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Allegheny Township company on the cutting edge of frack water recycling | TribLIVE.com
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Allegheny Township company on the cutting edge of frack water recycling

Mary Ann Thomas
VNDWaistWater1082517
Louis B. Ruediger | Tribune-Review
Calvin McCutcheon, president of McCutcheon Enterprises in Allegheny Township, talks about the company's custom-built fracking water transport truck on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017.
VNDWaistWater2082517
Louis B. Ruediger | Tribune-Review
Calvin McCutcheon holds containers showing the three stages of recycled fracking water from the company's mobile clarifier on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017.
VNDWaistWater3082517
Louis B. Ruediger | Tribune Review
Soil and mud samples for testing are displayed at McCutcheon Enterprises in Allegheny Township on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017.

Stopping environmental contamination at accident scenes and recycling fracking water is all in a day's work at McCutcheon Enterprises Inc. in Allegheny Township.

The 70-year-old company showed off that work recently, hosting part of a national symposium on wastewater treatment. You could say they made clear their role as a major recycler of fracking water.

On display were jars of used fracking water: one untreated; one with the solids the company removes; and a jar of clear, reusable fracking water that can be returned to drilling companies.

A growing business line

As the waste management company celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, recycling fracking wastewater is among the busiest segments of this family-owned business helmed by the third and fourth generations of the McCutcheon family.

Used fracking water is a by-product of natural gas extraction. Drillers inject a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals through layers of rock to release natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation, often a mile below the surface.

“We were one of the first places to accept oil and gas wastewater, and that business continues to grow,” said Chad McCutcheon, company spokesman.

In 2011, the state Department of Environmental Protection asked drillers to stop taking fracking water to municipal water treatment plants because the water from those plants ends up in rivers and streams.

McCutcheon's recycling offers an alternative to disposing the used water in abandoned wells or hauling it to other states for disposal.

Fracking water recycling is part of the region's cutting edge technologies that are efficient and protect the environment, according to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, based in North Fayette.

“We're proud of the fact that wastewater recycling was pioneered in the commonwealth and 90 percent of all water used in Marcellus operations is recycled today,” said Marcellus Shale Coalition President Dave Spigelmyer.

McCutcheon's treatment facilities for reuse of fracking water were added in 2010.

The company opened a second location in Houston, Pa., in 2013, run by Chad's brother, Nathan McCutcheon, which offers waste management and equipment rentals and other services for Marcellus shale operations.

Serving a number of companies with industrial waste, McCutcheon has about 100 full-time employees at the Allegheny Township site.

McCutcheon last month accepted 7,000 tons of solid waste, including drilling muds and industrial waste, which was then solidified and sent to a landfill.

The company also accepted about 900,000 gallons of wastewater, which either was recycled or sent for further processing, McCutcheon said.

The company can process 300 gallons of fracking water a minute, according to Calvin McCutcheon, president.

How it's done

Recycling fracking water starts with trucks arriving at the company's facilities, where the water is sampled to ensure that the contaminants comply with the company's handling and disposal permits, which usually is the case, according to the McCutcheons.

Then, the wastewater is off-loaded into a series of “frac tanks,” where it is pumped into a treatment area that removes the metals, which are the primary contaminants. The water is finally pumped into the storage area where another truck can take it away for re-use.

Then there is disposing of or recycling drilling muds, which are created from any pipe or a well pad where there are by-products from drilling.

The muds are brought to McCutcheon by truck then deposited in large, armor-plated bins.

Either dry material is added to the waste to solidify it or the mud is sent to a press where the solids are wrung out, compressed and then sent to an appropriate landfill. The water that's squeezed out is available for re-use, according to Chad McCutcheon.

Marcellus drilling, with its specialized waste, sometimes required specialized equipment to take it away.

The company recently bought a custom-made vacuum truck that can capture the drilling mud at the well pads, which then can be hauled back to McCutcheon's or another disposal facility.

“Working with the oil and gas industry requires an awareness of the hazards,” Calvin McCutcheon said.

Emergency response

Among the many certifications McCutcheon employees must have are hazardous waste operator and confined space entry and rescue.

Cleaning up at emergencies has been a longtime specialty of the business, which is a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency-certified hazardous materials response (PEMA Act 165) operation for eight Western Pennsylvania counties and for 170 miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

“It's more of a community thing,” said Calvin McCutcheon. “You can't run a business with emergencies.”

But that's where the McCutcheon business was founded: “We started with two single-axle trucks and a dream,” said Calvin McCutcheon said.

Recently, the company decided to celebrate its anniversary with a few friends — members of the National Association of Wastewater Technicians — for a national waste treatment symposium held at McCutcheon, the Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority in Allegheny Township and the DoubleTree hotel in Monroeville.

Visitors included companies from Panama interested in the U.S. waste treatment processes.

McCutcheon “is doing very important work needed for the area,” said Tom Ferrero, of Ferrero and Associates of Ambler, Montgomery County, who was co-chairman of the symposium.

Waste material disposal is in demand for industries throughout the country, and businesses that understand disposal problems like McCutcheon are valuable, he said.

The field of disposal options is wide, said Calvin McCutcheon. His company deals with customers from a number of industries, including steel, plastics and sewage authorities.

If his company can't handle the waste, he said part of its responsibility is to direct customers to someone who can.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-226-4691, mthomas@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MaThomas_Trib.