I Subsurface Waste Disposal By Means of Wells A Selective Annotated Bibliography

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I Subsurface Waste Disposal
By Means of Wells
A Selective Annotated
Bibliography
By DONALD R. RIMA, EDITH B. CHASE, and BEVERLY M. MYERS
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 2020
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1971
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
ROGERS G. B. MORTON, Secretary
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
W. A. Radlinski, Acting Director
Library of Congress catalog-card No. 77-179486
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $1.50 (paper cover)
Stock Number 2401-1229
FOREWORD
Subsurface waste disposal or injection is looked upon by many waste
managers as an economically attractive alternative to providing the sometimes
costly surface treatment that would otherwise be required by modern
pollution-control law. The impetus for subsurface injection is the apparent
success of the petroleum industry over the past several decades in the use of
injection wells to dispose of large quantities of oil-field brines. This
experience coupled with the oversimplification and glowing generalities with
which the injection capabilities of the subsurface have been described in the
technical and commercial literature have led to a growing acceptance of deep
wells as a means of "getting rid of" the ever-increasing quantities of wastes.
As the volume and diversity of wastes entering the subsurface continues to
grow, the risk of serious damage to the environment is certain to increase.
Admittedly, injecting liquid wastes deep beneath the land surface is a
potential means for alleviating some forms of surface pollution. But in view
of the wide range in the character and concentrations of wastes from our
industrialized society and the equally diverse geologic and hydrologic con
ditions to be found in the subsurface, injection cannot be accepted as a
universal panacea to resolve all variants of the waste-disposal problem. There
is a compelling need to examine critically the compatibility of specific wastes
with specific injection zones and to discriminate the capability of potential
injection zones to receive and retain waste waters. In essence, there is an
urgent need to prove the feasibility as well as the absolute safety of injection
before the use of any injection well can be undertaken with any degree of
certainty of the results.
Proper decisionmaking on subsurface injection of wastes must begin with
an adequate understanding of the underground and its response to waste
injection. To this end, the U.S. Geological Survey has launched an inves
tigative program to develop an adequate scientific and technological basis for
predicting the environmental consequences of discharging wastes into the
subsurface. This bibliography is the first step in that it summarizes the
technological experience and information now available on this critical
subject.
E. L. HENDRICKS,
Chief Hydrologist
in
CONTENTS
Page
Foreword................................................................................................................. HI
Introduction............................................................................................................ 1
Bibliography............................................................................................................ 5
Indexes.................................................................................................................... 263
Geographic index................................................................................................. 263
Subject index....................................................................................................... 273
SUBSURFACE WASTE DISPOSAL BY MEANS OF WELLS-
A SELECTIVE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
By DONALD R. RIMA, EDITH B. CHASE, and BEVERLYM. MYERS
INTRODUCTION
Subsurface waste disposal by means of wells is the practice of using drilled
wells to inject unwanted substances into underground rock formations. The
use of wells for this purpose is not a new idea. As long ago as the end of the
last century, it was common practice to drill wells for the express purpose of
draining swamps and small lakes to reclaim the land for agricultural purposes.
A few decades later in the 1920's and 1930's many oil companies began using
injection wells to dispose of oil-field brines and to repressurize oil reservoirs.
During World War II, the Atomic Energy Commission began using injection
wells to dispose of certain types of radioactive wastes. More recently,
injection wells have been drilled to dispose of a variety of byproducts of
industrial processes. The number of such wells has increased rapidly since
Congress passed the Clean Streams Act of 1966, which restricted the
discharge of waste into surface waters.
Many scientists and public officials question the propriety of using the
term "disposal" when referring to the underground injection of wastes. Their
reasons are that underground injection is not, as many advocates claim, "a
complete and final answer" to the waste-disposal problem. Rather, it is
merely a process wherein the injected wastes are committed to the subsurface
with uncertainty as to their ultimate fate or limits of confinement. In effect,
the wastes, undiminished and unchanged, are removed from the custody of
man and placed in the custody of nature.
