After the biggest natural gas leak in history at the Aliso Creek (California) storage site, and the (voluntary) partial evacuation of the nearby community of Porter Ranch, the citizens are finally going home…
And there are news headlines of “metal particulates” being found in their homes.
Metal? From a natural gas leak? How would that work?
From the county public health department’s release on this, “Testing and analysis of household surface dust in the Porter Ranch homes revealed low levels of metal contaminants consistent with those found in well drilling fluid which suggests they originated from the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage facility”
If they say it’s consistent, then that’s a confirmation. But how would solids from well-drilling liquids have gotten into homes from a gas leak? What’s the transport mechanism?
(I don’t even know enough chemistry to ask the question properly!)
Particulates spread by the wind.
According to this, they used drilling fluid in their attempts to plug the leak, and the gas blew it back out.
Okay! I can visualize it now. Thanks! I was thinking that natural gas had been the only thing to leak, and hadn’t thought about drilling fluid. (I’d never heard of drilling fluid!) Ignorance fought. Or assuaged. Or something.
Really heavy drilling mud is often barites. So “metal” could mean barium oxide. If they didn’t need it that heavy other metal oxides may be used. Drilling mechanics is a whole new world of applied physics.