Mahoning County officials said they are negotiating with a company that wants to build a frack water recycling facility in the county.
They won't release any details yet, but officials said the facility would be a significant investment in the area. The Mahoning County sanitary engineer said his department is working out a deal to sell water to the company, which will recycle frack water used to drill Marcellus and Utica shale.
Hydraulic fracturing is used in wells intended to produce gas and oil. After the well is drilled, fracking fluid is injected under pressure down into the well and out into the shale zone through holes drilled in the casing. The fluid is mostly made up of salt and water, and a small percentage is chemical additives.
The forced injection is intended to fracture the shale, and the cavities created will fill with gas or oil, which can then be pumped to the surface. Some of the frack water used also comes to the surface and must be treated.
"One individual frack takes in the order of 10 million gallons of water, and that water must be supplied and treated afterward," said Mahoning County Sanitary Engineer Robert Lyden. "So there is going to be a gigantic market for this frack water to be treated."
Lyden said it could take a year for the permitting and design of the facility to be complete.
"We'll be selling water to them to blend with the affluent from their treatment facility so that this water could go back to the frack process and not be discharged anywhere," said Lyden.
