Guntis Moritis
OGJ Production Editor
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 6 -- A chemistry scoring index may help address the recent controversy on assessing the hazards of chemicals used in stimulating wells, according to Ron Hyden, strategic business manager for Halliburton’s production enhancement product service line in Houston.
Hyden made his remarks Oct. 5 at the SPE Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans.
He said Halliburton has developed an index that currently a third party is assessing. Upon finalizing the index, Halliburton plans to release it for use in the industry, Hyden said.
The index addresses the ability of chemicals to be health, physical, and environment hazards.
Concerns related to heath include chemical toxicity and whether the chemicals are carcinogens and mutagens as well as if they affect reproduction and organs. Another health concern is whether the chemicals are corrosive or irritant substances.
Physical hazards relate to chemical properties such as explosiveness, flammability, oxidization, and corrosiveness.
Environment hazards include whether the chemicals produce acute-chronic aquatic toxicity, hazardous air pollution, and water pollution, as well as if the chemicals bioaccumulate, biodegrade, and are sustainable.
The index expresses the constituent concentration and health, safety, and environmental effect as a numerical aggregated score, Hyden said. He noted that the aggregated score allows companies to select chemical formulations that have the lowest score for their application.
Contact Guntis Moritis at [email protected].
