply of crude oil, and the delivery system is less subject to interruption. The availability of large quantities of shale gas should enable the United States to consume a predominantly domestic supply of gas for many years and produce more natural gas than it consumes.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook 2013 Early Release projects U.S. natural gas production to increase from 23.0 trillion cubic feet in 2011 to 33.1 trillion cubic feet in 2040, a 44% increase. Almost all of this increase in domestic natural gas production is due to projected growth in shale gas production, which grows from 7.8 trillion cubic feet in 2011 to 16.7 trillion cubic feet in 2040.

Although the prospects for shale gas production are promising, there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the size and economics of this resource. Many shale formations, particularly the Marcellus (see map below), are so large that only a limited portion of the entire formation has been extensively production-tested. Most of the shale gas wells have been drilled in the last few years, so there is considerable uncertainty regarding their long-term productivity. Another uncertainty is the future development of well drilling and completion technology that could substantially increase well productivity and reduce production costs.

An analysis in the Annual Energy Outlook 2012 (released June 2012) indicates that the uncertainty in the size and economics of the domestic shale gas resources could have a considerable impact on future domestic natural gas production and that 2035 shale gas production could be between 9.7 trillion cubic feet and 20.5 trillion cubic feet. U.S. total natural gas production is projected to range between 26.1 trillion cubic feet and 34.1 trillion cubic feet. The resource uncertainty cases will be updated and included when the full Annual Energy Outlook 2013 is released in the spring of 2013.

Shale gas is found in shale "plays," which are shale formations containing significant accumulations of natural gas and which share similar geologic and geographic properties. A decade of production has come from the Barnett Shale play in Texas. Experience and information gained from developing the Barnett Shale have improved the efficiency of shale gas development around the country. Another important play is the Marcellus Shale in the eastern United States. Geophysicists and geologists identify suitable well locations in areas with potential for economical gas production by using surface and subsurface geology techniques and seismic techniques to generated maps of the subsurface. See animated maps of production growth in the Barnett Shale and Marcellus Shale plays in Today in Energy articles — July 12, 2011 and May 23, 2012.

Hydraulic fracturing (commonly called "fracking" or "fracing") is a technique in which water, chemicals, and sand are pumped into the well to unlock the hydrocarbons trapped in shale formations by opening cracks (fractures) in the rock and allowing natural gas to flow from the shale into the well. When used in conjunction with horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing enables gas producers to extract shale gas economically. Without these techniques, natural gas does not flow to the well rapidly, and commercial quantities cannot be produced from shale.

Conventional gas reservoirs are created when natural gas migrates from an organic-rich source formation into permeable reservoir rock, where it is trapped by an overlying layer of impermeable rock. In contrast, shale gas resources form within the organic-rich shale source rock. The low permeability of the shale greatly inhibits the gas from migrating to more permeable reservoir rocks.

Natural gas is cleaner-burning than coal or oil. The combustion of natural gas emits significantly lower levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide than does the combustion of coal or oil. When used in efficient combined-cycle power plants, natural gas combustion can emit less than half as much CO2 as coal combustion, per unit of electricity output.

However, there are some potential environmental concerns associated with the production of shale gas. The fracturing of wells requires large amounts of water. In some areas of the country, significant use of water for shale gas production may affect the availability of water for other uses and can affect aquatic habitats.

Second, if mismanaged, hydraulic fracturing fluid — which may contain potentially hazardous chemicals — can be released by spills, leaks, faulty well construction, or other exposure pathways. Any such releases can contaminate surrounding areas.

Third, fracturing also produces large amounts of wastewater, which may contain dissolved chemicals and other contaminants that could require treatment before disposal or reuse. Because of the quantities of water used and the complexities inherent in treating some of the wastewater components, treatment and disposal is an important and challenging issue.

Finally, according to the United States Geological Survey, hydraulic fracturing "causes small earthquakes, but they are almost always too small to be a safety concern. In addition to natural gas, fracking fluids and formation waters are returned to the surface. These wastewaters are frequently disposed of by injection into deep wells. The injection of wastewater into the subsurface can cause earthquakes that are large enough to be felt and may cause damage." The injection wells typically discharge the wastewater into non-potable salt-water aquifers.

Sedimentary rocks are rocks formed by the accumulation of sediments at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Common sedimentary rocks include sandstone, limestone, and shale.

U.S. shale gas production comprises about 40 percent of total U.S. dry production.

 

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.