Nova Scotia to use fracking waste at cement plant

The Lafarge Canada Inc. Brookfield quarry site. (Courtesy of the Government of Nova Scotia)

Canada’s Atlantic province of Nova Scotia has given the green light for five million litres of hydraulic fracturing wastewater to be disposed at a cement plant following a successful pilot project earlier this spring.

The province’s Environment Minister, Randy Delorey, said in a statement he’s approved a request from Atlantic Industrial Services to use the wastewater at the Lafarge plant in Brookfield.

The left over wastewater from drilling that happened seven years ago, estimated in 10 million litres, are currently in two ponds at the Atlantic Industrial Services site. Half of it will be moved in the coming weeks and it is estimated that about 167 truckloads of water will be needed to complete the transfer. The water will be used as a coolant in the Lafarge kiln and evaporated at 700 Celsius.

Last month Nova Scotia announced it was introducing a bill to permanently ban high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the province.

Results from the wastewater pilot can be found here.