What happens when natural gas drilling moves into an urban area: how communities in North Texas responded to the environmental and health threats of fracking. When natural gas drilling moves into an urban or a suburban neighborhood, a two-hundred-foot-high drill appears on the other side of a back yard fence and diesel trucks clog a quiet two-lane residential street. Children seem to be having more than the usual number of nosebleeds. There are so many local cases of cancer that the elementary school starts a cancer support group. In this book, Jessica Smartt Gullion examines what happens when natural gas extraction by means of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," takes place not on wide-open rural land but in a densely populated area with homes, schools, hospitals, parks, and businesses. Gullion focuses on fracking in the Barnett Shale, the natural-gas-rich geological formation under the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. She gives voice to the residents-for the most part educated, middle class, and politically conservative-who became reluctant anti-drilling activists in response to perceived environmental and health threats posed by fracking. Gullion offers an overview of oil and gas development and describes the fossil-fuel culture of Texas, the process of fracking, related health concerns, and regulatory issues (including the notorious "Halliburton loophole"). She chronicles the experiences of community activists as they fight to be heard and to get the facts about the safety of fracking. Touted as a greener alternative and a means to reduce dependence on foreign oil, natural gas development is an important part of American energy policy. Yet, as this book shows, it comes at a cost to the local communities who bear the health and environmental burdens.

Hydrogen is one of the most promising next-generation fuels. It has the highest energy content per unit weight of any known fuel and in comparison to the other known natural gases it is environmentally safe - in fact, its combustion results only in water vapour and energy. This book provides an overview of worldwide research in the use of hydrogen in energy development, its most innovative methods of production and the various steps necessary for the optimization of this product. Topics covered include structured catalysts for process intensification in hydrogen production by reforming processes; bimetallic supported catalysts for hydrocarbons and alcohols reforming reactions; catalysts for hydrogen production from renewable raw materials, by-products and waste; Ni and Cu-based catalysts for methanol and ethanol reforming; transition metal catalysts for hydrogen production by low temperature steam reforming of methane; supercritical water gasification of biomass to produce hydrogen; biofuel starting materials for hydrogen production; modelling of fixed bed membrane reactors for ultrapure hydrogen production; hydrogen production using micro membrane reactors; perovskite membrane reactors; polymeric membrane materials for hydrogen separation; industrial membranes for hydrogen separation; multifunctional hybrid sorption-enhanced membrane reactors; carbon based membranes; and separation of hydrogen isotopes by cryogenic distillation. Hydrogen Production, Separation and Purification for Energy is essential reading for researchers in academia and industry working in energy engineering.

This exclusive compilation written by eminent experts from more than ten countries, outlines the processes and methods for geologic sequestration in different sinks. It discusses and highlights the details of individual storage types, including recent advances in the science and technology of carbon storage. The topic is of immense interest to geoscientists, reservoir engineers, environmentalists and researchers from the scientific and industrial communities working on the methodologies for carbon dioxide storage. Increasing concentrations of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are often held responsible for the rising temperature of the globe. Geologic sequestration prevents atmospheric release of the waste greenhouse gases by storing them underground for geologically significant periods of time. The book addresses the need for an understanding of carbon reservoir characteristics and behavior. Other book volumes on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) attempt to cover the entire process of CCUS, but the topic of geologic sequestration is not discussed in detail. This book focuses on the recent trends and up-to-date information on different storage rock types, ranging from deep saline aquifers to coal to basaltic formations.