Although the concept of waste-injection wells is relatively simple, the
effects of waste injection can be very complex, particularly when dealing with
the exotic and complex components of some industrial wastes. Besides the
physical forces of injection, there are many varied interactions between the
injected wastes and the materials within the injection zone. Because these
changes occur out of sight in the subsurface, they are difficult to assess and
2 SUBSURFACE WASTE DISPOSAL BY MEANS OF WELLS
not generally understood. In addition, the various aspects of the problem
involve a wide spectrum of science and engineering. Hence, articles published
on the subject are widely dispersed in the technical and scientific literature.
Because of the current national and worldwide interest in waste-disposal
problems, the increasing use of injection wells, and the need to understand
the long-term effects of injecting wastes into underground rock formations,
this bibliography was prepared to gather significant references into a single
publication that would be a reference source for both scientific and
waste-management needs. The bibliography, which contains 692 abstracts,
was compiled from a selective review through 1969 of the following source
materials:
Bibliography of North American Geology and Abstracts of North American Geology:
U.S. Geological Survey
Geophysical Abstracts: U.S. Geological Survey
Bibliography of Hydrology and Sedimentation: Federal Water Resources Council
Selected Water Resources Abstracts: Water Resources Scientific Information Center
(WRSIQ, Office of Water Resources Research, U.S. Department of the Interior
Nuclear Science Abstracts: U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
Water Resources Abstracts: American Water Resources Association, Urbana, 111.
Annotated Bibliography of Oil-Field Brine Disposal Wells, by S. J. Martinez, Tulsa
University, Information Services Department, Tulsa, Okla. (Prepared under contract
for the U.S. Geological Survey)
Annotated Bibliography on Artificial Recharge of Ground Water, 1955-67, by
D. C. Signor, D. J. Growitz, and William Kam: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply
Paper 1990
Bibliography on Artificial Recharge of Ground Water, by Arnon Arad: U.S. Geological
Survey open-file report
References listed in recently published reports on this subject (See Galley, John E. 0039,
0454, 0605; Ives, R. E. 0212; Piper, A. M. 0468; and Warner, D. L. 0416)
About one-third of the abstracts included here pertain to the disposal of
oil-field brines. These abstracts were selected because they deal mainly with
the engineering problems of injection wells. The subjects covered include the
design construction, operation, and maintenance of disposal or injection
facilities. In effect, these abstracts summarize the technology that has been
gained by the oil industry in nearly half a century of collecting, handling,
treating, and injecting waste waters into the subsurface.
An additional third of the abstracts pertain to the research that has been
done to find satisfactory methods for the disposal of radioactive wastes. The
major emphasis of this research is on the interaction of radioactive materials
with the natural environment. It deals chiefly with the natural processes and
mechanisms of transport, retention, and dispersal of radioactive materials in
the subsurface. Hence, this work has direct application to the problems of
predicting and monitoring the post-injection movement of waste waters.
Most of the remaining abstracts describe actual case histories of various
industries that are using one or more injection wells. In general, these
INTRODUCTION 3
references are based on activities that have been considered successful in
terms of well operation.
The abstracts are arranged alphabetically by author name (by senior-author
name if a publication has multiple authorship). The names of all junior
authors also are listed alphabetically, with cross reference to the senior-author
entry. Where more than one entry appears under an author's name, the
arrangement is by accession number. (Each paper was assigned an accession
number as it was received; but as all papers received were not included in this
bibliography, some papers have an accession number that is higher than the
total number of abstracts.) Within each entry the accession number is given
first followed by the name(s) of the author(s) in bold type. The next line
begins with the year of publication followed by the title and the remainder of
the citation. Parenthetical notes are given at the end of some of the
bibliographic citations to assist the reader in locating the publications. The
notation CFSTI is used to indicate the availability of an article from the
Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information (renamed the
National Technical Information Service in 1970), Springfield, Va. Other
parenthetical notations at the end of the citations are self-explanatory.
Abstracts from sources other than the original publications have been used
freely in the interest of saving time. Those abstracts by the original authors
are so indicated; others are credited where appropriate either to the
individual, other than the author, who prepared the abstract or to the
publication from which the abstract was taken. Where no credit is given, the
abstract was prepared by the senior author of this bibliography.
