Frac Sand Pump Applications

High production costs, coupled with rapid pump wear, are some of the main issues affecting the frac sand industry. As with all sand and aggregate production, the key metric for producers is to tightly control the cost per ton to produce the end product. New technologies can lessen the weight of operating costs for the life of your project, and knowing where to invest helps. The EDDY Pump will increase those operation efficiencies by offering longer life pumps, less maintenance, resulting in higher output.

Frac Sand AKA hydraulic fracturing proppants, is a very abrasive type of sand that causes a plethora of issues for pumps in the frack sand mining and oil/gas industries. Initially, the frac sand is mined from pits and sandstone formations. Once mined, the sand is transported to fracking sites and often loaded into frac blender rigs. The frac sand is dumped into these large blender rigs which then mix the frac sand with chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and other components to get it ready for fracturing.

This transport process destroys conventional centrifugal pumps due to the abrasive nature of frac sand, costing downtime and lost money on frequent repairs. These pumps are usually driven hydraulically or by diesel depending on the Frac Blender Rig setup. There is also significant vibration that occurs on rigs that also can cause the pump to fail faster and the tolerances to get affected quicker. Frac sand can also be mechanically dredged up, but this is often very costly and typically inefficient for the purposes of frac sand mining.

As you can see, centrifugal impellers are quickly eroded when faced with the harsh abrasiveness of frac sand transmission through a pump with close critical tolerances. As a result, frequent maintenance and expensive spare parts are required to keep the pumps running, making critical components of centrifugal pumps used for frac sand applications.

With the frac sand market quickly growing at a rapid pace, it’s important for the frac sand processing plants (featuring frac pumps) to be highly efficient. There are known shortfalls in production and keeping up with industry demand for well stimulation. That is where our heavy lifting EDDY Pump comes into play, with far less downtime and more pumping output than traditional frac pumps.

The unique design of the EDDY Pump allows frac sand to be pumped at production rates of up to 1200 tons of material per hour. The patented EDDY Pump design allows this frac pump to move higher rates of sand versus fluids. Rates of up to 40-70% solids of frac sand by volume are easily achieved with the EDDY Pump units, something rarely possible with a conventional frac pump. This is accomplished through the patented open rotor design with no critical tolerances.

The optimal equipment for mining Frac Sand are the Autonomous Dredge

Frac Discharge Pumps utilize high-volume centrifugal pumps (running on either diesel or natural gas) to feed the high pressure positive displacement pumps. The abrasive sands wear out the impellers of these centrifugal frac pumps very quickly because of higher pressures and incur significant repair costs with spare parts and production loss during downtime – never a good thing with well stimulation.

The EDDY Pump, on the other hand, does not have the close, critical tolerance issues present in centrifugal and other types of frac pumps, and boasts advanced, strong fluid end technologies. This ensures the EDDY Pump will operate many times longer than a conventional frac pump and save a lot of money while continuously pumping abrasive frac sand.

The overarching goal is to the continuous improvement of key processes like well stimulation, mining, blending, drying, sizing, and shipping to reduce plant bottlenecks and drive out waste. The innovative design of our pumps (including a robust fluid end) creates another step to ultimate efficiency gains when compared to a limited conventional frac pump, while also being the lowest lifecycle cost pump on the market, according to a US Navy study.

Equipment Options for Job:

• Frac Pits and transport to cleaning:  Excavator Pump Attachment, Autonomous Dredge, Cable Deployed Pump
• Fracking (Fracture) Pumps: Submersible, Self-Priming Pump

The EDDY Pump Excavator Dredge Pump Attachment is one of our most popular units. Highly versatile for mining and dredging applications.

The EDDY Pump Excavator or Backhoe mounted dredge pump is the quickest and most cost-effective way for a frac sand and aggregate plant to improve production.

Within hours a crew can connect the EDDY Pump attachment and cutterhead to one of their existing excavators and begin pumping. The material can be transported at distances of over two miles directly into their processing plants.

For the frac sand recovery, the EDDY Pump Excavator or Backhoe mounted dredge pump is often the ideal solution for frac sand mining.  It will quickly attach to any excavator and begin pumping frac sand at rates of up to 1000 tons per hour at distances of over 2-miles.

The Backhoe Pump Attachment makes it so that a mining operation with no previous frac dredging experience can be up and running in a matter of days.  The Excavator or Backhoe Pump pins right at the end of the backhoe boom and can begin pumping material immediately.

Please click here to see more about proper pump and excavator size for your application: Excavator Dredge Pump Attachment Info 

Common Sand Pit Scenario:

The EDDY Pump Excavator Attachment is ideal for pumping sand slurry, sand pits, lined ponds or other bodies of water. Does NOT pump dry sand, we need at lease a foot or two of water on top to create a sand slurry. Call with questions.   

By attaching the EDDY Pump to a standard boom or long boom excavator you can get reach of up to 75-ft and handle the most difficult applications.  The EDDY Pump allows you to pump the sand slurry at distances over 2-miles at production rates of up to 600 tons of slurry per hour or 5000 GPM.  

Optional upgrade, add liner-safe rollers, it also gives you the ability to dredge on concrete lined sumps or poly-lined reservoirs.

Below are commonly distances we see, along with a pump curve to match the details. Contact us with your exact numbers.

Distance: 5000 ft
Vertical Rise: 30 ft
Production: 3169 GPM

Equipment Used: EDDY Pump 10 Inch Excavator Attachment. Cutter Head OR Roller Wheel setup.
Excavator Type: CAT 320 or larger (or equivalent model excavator)
Optional HPU: Excavator powered attachment OR a separate Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU) will power the pump attachment.  The ideal option is based on your project requirements.