Armour and WISER Lecture on Shale Gas Extraction

Armour College of Engineering’s (ACE) Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE) and Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering (CAEE) is co-sponsoring a lecture with Wagner Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (WISER).

Dr. Radisav D. Vidic will present his lecture “Opportunities and Challenges in Unconventional (Shale) Gas Extraction.” Dr. Vidic is a Professor and Chair at Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.

Abstract: Natural gas from unconventional sources has been gaining the overall share of energy market in the United States and in the world. The Marcellus Shale is a geologic formation located approximately 7,000 ft. below the surface in parts of Pennsylvania (almost 70% of Pennsylvania sits atop the Marcellus Shale formation), West Virginia, and New York, that is estimated to contain up to 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas with about $500 billion worth of recoverable gas. Gas recovery from deep shale formations like the Marcellus was historically far too costly until recent advances in horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing created means of accessing these deposits. These state-of-the-art drilling methods use millions of gallons of water and have the potential to generate millions of gallons of polluted water. The movement of this water, as well as the recovery and transmission of the produced natural gas, has the potential to cause significant environmental disruption through multiple effects, including water withdrawals, wastewater disposal, air toxic releases, truck traffic, and noise pollution. These technical and environmental issues must be understood and properly addressed in order to fully utilize all the benefits of this energy resource. This presentation will address water management alternatives and their environmental implications.

Please RSVP to dhale2@iit.edu