| Title | Critical metals in hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced water from the Montney and Duvernay formations, WCSB |
| |
| Author | Jiang, C ; Wang,
X; Utting, N; Hobbs, T; Kolbeck, C |
| Source | GeoConvention 2021; 2021 p. 1-3  Open Access |
| Links | Online - En ligne (PDF, 417
KB)
|
| Year | 2021 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20210161 |
| Publisher | GeoConvention Partnership |
| Meeting | GeoConvention 2021; September 13-15, 2021 |
| Document | Web site |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Alberta; British Columbia |
| NTS | 82P/12; 82P/13; 83F; 93P |
| Area | Three Hills; Fox Creek; Dawson Creek |
| Lat/Long WENS | -114.0000 -113.5000 52.0000 51.5000 |
| Lat/Long WENS | -118.0000 -116.0000 54.0000 53.0000 |
| Lat/Long WENS | -122.0000 -120.0000 56.0000 55.0000 |
| Subjects | fossil fuels; economic geology; geochemistry; Economics and Industry; Science and Technology; petroleum industry; hydrocarbon recovery; hydraulic fracturing; gas wells; oil wells; mineral potential;
mineral occurrences; metals; lithium; magnesium; formation water; salinity; total dissolved solids; spectrometric analyses; Montney Formation; Duvernay Formation; Western Canada Sedimentary Basin; Phanerozoic; Mesozoic; Triassic; Paleozoic;
Devonian |
| Illustrations | plots; bar graphs |
| Program | Geoscience for New Energy Supply (GNES) Canadian Energy Geoscience Innovation Cluster (CEGIC) |
| Released | 2021 09 01 |
| Abstract | (Summary)
Critical metals such as lithium (Li) and magnesium (Mg) are either currently (for the former) or will likely be (for the later; Deivanayagam et al., 2019) widely used in making
batteries for energy storage - a requirement for the transition to a future low carbon economy. Global Li production primarily comes from brines and a certain amount of Mg is currently being produced from seawater. One source of brine is the produced
water from oil and gas wells. Hydraulic fracturing operations in the Devonian Duvernay and the Triassic Montney formations in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) produce large volumes of high salinity water from most of the stimulated wells
during their flowback and production stages. With a total dissolved solids (TDS) content up to 280 g/L, the hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced (HFFP) water was found to contain up to 70 mg/L of Li and as much as 2700 mg/L of Mg although the
majority of the dissolved minerals are in the forms of sodium and calcium chlorides. Compared with commercial brines and seawater in terms of their Li and Mg contents and considering its availability and environmental benefit and impact, HFFP water
from the Duvernay and Montney unconventional hydrocarbon resources operations in WCSB can be a potential source for these critical metals/minerals with significant economic value if proper extraction technologies are developed and applied. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Lithium (Li) and magnesium (Mg) are two metals important to making batteries for energy storage. Li is mostly produced from Li-rich brines and some Mg is
currently being produced from seawater. One type of brine is the water from oil and gas producing wells. Unconventional shale oil/gas production in basins located in Alberta and British Columbia produce large volumes of saline water from the
horizontal wells called flowback water. With a total dissolved salt content of up to 280 g/L, the flowback water was found to contain up to 70 mg/L of Li and 2700 mg/L of Mg. Compared with commercial brines and seawater, flowback water from the
Alberta basin appears to be a potential source for these critical metals, and can therefore add significant economic value to the industrial activities. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 328590 |
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