Abbreviations are used to identify the source of the abstract; where
appropriate, the accession number used by the source publication for the
abstract also is given. Abbreviations and examples of accession numbers are
given below.
AWRA 08-0002-Water Resources Abstracts
Geophy. Abs. 266-095-Geophysical Abstracts
NAB Abstracts of North American Geology
NSA 24-4085 5-Nuclear Science Abstracts
Tulsa Univ., Inf. Services Dept.-Tulsa University, Information Services Department
W68-00029-Selected Water Resources Abstracts
WSP 1990-U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1990
Abstracts that were obtained from sources outside the U.S. Geological
Survey reflect the editorial style of the original publisher. This was done to
avoid any possible misinterpretation of the original intent. In a few abstracts
editorial insertions have been used to explain units of measure or uncommon
abbreviations. Geologic names are used as they appeared in the original
articles and thus their usage herein does not constitute acceptance by the U.S.
Geological Survey.
4 SUBSURFACE WASTE DISPOSAL BY MEANS OF WELLS '
Each abstract is concluded by a set of descriptors (key words) selected
from the "Water Resources Thesaurus," which was published in 1966 by the
Office of Water Resources Research, U.S. Department of the Interior. The
descriptors are designed for computer storage and retrieval purposes, and are
included here as an aid to the reader interested in computer retrieval of
similar subjects.
The index to the bibliography consists of a "Geographic Index" and a
"Subject Index." These indexes were compiled from the abstracts and not the
original publications, thus they are only as complete as the information given
in the abstracts. The reader is referrred to the case histories and the summary
reports under the various types of wastes in the "Subject Index" as a starting
point for the perusal of this volume. The reader interested in all types of
waste disposal in specific areas is referred to the "Geographic Index."
The assistance of Mrs. Barbara 0. Favor and the many other individuals
who contributed to the preparation of this volume is gratefully acknow
ledged. Special thanks are due to Mr. Don Davis and Mr. John W. Norris of
the Science and Technology Branch, Division of Technical Information
Service, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn., for providing a
computer search of the Nuclear Science Abstracts, volumes 16 through 23.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
0590 Abbott, W. G.
1960. Organization and operation of cooperative salt water disposal systems, in West
Texas oil lifting short course, 7th Ann., Proc.: Lubbock, Tex., Texas Technol. Univ.,
Dept. Petroleum Eng., p. 103-104.
Since salt water disposal is a problem common to all the operators in an oil pool,
co-operative participation in a disposal system should be practiced. In pools where
large volumes of salt water are handled or reservoir conditions exist which indicate
that future water volumes will be appreciable, subsurface disposal is the most
satisfactory method. When such a disposal system is needed, operators will find that
Articles of Agreement have previously been prepared by company attorneys and
accountants. These provide for creating, putting in operation, and prescribing rules
and regulations for the operation of a salt water system and are available to those who
have use for them. Three requirements necessary when designing a system are: (1)
define the area, (2) define a producing well, and (3) define the quantity of water to
assign each well. The Agreement should contain three exhibits: a map of the area, a
cost estimate, and a detailed accounting procedure. Good engineering design, proper
material selection, and continued experienced supervision are major requisites for a
properly functioning salt water disposal system.-Tulsa Univ., Inf. Services Dept.
Descriptors: Brine disposal, injection, management, cooperatives, facilities.
0591 Abbott, W. G.
1962. Salt water disposal system design considerations, in West Texas oil lifting short
course, 9th Ann., Proc.: Lubbock, Tex., Texas Technol. Univ., Dept. Petroleum Eng.,
p. 183-184.
A salt water system should be designed to serve all the wells in the subject area until
the last producing well is plugged. In designing the gathering system, it is necessary to
assign a given quantity of water to each well. Bottomhole pressure history, potential
tests, and productivity indices should be examined to select the proper design figure
so that the line sizes can be determined. A gravity system is the most economical way
to move the water. By installing gas boots at every pressure vessel that discharges
water into the system, gas blockage problems can be eliminated. All materials used,
including valves, fittings, and vessels, should be corrosion resistant. An accumulation
tank or tanks should be located adjacent to the disposal well, and the tanks should be
sized to provide adequate settling time for suspended solids, and to handle any
fluctuations in water production. Other discussions are presented on disposal wells
and maintenance of salt water disposal systems.-Tulsa Univ., Inf. Services Dept.
