Anaerobic Biodegradation of Ethylene Glycol within Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid

Abstract:

Ethylene glycol (EG) is a commonly used organic additive in hydraulic fracturing fluids used for shale gas recovery. Under aerobic conditions, this compound readily biodegrades to acetate and CO₂ or is oxidized through the glycerate pathway. In the absence of oxygen, organisms within genera Desulfovibrio, Acetobacterium, and others can transform EG to acetaldehyde, a flammable and suspected carcinogenic compound. Acetaldehyde can then be enzymatically degraded to ethanol or acetate and CO₂. However, little is known on how EG degrades in the presence of other organic additives, particularly under anaerobic conditions representative of deep groundwater aquifers. To better understand the fate and attenuation of glycols within hydraulic fracturing fluids we are assessing their biodegradation potential and pathways in batch anaerobic microcosm treatments. Crushed Berea sandstone was inoculated with groundwater and incubated with either EG or a synthetic fracturing fluid (SFF) containing EG formulations. We tracked changes in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), EG, and its transformation products over several months. Approximately 41% of bulk DOC in SFF is degraded within 21 days, with 58% DOC still remaining after 63 days. By comparison, this same SFF degrades by 70% within 25 days when inoculated with sediment-groundwater microbial communities, suggesting that bulk DOC degradation occurs at a slower rate and to a lesser extent with bedrock. Aerobic biodegradation of EG occurs rapidly (3-7 days); however anaerobic degradation of EG is much slower, requiring several weeks for substantial DOC loss to be observed. Ongoing experiments are tracking the degradation pathways of EG alone and in the presence of SFF, with preliminary data showing incomplete glycol transformation within the complex hydraulic fracturing fluid mixture. This research will help to elucidate rates, processes, and pathways for EG biodegradation and identify key microbial taxa involved in its degradation.