Just say “boo” to tame the wastewater from hydraulic fracturing. Actually, it isn’t quite that simple, but available technology has helped demonstrate that frack water contaminants do exhibit hydrophobic characteristics when electricity is introduced into the waste stream. Western states are taking advantage of a wastewater treatment process called electrocoagulation (EC) technology. EC works like this: a current is passed through a metal electrode (usually iron or aluminum) which acts as a sacrificial anode. The current oxidizes the metal to its cation (+ ion) while the water is reduced to hydrogen gas and negative hydroxyl ion (OH-). The suspended or dissolved contaminants present in the frack water are turned hydrophobic and precipitate out to be removed by sedimentation or filtration. Because no chemicals are added, sludge from frack water is also reduced when using EC. On-site, closed-loop, portable EC units can be a cost effective “green” engineering technology to meet the challenge of advances in improved drilling methods and energy development.
Reference Source: Pollution Engineering magazine, May 2013, Frack Water Treatment Challenge, Pages 41-44.