Descriptors: Brine disposal, injection, design criteria, operation and maintenance,
cooperatives, facilities.
0592 Abbott, W. G.
1963. Salt water disposal system-design, construction, and operation, in West Texas
oil lifting short course, 10th Ann., Proc.: Lubbock, Tex., Texas Technol. Univ., Dept.
Petroleum Eng., p. 17-18.
SUBSURFACE WASTE DISPOSAL BY MEANS OF WELLS
Usually the design and even the organization of a disposal system falls upon the
district, area, or field engineer. As soon as the first well in a field is completed, the
engineer should recognize the type of reservoir and alert his management to the future
possibilities for subsurface disposal, if this is warranted. Usually, however, even the
most prudent oil operator waits until substantial amounts of water are produced
before the organization of a system is attempted. The disposal well should be drilled
or recompleted before the construction of the lines is started. An accurate injection
test or tests, either by gravity or pressure, should be performed on the disposal well at
this time. After the installation of a salt water disposal system, the operational phase
begins. Lines should be inspected for scale and paraffin deposition and gas vents
should be cleaned regularly. Terminal facilities should be checked, sometimes daily, to
determine the volume of waste oil that accumulates; and the storage tank or tanks
should be cleaned of any solids, B.S. or iron sulfide deposits accumulated. For
economic operation throughout the life of an oil field, the salt water disposal system
must be carefully designed, properly constructed, and maintained by experienced
supervision.-Tulsa Univ., Inf. Services Dept.
Descriptors: Brine disposal, injection, design criteria, construction, operation and
maintenance, cooperatives.
0597 Abbott, W. G.
1966. The operation of salt water disposal systems, in Southwestern petroleum short
course, 13th Ann., Proc.: Lubbock, Tex., Texas Technol. Univ., Dept. Petroleum
Eng., p. 141-143.
Rice Engineering and Operating, Inc. has designed and now operates 9 cooperative salt
water disposal systems in the W. Texas and New Mexico area. These systems handle
produced brine from 2,900 wells through about 260 miles of gathering line into 20
disposal wells. The volume of water disposed daily into these wells is over 100,000
bbl. It is necessary to inject this water by pressure pumps in only 3 of these 20 wells.
The remaining 17 wells take water by gravity flow with a vacuum showing on the
tubing gage under usual operating conditions. The cost per well for disposal averages
approximately $1,700 for these 9 systems. This includes all costs such as construction
of gathering lines, the drilling or workover of disposal wells, the purchase of necessary
right-of-way, and all engineering fees. The disposal wells discussed herein range in total
depth from 4,753 to 13,837 ft and are all completed in a limestone or dolomite
formation. All of the disposal wells are equipped with injection tubing that has been
internally plastic coated. To protect the exterior of the tubing and the interior of the
casing from corrosion an "oil-balance" method is used. Tulsa Univ., Inf. Services
Dept.
Descriptors: Brine disposal, injection, cooperative, operation and maintenance, design
criteria, New Mexico, Texas, costs.
0456 Adams, J. R.
1967. Dispersion in anisotropic porous media: Ann Arbor, Midi., Michigan State
Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 100 p. [Abs. in Dissert. Abs., 1967, v. 28, no. 1, p. 190-B-191-B.]
The problem of dispersion in flow through porous media arises in coastal aquifers,
underground waste disposal, chemical separation by filtration, and secondary recovery
of petroleum. This study is motivated by the coastal aquifer problem in which the
spread or dispersion of salt water into fresh water may limit the use of wells for
drinking water. The dispersion process is described by the convective-diffusion
equation with a coefficient depending on the flow and porous medium, as well as on
the solvent and solute. The nature and functional form of the coefficient is the topic
of direct interest. Experiments are conducted in which the dispersion of tracer spots is