Houston Chronicle
CT scans will take fresh look at air in 2 Houston communities
Computer-aided Tomography (CT) scans are used in fields such as medicine and geosciences to construct detailed 2 or 3-D images of objects based on how beams of light or particles interact with the objects being explored. In the case of the BEE-TEX field study to be conducted by HARC in Manchester and Galena Park, CT scans will make use of artificial ultraviolet and visible light sources that create a crisscross network of light paths. Air pollution in the light paths will absorb the light and reveal a signature that allows the concentrations of the absorbing molecules to be located and quantified... [continue]
Drilling Contractor
Proposed study aims to analyze environmental impact of onshore drilling
...a proposed study by National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems Program (EFD) is aiming to address current drilling and completion practices that impact the environment... [continue]
Your Houston News
City program to reduce energy costs benefits The Rose
The EEIP is an initiative of the city of Houston’s Green Office Challenge, which recognizes innovative ways -- such as retrofits and new operation methods -- to reduce utility costs and greenhouse emissions in office buildings. The Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) manages the EEIP for the city. When HARC opened up opportunities to apply for grants earlier this year, The Rose was the first to apply and later became the first nonprofit to receive EEIP funding. [continue]
Houston Chronicle
Authorities guess at crucial pollutant
Integral to the cadre of scientists and engineers concerned about undercounts is Alex Cuclis, an air pollution researcher with the Houston Advanced Research Center. He's also determined to broaden the use of advanced instruments to measure rather than estimate emissions. [continue]
Statesman.com
Olaguer: Measuring the quality of our air
As the author of a study criticized in commentary published Nov. 4, I am compelled to point out some scientific inaccuracies contained in the Kathleen Hartnett White’s critique of my work. The main goal of my paper, titled “The potential near-source ozone impacts of upstream oil and gas industry emissions” and published in the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, was to present a new model for fine scale analysis of oil and gas activity impacts on air quality. This had never been done before, as current regulatory models used by agencies such as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ, are much too coarse to properly represent the complex chemical reactions that take place near major industrial sources. [continue]
Houston Advanced Research Center
Update on HARC Air Quality Model
Since the publication of the article entitled "The potential near-source ozone impacts of upstream oil and gas industry emissions" (E. Olaguer, Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, vol. 62, issue 8, pp. 966-977, 2012), there have been two industry blog articles critiquing the HARC model. [continue]
Texas Public Policy Foundation
A Fog Around Smog
A new study on air emissions associated with natural gas production in the Barnett Shale by Eduardo Olaguer of the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) is such a modeled study which "simulates ozone formation in the vicinity of a hypothetical natural gas processing facility." [continue]
E&P Focus Newsletter
Trial Demonstrates Ultra-High Salinity Brine Pre-treatment
Summer 2012 - The challenge is to identify technologies and approaches for treating the frac water that returns to the surface following a frac job (frac flowback water) for beneficial re-use in other applications, thereby conserving local freshwater supplies. A project managed by the Texas A&M Global Petroleum Research Institute (GPRI), with funding from NETL, is conducting a trial field demonstration to treat frac flowback water for reuse to address these issues. Project participants include Argonne National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Houston Advanced Research Center, Sam Houston State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York State Research Development Authority, MI SWACO, ABS Systems, Polymer Ventures, Norse Energy, Hach, GE Analytic and GSI Environmental. [read more on page 13]
The Dallas Morning News
Gas-drilling opponents hope new study showing an increase in smog levels plays a part in Dallas’ new ordinance
To the many arguments against drilling, add another, according to Downwinders at Risk director Jim Schermbeck, who this morning dispatched to local media a new study by Houston Advanced Research Center director of air quality research Eduardo P. Olaguer. Says the doc, available only in abstract and preview form, when you increase gas drilling in urban areas, you decrease the air quality. How so? Well, writes Olaguer, gas-drilling operations create smog, simple as that: "Flares and compressor engines used in natural gas operations, for example, are large sources not only of NOx but also of formaldehyde, a hazardous air pollutant and powerful ozone precursor." And that’s particularly bad news for Dallas-Fort Worth, says Olaguer, since the areas’s ozone levels are already in nonattainment with National Ambient Air Quality Standards. [view]
Dallas Observer
New Study Shows Fracking is Bad For Dallas' Air Quality. Environmentalists Want City Hall to Take Note
Much of the fracking debate has focused on if and how carcinogens like benzene and hexane find their way into the air and water supplies. Less attention has been paid to the impact of gas drilling on ozone levels, which is significant. Just how significant is hinted at in a new study published in the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association by researcher Eduardo Olaguer of the Houston Advanced Research Center. The paper looks exclusively at gas processing facilities in the Barnett Shale and finds that routine operations can increase ozone levels by three parts per billion for several miles downwind, with the figure sometimes reaching 10 ppb. That not only significantly increases smog but also makes it more difficult for the region to get out of the EPA's doghouse. Already, nine DFW counties fail to meet the federal ozone standard of 85 ppb. "(U)nless significant controls are placed on emissions from increased oil and gas exploration and production.... urban drilling and the associated growth in industry emissions may be sufficient to keep the area (DFW) in nonattainment," Olaguer writes. [view]
