What is fracking and how it works

To be able to understand what fracking consists of, we will first define it. Fracking, known in Spanish as a hydraulic fracture, is a technique that is used for Gas and deposit oil extraction.

The history of fracking begins in the middle of the last century and arises in a context marked by the Fossil fuel shortage and for the arrival at the maximum roof of gas and oil production in a world population with growing energy demands. Given this fact, the need to find new deposits to exploit, although many of these were of worse quality and difficult benefit was imminent. Precisely, to reverse these difficulties, new exploitation techniques emerged, including the most widespread: fracking.

If you want to know more about the subject, do not hesitate to visit these other articles about what fossil fuels are and how they were formed or the environmental impact of fossil fuels.

So what is fracking? Well, in principle a vertical well with a depth of more than 2 kilometers. Once the layer where the hydrocarbon to be extracted is reached, the direction of the well deviates to penetrate this layer in the entire length that is possible. Now what is known as fracking or hydraulic fracture begins. To do this, some are used Explosives that pierce the pipe and subsequently water is injected with very high pressure along with a chemical. The objective of these injections is to expand the fractures of the rock substrate, where hydrocarbon is located and thus facilitate its exit abroad.

On the other hand, for hydraulic injections around 200,000 cubic meters of water and more than 500 chemicals are used, of which:

• 17 They are considered toxic to aquatic organisms.
• 38 are acute toxic.
• 8 are carcinogenic substances.
• 7 are mutagenic elements.

Likewise, many of the chemicals are of unknown composition since it is a “business secret” of the entities that carry out this technique.

The fracking risks are multiple and affect various fields. Next, we will see some of the consequences of fracking.

Water pollution

One of the greatest consequences of fracking is the contamination of underground aquifers and water tables. The risk is that when the rock fractures rocky, they also occur fractures that reach aquifersthus contaminating its waters with the chemicals used in the technique.

Here we leave you this other post of ecology, where you can discover the causes and consequences of water pollution.

Air pollution

As we have mentioned above, a large number of chemical compounds are used in fracking implementation. Many of them are from volatile nature and culminate in the air We breathe. On the other hand, volatile compounds are also used in the production stage.

We leave you this article about health problems due to air pollution so you can raise awareness about the subject.

Soil pollution

The soil is also affected by fracking implementation. In principle, it is common for water spills to occur next to the chemicals that are injected. In addition, around 4,000 trucks are required on each platform. As a result, the soil is completely unusable.

Discover more about soil pollution: causes, consequences and solutions.

Earthquakes

An increase in seismicity has been demonstrated in certain areas where fracking develops intensively. It is necessary to clarify that, for hydraulic fracture, the rocky substrate is pressurized more than 100 times and this overexertion can cause the Underground Failure Displacementcaused earthquakes.

Here are more information about the earthquake: what is, how it occurs and types.

Climate change

The gas obtained from fracking is practically composed of methane, a greenhouse gas. Fracking is closely linked to climate change since any methane escape during drilling, extraction or production contributes to Global temperature increase.

You can find out how to reduce greenhouse gases in this other ecology article that we recommend.

Next, we will summarize some of the aspects, both positive and negative, of fracking:

Advantages of fracking

• He has had positive repercussions on the economy.
• Employment indices has increased.
• The gas obtained is cheap to export.
• Allows to extract hydrocarbons from unconventional depositsthat is, of those where the porosity and permeability of the rocky substrate hinder extraction.

Disadvantages of fracking

• Its implementation is a high Environmental risk And also for Human health and biological diversity.
• As we have mentioned, fracking causes contamination of water, air and soil, increases seismicity and contributes to climate change.
• It is not known exactly what are the chemical compounds that are used during the operation.
• Hydraulic fracture activities require an immeasurable amount of water.
• The platforms where fracking takes place occupy a large land surface.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is fracking and how it workswe recommend that you enter our pollution category.