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In the past, I have openly lamented the seeming lack of National Science Foundation (NSF) support for research into fundamental separation science. This past fall, I was heartened to receive [...]

Those working in a technical field are always trying to innovate and increase operational efficiency to produce the most value out of any given project. This requires making data-driven decisions [...]

Schug: When did you first discover chromatography and why did you remain in this field? Lindner: Between 1969 and 1972, I carried out my PhD research in chemistry at the [...]

Some might consider gas chromatography (GC) a mature technique. However, several substantial advances in GC technology in the past few years have proven that there is still room for innovation. [...]

Hydraulic fracturing utilizes pressurized liquid typically consisting of water, proppants, and a multitude of chemical additives, in order to fracture petroliferous strata to extract natural gas and oil. In this process, a vast amount of wastewater is produced. This water is heavily contaminated, which renders it unusable outside of direct reuse, without extensive treatment being performed. Typically, various sophisticated analytical techniques are involved in the characterization of both waste and treated waters, increasing the cost and the complexity of the management efforts. The article discusses the constituents found in oilfield wastewater, the methods used to identify and quantify these constituents, and the present management methods. Additionally, we introduce total organic carbon and conductivity analyses as surrogate measurements of overall water quality. Total organic carbon and conductivity are established bulk measurements, which can be used to facilitate rapid decisions regarding the treatment and greater utilization of flowback and produced oilfield wastes. The application of the proposed surrogates could be used to streamline the current myriad of complex and expensive measurements. This would improve operational efficiency with respect to wastewater management in the energy sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Those of you in the analytical science community are likely familiar with the concept of method validation. If you have developed a new quantitative method, it is almost impossible to [...]

The past year has been a remarkable ride for the oil and gas industry, and for the entire energy sector in general. Extreme volatility in commodity pricing, an oil contango, [...]

In April 2020, on the heels of the pandemic shutdown, the price of crude oil fell to a negative value for the first time ever, sending ripples through an oil [...]