Marcellus Shale Fracking – Transloading Bulk Materials for Marcellus Shale Drilling

Posts Tagged ‘Business’

The railcar transloading business has been in America for well over 100 years. The first ones were created by providing a service to those that needed an economical and safe way of transferring bulk material from railcars to tractor trailers.

The idea of this can from big industry. Most large manufacturing plants have their own transloading stations on site at their facilities. They also had a rail line running to them so the delivery of bulk material by railcar could be made.

There was a need to provide this service to the smaller business man and for industries that had small locations located in many different areas of the country. This evoked the American entrepreneur spirit in the pioneers in the transloading business.

When a feasibility study was conducted, it was determined that the average tractor trailer could make a delivery of bulk items in a 300 mile radius of a transloading station in just one day. This is the area in which any transloading station could solicit business from their community. By placing a transloading station in an area of the country that had business which needed this type of service, the building of transloading stations commenced.

It all depends on what types of industry is located in any 300 mile radius of a centrally located station that will determine if this is a profitable business venture. In the Marcellus shale rock basin in the north eastern portion of America, this service is needed by the natural gas and oil exploration companies.

This is a very large industry but they have multiple sites located in thousands of places in this area. For this reason it would not be economically feasible to run a rail line to each production well. By using a transloading station located within 300 miles of their well, the delivery of bulk material, like frac sand can be more efficiently and at a reduced cost than doing it themselves.

This saves the energy exploration companies money by them not having to spend capital on rail lines, a facility for the off loading of the material, the equipment to make the transfer and the storage bins for the material. By utilizing the transloading stations for the transfer and then the trailers as the storage bins, the cost of drilling a well is done at a lower cost.

This same service of railcar transloading is also used by many smaller businesses that have the need for large scale bulk items so the transportation costs are manageable. This also makes use of professionals that only handle bulk transfers for this task can be done at the lowest possible cost in the fastest time frame possible.

Related articles

• Marcellus Drilling Transport (transloading.org)
• Transporting Sand for Natural Gas (transloading.org)
• Record Deliveries Signal Turnaround For This Railcar Maker (forbes.com)

image via wikipedia

The pros of fracking for the natural gas and oil industries have an effect that carries onward to the American consumer. The most notably is in the form of lower prices at the gas pump and for heating the American homes.

While hydrofracking is a process used on energy wells since the first ones were drilled nearly 100 years ago.  The process is necessary for the recovery of the energy reserves of the shale rock based wells to a higher degree than the other types of wells that have been used. This is due to the makeup of where the oil and natural gas is under the ground.

For decades the fracking of wells was done to extract more oil and natural gas out of a well once the easily obtainable portion of the oil has decreased in its flow to the surface. These were vertical wells that were placed on top of large reserves that could easily be recovered. The fracking process would loosen up the edges of what remained so it could be extracted. This was done to save on the cost of drilling more wells.

The drilling of a new well has always been a risky proposition. Not every well that has been drilled was on top of an oil or natural gas deposit. For this reason once a deposit was found, the maximum amount of the trapped energy reservoir was extracted. Fracking thus saved time and money in assisting the energy company at obtaining the greatest amount of oil and natural gas from each well that was producing.

When these easily extractable reserves of oil and natural gas were not enough to meet the needs of the US and world demands, the exploration into shale rock oil recovery was initiated. By changing the way the wells were drilled from vertical to vertical then horizontal thousands of feet under the surface, a greater area of the shale rack could then be affected by the hydrofracking process.

The hydrofracking of the shale rock basin would then crush this porous rock and release the trapped oil and natural gas it contained. This can then be easily recovered at the surface to help meet the needs of the American consumer.

The alternative to fracking existing and new wells in America is vastly more expensive and controversial. The only other known areas of energy reserves left on the plant are under the waters of the oceans. If these were the only options left, there would not only be a shortage of energy for the American consumer, but also higher prices for what they could use.

The pros of fracking heavily outweigh the alternative of less energy to use with higher prices to use it. This would not be good for the pocket books of the average America nor the economy as a whole.

