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, BJs 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 blenders 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
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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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