December 8, 2014

Technology-dependent Emissions of Gas Extraction in the US



Technologies of Exploring and Operating Shale Gas Resources Cause Varying Emissions of Volatile Hydrocarbons

Not all boreholes are the same. Scientists of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) used mobile measurement equipment to analyze gaseous compounds emitted by the extraction of oil and natural gas in the USA. For the first time, organic pollutants emitted during a fracking process were measured at a high temporal resolution using a vapor capture system. The highest values measured by this process exceeded typical mean values in urban air by a factor of about one thousand, as was reported in the ACP journal.