Marcellus Shale Fracking – Transloading Bulk Materials for Marcellus Shale Drilling

Posts Tagged ‘tractor trailers’

The facilities that are involved in transloading silica sand are called transloading stations. These are purpose-built facilities that specialize in the transfer of mainly bulk material from railcars to tractor trailers.

This process might sound rather simple, but there is more to it than meets the eye. Mobile conveyors that are designed to only be used in the transfer of frac sand are necessary. This reduced the possibility of the frac sand from becoming contaminated with any foreign material or objects.

This is important since frac sand is purchased by the oil and natural gas explorers by a particular size. Each region and geographical formation uses a different kind and size of frac sand. If this becomes contaminated with foreign objects, it could cause problems in the wells where the hydrofracking will occur.

If the foreign material is water soluble, its visual appearance will not be present but the chemical makeup could cause an unwanted reaction in the solution.

Moving on to the actual transfer of the frac sand from rail car to tractor trailer, there is the time component that must be considered. A few of the important factors, besides the possibility of contaminating the silica sand, is the speed at which it can be accomplished.

People are able to increase the speed and efficiency of performing a specific task the more they do such a task. The same is with the transfer of bulk frac sand. The facilities that specialize in this field of handling non-food items know what works and how to perform the task at hand safely, along with being efficient with their time.

The average time it takes to off load one railcar of frac sand is generally around an hour. Knowing this, you can calculate how long it would take to off load your shipment by knowing how many designated conveyors are available at the transloading station. This will allow the calculation of the demurrage so cost can be kept at a minimum.

There is a lot more involved with transloading silica sand than just playing in the sand box.

The purpose of a sand transload facility is to provide a safe and effective manner in which to transfer the bulk commodity of frac sand from rail cars to over the road tractor trailers. This is so the frac sand can be delivered to the natural gas and oil wells where they will be used in the hydrofracking procedure.

Since all rail cars have a demurrage associated with them once they reach their destination. A fast and efficient means of offloading the bulk commodities that are transported by railcars is needed. This is done at a facility that has the proper equipment to do the job.

This equipment has to include several portable conveyers that can take to frac sand from the railcars and move it in a safe and efficient manner to an awaiting tractor trailer. By having designated equipment just for this purpose, the chances of accidental contamination is also greater reduced.

To have a facility like this, there must be access to the rail lines and major roads in areas where the material that is being transported will be used. These facilities are purpose built for just this reason. They are also manned 24 hours a day 7 days a week because the need to offload the railcars could occur at any time.

In a facility like what has been described, the offloading of a rail car can occur within less than 1 hour. The more conveyers they have on site, the less time it will take to offload the shipment of frac sand so it can continue its journey to its final destination.

If you are in need of the services a frac sand transload facility has to offer, then look in the vicinity of your wellbore. There is a third party provider of this service in most areas where exploration of natural gas and oil is being conducted.

For more information click on the link to Tran-Z