Boom in fracking for oil and gas recovery sparks new
technologySeptember 7th, 2011 in Chemistry / Other With a
technology called "fracking" sparking energy booms and
controversy worldwide, Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN)
describes advances in the workhorse materials used to produce
oil and gas from previously inaccessible deposits deep below
Earth's surface. C&EN is the American Chemical Society's weekly
newsmagazine. In the article in C&EN's current edition, Senior
Business Editor Melody M. Bomgardner explains that fracking or
hydraulic fracturing involves pumping massive amounts of grainy
substances, called proppants, down oil or natural gas wells.
Proppants enable production from rock formations 10,000 or
20,000 feet below the surface. To access the oil and gas in
these deposits, they need to be fractured open with a mixture of
fluid and proppants pumped down wells under high pressure. The
grains literally prop up the fissures in these rocks so that oil
and gas can flow to the surface. The article descr