Reclaiming Revenue – An Innovative Approach to Produced Water Reuse for Hydraulic Fracturing in the Eagle Ford Shale

Freese and Nichols, Inc. assessed the feasibility of developing an innovative water reclamation system for the purpose of reducing required freshwater supply and recycling produced and flowback water for hydraulic fracturing in the Eagle Ford basin. Flowback water consists of a portion of the frack fluid used to frack the well and produced water, which is the water produced along with oil and gas in hydraulic fracturing operations. The flowback and produced water is typically pumped into trucks which haul it to a disposal site where it is injected into a deep well. The sustainable reclamation system Freese and Nichols designed would collect and convey all produced and flowback water to a central treatment plant. After treating the water to remove contaminants, the water would then be recycled to new frack sites using a reclaimed water distribution system.