Related articles

• Marcellus Shale Fracking for Natural Gas (transloading.org)
• Hydrofracking Advantages (transloading.org)
• Marcellus Shale Fracking (transloading.org)

Erik Oswald on Natural Gas Exploration

Commercial from Exxon’s 2011 Corporate ad program. Exxon Geologist Erik Oswald touts the benefits of hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) without ever calling it that… See my blog post (agmaynard.blogspot.com) to learn why most of what Oswald says h…

A Frac Sand Loading Facility is in business to handle the bulk transfer of this necessary commodity so the energy industry can have an amble supply of their needed material. This area of business has taken a hit during the recent economi9c downturn, but not for the same reason most other business have.

The reason the frac sand transfer facilities or transloading terminals have had a downturn in business is the controversy over the use of hydrofracking of energy wells. With many wells not being able to use the hydrofracking technology to help them extract the needed energy resources from the ground, the need for the raw material in this process has dropped off.

Unfortunately for the transloading facilities, the movement and transferring of bulk material from rail cars to tractor trailers is the only reason they exist. They have little choice of who their clients are and the business they are in because of the nature of the industry.

The transloading facilties were strategically placed to reduce the cost of transporting raw materials to the oil and natural gas wells across America including the Marcellus Shale region in the north eastern portion of the nation. These facilities have been an intricate part of helping to keep the cost of domestic natural gas and oil down over the years.

As special interest groups and politicians have become involved in the hampering the oil and natural gas exploration fields of industry, these businesses are starting to experience economic hardship.  These facilities specialize in the quick and efficient loading and offloading of rail cars so the rail lines of the nation are not bogged down by less efficient means of off loading the rail cars.

Hydrofracking has been used as a productive technology to extract the maximum amount of oil and natural gas for expositing wells for over a century. In the shale rock formations, this technology is the only known means to extract the energy reserves from the ground. Without hydrofracking, the nation will have to again be more reliant on foreign oil and natural gas imports to supply the daily demands of the economy.

While all concerns of the American citizens should be addressed, moratoriums on technologies that have been in use for long periods of time should not occur just so the answers of a few can be determined. Work stoppages because of facts are warranted. Work stoppages because of fears are unwarranted and should be avoided in order to keep the economy moving in the right direction.

Related articles

• Frac Sand Transportation (transloading.org)
• Marcellus Shale Fracking for Natural Gas (transloading.org)
• Hydrofracking Advantages (transloading.org)

The job of Frac Sand Transportation is conducted by many different sectors of business working together. The three different sectors include the rail car, transloading stations and tractor trailer services.

When all three work in harmony together, the transportation of frac sand is done in an efficient manner and at the lowest possible cost. Each player in this cycle of providing the energy industry with this necessary raw material for hydrofracking and propane fracking contributes significantly to the over all process.

New sand towers at Valley, WIFrac sand is quickly becoming big business in Wisconsin. This shipping facility under construction along the Adams Line now has the track in place under the towers. The siding and main track are visible at the left edge of the picture. June 18, 2011.
Author:view2share

The rail cars and train service that picks up the frac sand at the supplier has the rail cars loaded into vessels that are designed for this type of bulk transport. This allows for the loading and unloading of the frac sand to be done easily and quickly without contaminating the raw material.

The transloading stations have the most complex part of this intricate of this process. These have to be strategically located near the final destination of the frac sand while still being on the main rail lines that criss cross the nation. Not every part of the country has transloading stations that can handle frac sand since this is a raw material that is only used by the energy industry in the hydrofracking of existing wells.

These transloading stations must also off load the rail cars efficiently and transfer the loads to awaiting tractor trailers in a manner that the frac sand does not become contaminated. This is usually done by the transloading stations having dedicated conveyors for the frac sand to be moved from the cars to the trailers. In an efficient station a rail car can be offloaded each hour per conveyer they have on location.

The last section of this transportation mechanism is the tractor trailers. These vehicles follow the short path to the final destinations which are the surrounding oil and natural gas wells in the local vicinity. In most instances the amount of travel time for these trucks is less than a day’s ride.

When all three of these industries are working together, the transportation of frac sand from the quarries where it is mined to the wells where it will be used to help extract the maximum amount of oil and natural gas from the ground can help to minimize the cost of the energy being demanded by consumers of the world.

The Frac Sand Transportation is a little known and thought about mechanism that helps to keep the total cost of energy for the consumers as low as possible.

Check out this video that explains one stage of the frac sand processing that takes place.

