From Jan Milburn, WMCG, June 13, 2022

Shell Cracker Will Produce Nurdles for Plastic from the Ethane from Fracking

Environmentnal Groups Begin Monitoring the River; Universities Lend Expertise to Analyze

“Shell plans to begin operations this summer at its new industrial complex along the Ohio River in Beaver County. The plant will use ethane produced at the region’s gas wells to make tiny polyethylene plastic pellets, which some people call nurdles.

They’re used to make many kinds of plastic products.

But nurdles can also end up in waterways, which is why environmental groups, working with local researchers, have started searching for nurdles in the water near the plant. They’re trying to establish a baseline of what’s in the Ohio now, and will continue to survey the river after the plant opens, so they can tell if nurdles from the plant are getting into the river.

Nurdles are the size of a lentil. They’re the raw material used by manufacturers to make other plastic products. It takes more than 350 nurdles for one yogurt cup, and over a thousand nurdles to make a soda bottle.

When Shell’s multi-billion dollar ethane cracker opens, it will produce 1.6 million metric tons of plastic pellets a year.

Fish and birds can ingest these microplastics. Researchers have found that other pollutants bind to them in the water. The environmental groups are collecting nurdles now, to build a baseline of plastics in the river, so they can tell if there are any spills from the cracker plant after it opens.
A lab at the University of Pittsburgh will analyze whether other sources of pollution may be concentrating on the surface of nurdles.

At Penn State Behrend, researchers will look at the chemical makeup of nurdles they collect.

Duquesne University will be collecting fish and sampling for nurdles in fish guts, and the West Virginia Water Resources Institute will survey the river’s conventional water quality parameters.

This new partnership is funded by The Heinz Endowments. (The Allegheny Front receives funding from The Heinz Endowments and Duquesne University.)