Shale fracking for natural gas could create a water filtration boom
There is a green investment angle to natural gas
February 7, 2012
By now you've probably heard of hydraulic fracking, or at least fracking. According to Big oil and gas, fracking has become a revolutionary technology freeing up massive amounts of new oil and natural gas. In fact, recently even President Obama called the US the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas" thanks to fracking.
But the fracking story isn't all sunshine. Already fracking has been linked to water pollution, and it takes millions of gallons of fresh, clean water for every new fracking well.
Still, the US is going to need lots of fossil fuels. We simply can't replace petroleum, coal and natural gas with renewables quickly enough. Likewise, other countries, such as China, are also begining to develop their fracking potential.
To resolve many of the pollution problems associated with fracking, a renaissance in water filtration technologies is emerging. According to the Artemis Project, which has been closely following this trend, water filtration technologies designed around shale fracking will become a $3 billion per year industry.
A top Artemis Project water filtration company is Altela Inc, which has developed new thermal distillation technique that promises to take this old process to new levels of efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Two other top companies according to Lux Research are Ecosphere Technologies and WaterTectonics.
Ecosphere is already one of the top players in the shale gas water filtration space thanks to its patented Ozonix technologies, and the company reported record end of year revenues in 2011, and its OTC BB traded stock has been moving upwards so far this year.
WaterTectonics is a small company with an exclusive partnership with Haliburton, and Aquapure round out the top players.
NeoHydro*, Produced Water Solutions*, Latitude*, Watervap* are also other key players in this game -- a game that Lux research expects to witness much consolidation.
GE Water also has a footing in this space.
Plus, new players with new technologies, such as GasFrac's propane fracking technologies could be game changers as well.
One way or another natural gas shale fracking is inevitable, whether in the US, the Middle East or China, and water filtration technologies will be required.
So, even if green investors aren't big fans of natural gas, they can still find ways to play the natural gas movement.
But be warned, analysts covering this space suggest volatility, consolidation, etc., so those interested in this area of green investing need to do their homework.
Nevertheless, this is an area of green investing we'll be keeping a close eye upon.
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