The ongoing debate over how and whether hydraulic fracturing poses a threat to the environment covers a whole host of issues – land use, earthquakes, drinking water contamination, methane emissions, and even the sustainability of fossil fuel use. While some issues remain mired in a lack of hard data or fundamental philosophical differences, companies all over the US are generating innovative solutions to those that can be addressed, such as methods to reduce water use and methane emissions during production.

Some of these technologies have already proven effective, while others are at the very early stages of commercial use. The following list provides a taste of some of the fracking clean-up technologies that companies have developed, or are in the process of developing, to address water use and methane emissions. We will be exploring them in more depth, looking at benefits as well as drawbacks, over the coming weeks.

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