Date of Award
2012
Publisher
North Dakota State University
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Awarded
Master of Science (MS)
Program
Agribusiness and Applied Economics
Department
Agribusiness and Applied Economics
College
Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources
Faculty Advisor
Hearne, Robert
Description
North Dakota’s oil boom is aided by a new technology, fracking. But this technology implies large amounts of wastewater. The methods of dealing with this wastewater are now an issue. Currently, North Dakota locks it into deep injection wells in the Bakken formation. With the development of membrane technologies to treat wastewater, it may be feasible to treat the wastewater and reuse it. This study uses a mathematical programming model to minimize the total cost of dealing with wastewater using three methods - deep well injection, on-site treatment, and off-site treatment. The model results show it is cost-effective to use on-site and large capacity off-site treatment to treat the 20% of the wastewater that flows back within the first 30-60 days after a well is drilled.
Recommended Citation
Yin, Qingqing, "Transporting and Disposing of Wastewater from North Dakota Oil Producers" (2012). Agribusiness and Applied Economics. 128.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/agribusiness-applied-econ/128
Rights
NDSU policy 190.6.2
Rights Link
https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf
Handle Identifier
https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26541