Long Island Newsday
Fire spreads at Venezuela refinery, 41 dead
Some experts say that U.S. refineries have increasingly used more sensing systems to alert workers to gas leaks, and also have established safety protocols. In the Houston area, for instance, "there are 10 or 11 different community groups that the various industries meet with frequently. They stay pretty well connected, with a set agenda," said Alex Cuclis, a research scientist at the Houston Advanced Research Center who used to be a refinery engineer. "They have a phone number to call. And the industry can and occasionally does set off alarms to 'shelter in place,' and most who live in the communities know that means shut off air conditioners so that they aren't bringing in outside air," Cuclis said. [view]
StateImpact Texas
Shale Gas and the "Rebirth" of Texas Gulf Coast Refineries
"They (the newer plants) will certainly emit less than if they were built ten years ago," said Alex Cuclis, a former engineer at Shell’s Deer Park refinery, now an environmental scientist with the Houston Advanced Research Center. "They’re still going to have some emissions that add to the total and all that has to be sorted out in the mix," said Cuclis of the permit process that’ll involve both the TCEQ and US EPA... [view]
KPRC TV
Thousands in Houston for Offshore Technology Conference
Each year, the Offshore Technology Conference brings the world to Houston to see the latest drilling technology. It is also a pretty good measure of the health of the oil industry. This year, business is good. More than 70,000 visitors from 100 countries are packing Reliant Park this year. It's the kind of crowd that hasn't been seen at OTC since the boom days of the 1970's. [view]
Rigzone
The Great Crew Change Meets Eco-Drilling: Disappearing Roads
"I feel like the Disappearing Roads Competition is especially important because we, as a country, are going to be using oil and natural gas for a long time to come and we need to continue to explore ways to make the extraction process as effective and efficient as possible while also minimizing the impact on the environment." [continue]
Texas A&M College of Science
12 Impacts: The Energetic George Mitchell
The same kind of energy that drove Mitchell's success in the oil and gas industry has been harnessed to achieve great things in other fields as well. In 1974, Mitchell unveiled a new 25,000-acre master-planned city north of downtown Houston called The Woodlands, which was praised as a hub of intellectual pursuits, scientific research and environmentally conscious design. He later founded the Houston Advanced Research Center -- a collaboration of eight universities and related research groups dedicated to the principles of sustainable development. [continue]
Texas A&M Engineering News
Colombia calls on Texas A&M Engineering, TEEX to help clean up contaminated water
Colombian officials have indicated they want to hold an international workshop demonstrating their technological advances in Colombian oil and gas production fields. Texas A&M’s partner in the EFD program, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), is working to get an international cooperative agreement in place to promote all forms of low-impact drilling technology throughout South America... [continue]
Houston Chronicle
Recycling program rolls out in Woodlands
David Hitchcock, another member of The Woodlands GREEN and director of sustainable transportation programs at the Houston Advanced Research Center, was equally pleased. "We often have more to recycle than would fit in the smaller containers, as do several of our neighbors. These full size covered units will be great," he said. Hitchcock added that the lids on the new carts will keep the contents from getting wet or from attracting wildlife. He said they will also be less likely to spill, keeping streets cleaner and more litter-free... [continue]
Texas A&M Engineering News
Colombia calls on Texas A&M Engineering, TEEX to help clean up contaminated water
Colombian officials have indicated they want to hold an international workshop demonstrating their technological advances in Colombian oil and gas production fields. Texas A&M’s partner in the EFD program, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), is working to get an international cooperative agreement in place to promote all forms of low-impact drilling technology throughout South America... [continue]
Houston Chronicle
Recycling program rolls out in Woodlands
David Hitchcock, another member of The Woodlands GREEN and director of sustainable transportation programs at the Houston Advanced Research Center, was equally pleased. "We often have more to recycle than would fit in the smaller containers, as do several of our neighbors. These full size covered units will be great," he said. Hitchcock added that the lids on the new carts will keep the contents from getting wet or from attracting wildlife. He said they will also be less likely to spill, keeping streets cleaner and more litter-free... [continue]
E&P Focus Newsletter
Trial Demonstrates Ultra-High Salinity Brine Pre-treatment
The challenge is to identify technologies and approaches for treating the frac water that returns to the surface following a frac job (frac flowback water) for beneficial re-use in other applications, thereby conserving local freshwater supplies. A project managed by the Texas A&M Global Petroleum Research Institute (GPRI), with funding from NETL, is conducting a trial field demonstration to treat frac flowback water for reuse to address these issues. Project participants include Argonne National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Houston Advanced Research Center, Sam Houston State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York State Research Development Authority, MI SWACO, ABS Systems, Polymer Ventures, Norse Energy, Hach, GE Analytic and GSI Environmental. [read more on page 13]