Sepro-Atalay Frac Sand Screening Test

This video demonstrates the Sepro-Atalay’s ability to screen very fine dry material (-70 mesh) effectively. That patented VFE exciter creates the chaotic motion on the screen deck to allow for classification through the screen media. The application …

Related articles

• Mining for FRAC SAND (wisair.wordpress.com)
• Marcellus Shale Fracking (transloading.org)
• Hydrofracking Advantages (transloading.org)

The Hydrofracking Advantages are many, but the main one is that it is the only way to extract the maximum oil and natural gas out of existing wells and to feed the needs of an energy hungry world.

Fracking has been in use for over 100 years and is used around the world in wells to help get trapped reserves to the surface.

It has also been shown to be the most efficient way of extracting trapped oil and natural gas from the many shale rock deposits that has been found. This has opened the door to billions of gallons of reserves that were previously thought to be unattainable.

Because hydrofracking in the many shale rock formations releases mostly natural gas, the use of this clean burning fuel can be used more readily than other dirtier fossil fuels. This will make a positive impact on the climate changes that are currently impacting the weather systems around the globe.

The majority of the drilling is done horizontal to the surface in the shale rock beds themselves with only the vertical shaft exposing the other layers of the ground to be exposed to the high pressure that hydrofracking uses to fracture the rock layers. In most instances this horizontal layer is 2000 feet deep or more.

To help prevent accidental contamination of the different layers going down, this vertical shaft is now being lined with concrete. While accidents do occur, the percentage of them in the natural gas and oil extraction field is less than 0.01%.

The hydrofracking process is done by two means. The medium used to transport the sand into position can be done by a propane gel or water. Both means are relatively safe, but the propane gel does not produce any waste water so it is the preferred choice.

For those that use the water as a medium, the makeup of the solution is over 99.5% to 99.95% water and sand. The remaining chemicals that are used are a concern for the many that oppose this scientific approach to extracting the necessary energy reserves from the ground.  What has not been brought to the fore front is the fact that this waste water is actually cleaner than most of the rivers and waterways across America.

Another fact that is left out of most discussions is that hydrofracking is also used to revitalize drinking water wells. This has been going for nearly a century also to the satisfaction of many land owners.

When looked at from a scientific view, the Hydrofracking Advantages far out weigh any misconceptions about this much needed process. The alternative is the reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels by the world. Not even the environmentalists are willing to do that.

Related articles

• Propane Fracking is a Good Alternative (transloading.org)
• Fracking Sand Qualities (transloading.org)

[Image courtesy flickr.com/Bengt]

The process of transloading frac sand is one of those types of transfers that go highly unnoticed unless there is a problem, or it takes too much time. What most people do not realize is that his is a critical step in the transportation of this vital commodity.

What is not apparent to most that observe this transfer of bulk material is that it has to remain as free of contamination as possible. This might be the same types of sand that is found on the beaches around the world, but it has a specific task that it will need to perform.

All frac sand that is in transported to the oil and natural gas fields in America are destined to perform an important task. This is to keep the fractures open during the hydrofracking and propane fracking procedures so the valuable energy reserve can be extracted at the well bore. Without this frac sand being present and free of contaminates, the fractures in the rock bed would not remain open allowing the recovery of the energy reserves to occur.

The reason contamination of the frac sand has to be kept at a minimum is to help prevent an unwanted reaction to occur so the intended task it is to perform can happen. It also allows the frac sand to be more efficient in performing its task.

To help minimize the contamination of the frac sand during the transloading of the material from the rail cars to the tractor trailers, a designated conveyor is used. In the stations that are equipped properly, there is more than just one. Ideally there should be a conveyor for each station that a railcar can be positioned into for unloading.

On average it takes 5 tractor trailers to transload just one rail car. The time it takes to do this one railcar is just over an hour’s time. Since the demurrage of each rail car is at no charge for the first 24 hours,  it is financially responsible for the transloading station to perform the transloading of the frac sand within this time to minimize the cost of transporting this commodity.

An average load of frac sand sent by rail car is upwards of 25 cars. For this reason it is fiscally responsible to have up to 5 different transloading stations to off load the frac sand to help minimize the cost of its transport. 5 stations will be able to transload the frac sand of 25 rail cars in 5 hours. This will not only reduce the time required for the transportation of the frac sand to its final destination, but help to minimize the cost of its transport.

