Fracturing Manual © Copyright BJ Services Company 2008 CONFIDENTIAL - Uncontrolled document when printed. Revision No. 0 Revision Date: 01/01/2006 Printed: 03/17/2008
20.0 EQUIPMENT 20.6 Proppant Storage and Handling Section:
Proppant has to be stored on location, ready for use. It has to be kept clean and dry, and must be delivered to the blender smoothly and quickly. Figure 20.6a shows frac sand being delivered to the hopper of a blender:
Figure 20.6a – Frac sand being delivered from a Sand King to the hopper of a blender. Note that there are two blenders in this picture – one is on standby as a backup in case of equipment failure.
There are two main methods for ensuring the smooth flow of proppant from the storage bin to the blender. The first method is to use a gravity-feed system, which relies on the proppant being stored in a bin which is higher than the blender hopper. A gate valve is used to control the sand rate. This can be done with either large vertically mounted bins (Figure 20.6b) or from a dump truck (Figure 20.6c):
Figure 20.6b – Vertically mounted, gravity feed proppant bins
Figure 20.6c – Trailer mounted sand dumper
The second method is to use a conveyor system to move the proppant from the bin or dumper, to the blender hopper. This method is typically used on larger frac jobs, as there is usually insufficient space around the blender hopper for all the bins to be positioned. Usually, BJ’s first option for storing large volumes of proppant is the Sand King, as shown in Figure 20.6d:
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Figure 20.6d – BJ Services Sand King
The Sand King is designed to be hauled to location empty, and then filled up with proppant. BJ has two models, one with 250,000 lbs capacity and one with 400,000 lbs capacity. The proppant is held in several separate bins along the length of the Sand King. During the treatment, gates – positioned at the bottom of the hoppers – are opened to allow proppant to fall onto a conveyor. This conveyor runs along the bottom of the entire length of the Sand King, and will transport the proppant to the blender hopper. When a very large treatment is planned, such that several Sand Kings have to be used, a separate Sand Belt Conveyor is used, as shown in Figure 20.6e:
Figure 20.6e – Sand belt conveyor
This device allows several Sand Kings to be placed on either side of the belt, each one feeding onto the main belts of the Sand Belt Conveyor. This, in turn, feed the proppant to the blender hopper. During the treatment, it is important that the proppant system can produce a smooth, uninterrupted flow of proppant to the blender, often at quite high rates. It must also be able to keep the proppant dry, as wet proppant can cause the blender’s proppant screws to seize up. Subtopics 20.1 Horsepower Requirements 20.2 Flow Lines 20.3 High Pressure Pumps 20.4 Intensifiers 20.5 Blenders, Gel Hydration and Liquid Additives 20.7 Treatment Monitoring 20.8 Wellhead Isolation Tool 20.9 The Frac Spread – How it Fits Together 20.10 References CONFIDENTIAL - Uncontrolled document when printed. Printed: 03/17/2008
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Related Topics 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 BASICS OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING 3.0 TYPES OF FRACTURING 4.0 FLUID MECHANICS 5.0 FLUID SYSTEMS 6.0 PROPPANTS 7.0 ROCK MECHANICS 8.0 2-D FRACTURE MODELS 9.0 FRACTURE MECHANICS 10.0 ADVANCED CONCEPTS 11.0 3-D FRACTURE SIMULATORS 12.0 PREDICTING PRODUCTION INCREASE 13.0 CANDIDATE SELECTION 14.0 PERFORATING FOR FRACTURING 15.0 THE STEP RATE TEST 16.0 THE MINIFRAC 17.0 DESIGNING THE TREATMENT 18.0 REAL-TIME MONITORING AND ON-SITE RE-DESIGN 19.0 POST TREATMENT EVALUATION 20.0 EQUIPMENT 21.0 DESIGNING WELLS FOR FRACTURING 22.0 THE FRACTURE TREATMENT: FROM START TO FINISH 23.0 NOMENCLATURE
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