Automated, Rapid And Reliable Determination Of Dissolved Gases In Water By Static Headspace – Gas Chromatography

Hydraulical fracturing or fracking is a technique that consists of pumping water into a wellbore to create small fractures into which fluids can migrate and be collected into the drilling well. Fracking facilitates the extraction of natural gas from shale plays in which it is unreachable with conventional technologies. The importance of this technique is increasing with the depletion of “traditional” gas fields offering the possibility to access a new energetic source. With the spreading of fracking, concern is raising about its safety and sustainability for the environment, in particular for air and water quality. Fracking processes can impact the quality of groundwater by leakage of gas, exposure to chemicals used during the drilling and mobilization of salts and metals from the subsurface. If for various chemicals official methods, S.O.Ps and protocols do exist that offer guidelines for their analysis in water. There is not yet a formal method for the analysis of dissolved gas into ground or drinking water.