Transloading frac sand is more complex than it first appears to the casual observer. This is ok since the operators of the transloading stations know the tasks they have to perform and why.

Related articles

• Transload Equipment for Bulk Sand (transloading.org)
• Railcar Sand Unloading (transloading.org)
• Why Use Sand with Fracking (transloading.org)

(Note: the image used above is of a transloading operation of a product that is not sand, however the process is quite similar.  Thanks to Bengt at flickr.com for calling my attention to this and thanks also for the use of the image.  Rich Hill admin.)

The fracking sand used in both hydrofracking and propane fracking is what makes the process successful. This little quartz particle does more than annoy beach visitors between their toes, it also holds open the fractures in the grounds that allows the trapped oil and natural gas to escape so it can be collected at the surface.

The reason sand is ideal for this application is due to its tensile strength. The rock formations that are fractures are held open by the sand. The sand acts as a porous barrier that keeps the cracks open without plugging it. This is when it allows the oil and natural gas to flow past it in the rock layers that lie below ground.

The frac sand is the common component for both types of fracking which includes hydrofracking and propane fracking. Since quartz is not dissolvable in either of the mediums used to transport the frac sand to its intended destination, it is ideal for the job at hand.

The frac sand is available in two general types. There is the white round sands found up in the northern part of the continent and the yellow irregular sands found in the southern portions of the United States. Both types have been used successfully over the years to hold the fractures open in shale and other types of rock formations.

The differences in the available frac sand are in the sizes that are used. These sizes are categorized by mesh sizes. The small number is the smallest particle size while the larger number is the largest particle size in that category. These sizes include 20/40, 30/50, 30/70 40/70 and over 100.

The size of frac sand that is appropriate for your application is dependent on the type of rock you are fracturing and the depth at which the process is taking place. The choice of either the round silica quartz or the irregular shape of the southern frac sands fields is a personal one of the project manager of the well site. Many believe the round frac sands of the northern variety can fit into the fractures easier, but there is no scientific data to prove this is actually occurring in the fracing procedure but it does make common sense.

If you are looking to use fracking sand for your well, it can be easily transported to your destination by rail car then transloaded onto trucks for its final delivery. This is the most economical way to take delivery of this bulk product.

Related articles

• Why Use Sand with Fracking (transloading.org)
• Frack Sand Described (transloading.org)
• Alternatives to Hydrofracking (transloading.org)

Image via Wikipedia

The use of Truck-Rail Bulk Transloading has been the main mechanism that large industry has used to move bulk items for nearly a century now. This business has transformed from a simple set of railroad cars pulling into town being offloaded at the train station to having specific stations to off load the bulk material used in the industrial business world to meet the demands of the US economy.

The reason for this specialized service have many advantages over other forms of transportation of the bulk items that include lower fuel and overall cost along with a reduced amount of emissions involved in the transportation of the material. In many cases the emissions have been reduced to transport the material by up to 90 percent and the fuel used is reduced by up to 50%.

The handling of the material is a big factor in the safety of the transloading of the material along with the quality of it. For large scale movement of bulk items, the need for specialized and dedicated equipment is necessary for this process to be efficient and to prevent contamination. This is only done at properly equipped transloading stations.

The workers at these transloading stations are trained to properly handle these items on a regular basis. This way the material can be offloaded from the railcars to the tucks in the quickest and safest manner possible. This reduces the demurrage on the rail cars which again helps to lower the overall cost of transporting the bulk items to their final destination.

A majority of the transloading stations are near major municipalities but not directly in them. This allows for industry to use these stations so only a short distance needs to be traveled by truck for the bulk items journey to be complete without having to deal with excessive traffic. This saves on time and fuel costs.

The overall purpose of the truck-rail bulk transloading is to make this hazardous operation as safe as possible while reducing the costs of transporting the items in a quality manner so no damage or contamination is experienced by the bulk items. This saves on time, money, fuel and reduced the amount of emissions that are produced when the transporting of bulk items is done by other means.

Related articles

• Railcar Sand Unloading (transloading.org)
• More About Transloading Silica Sand (transloading.org)
• Transload Equipment for Bulk Sand (transloading.org)