Researchers at University of Kentucky consider fly ash powder to up oil and natural gas output

Targeting abandoned or no longer in-use oil and natural gas wells, a team of University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) researchers are investigating the potential for fly ash to recover and enhance production.

Fly ash is a fine powder made from coal combustion and used in various products like cement and concretes. Now, CAER ponders if it might be able to breathe new life into aging oil and gas operations, and their consideration has been backed with funding from the Kentucky Office of Energy Policy.

In partnership with an industrial partner named Enhanced Solutions Services, these researchers will collect fly ash from all of Kentucky’s coal-burning facilities to evaluate their potential to enhance productivity. Focused on demonstrations in Eastern Kentucky, they will utilize ash fracking paired with pumping equipment to make their mark.

“We are grateful to the Kentucky Office of Energy Policy for their support for this project,” Bob Jewell, associate director of CAER’s Cementitious Materials Research Group, said. “This technology is showing great promise in giving new life to Kentucky oil and gas wells while doing so in a much more environmentally sustainable manner.”

Fly ash’s proponents have emphasized it for how it reportedly reduces environmental contamination. It uses less water than similar processes and can reuse well water. It is also smaller and more spherical than conventional sand, meaning it doesn’t settle as quickly – something that eliminates the need for viscosity modifiers and results in post-fracking clean up.