Wastewater Management in Shale Gas Industry: Alternatives for Water Reuse and Recycling, Challenges and Perspectives

Abstract

Wastewater management is nowadays one of the major concerns faced by the shale gas industry to improve its cost-effectiveness, while preserving the human health and environment. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations usually demand excessive freshwater consumption and generate large wastewater volumes. The highly polluting nature of shale gas wastewater impels the application of energy-intensive pretreatment and desalination, to allow water reuse in hydraulic fracking processes, water recycling or safe discharge. This work aims to offer an overview of main challenges and perspectives of alternatives for water reuse and recycling in shale gas wastewater management.