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Frac Sand Pumps for Mining, Blending & Transfer
With all sand and aggregate production, the key metric for producers is to operate while controlling the cost per ton. EDDY frac sand pumps move abrasive proppant at 40–70% solids by volume with no critical tolerances to wear out — a wear-resistant fracking pump alternative that cuts maintenance and downtime.
What Is a Frac Sand Pump?
A frac sand pump is a heavy-duty slurry pump that moves frac sand, the abrasive proppant used in hydraulic fracturing, as a water-sand slurry during mining, processing, and blending. It is different from the high-pressure positive displacement pumps that inject fluid downhole: frac sand pumps handle the transfer and feed side, where sand erosion destroys conventional centrifugal pumps.
EDDY frac sand pumps use a patented open rotor with no critical tolerances, so they survive the proppant transfer duty that wears out centrifugal impellers — moving up to 1,200 tons of material per hour.
See How EDDY Pumps Are Better
Slurry and Fly Ash Video
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Frac Sand Pumping
Frac Sand Pump Applications:
- Mining the Frac Sand
- Frac Blending Rigs
- Discharging the Frac Sand
- Frac Sand Pumping Equipment
Frac Sand Mining
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.
Call for sales or support
If you need assistance with pump selection, sales or engineering support, call 619-404-1916.
Frac Sand Transport
Frac Sand Blender Pumps & Blending Rigs
Once the frac sand has been loaded into the rig hopper (featured in the image), it is then conveyed into an onboard tank where chemicals and other additives are added to the frac sand and thoroughly mixed to a slurry-like state to prepare it for hydraulic fracking. Once the sand is fully blended and ready, it then needs to be pumped to the next station which utilizes high-pressure piston pumps to force the sand mixture into boreholes at extremely high pressures to crack open subterranean rocks and fissures. This transport process is where the EDDY Pump shines.
In this image, frac sand is being introduced into the hopper of the frac sand blending rig, ready to begin the process of hydraulic fracking.
Frac sand is being poured into the hopper of the blending rig to begin the process. The sand is then conveyed into a tank that mixes and blends with chemicals and other additives before being ready for hydraulic fracking.
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.
Frac Sand Pump Capacity and Specifications
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Production rate (sand) | Up to 1,200 tons of material per hour |
| Flow rate | Up to 7,000 GPM |
| Head | 200+ ft |
| Solids by volume | 40–70% frac sand |
| Transfer distance | Over 2 miles (with booster pumps for longer runs) |
| Drive options | Electric, hydraulic, or direct diesel |
| Materials | High chrome volute and rotor; resists corrosive fracking chemicals |
Efficient Frac Pumping
Using the EDDY Pump to Transport and Discharge Frac Sand
The advantage of pumping frac sand with the EDDY Pump’s innovative frac pump design is that it starts with cleaning the fine grains instead of using conventional conveying as with most frac pumps. NO wasted movement with a hauler, just a steady flow of sand.
By utilizing the EDDY Pump through various deployments, manpower is decreased and your production significantly goes up when compared to a conventional frac pump. This saves large frac mining plants millions of dollars a year, creating massive cost savings .
A closer look at the eroded impeller of a centrifugal pump after pumping high abrasives. Due to the close tolerances of the impeller on this frac pump, it cannot handle abrasive material nearly as well as the EDDY Pump, resulting in frequent maintenance and repair.
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
Frac Sand Equipment
EDDY Pump Frac Sand Equipment
EDDY Pump’s equipment for pumping is ideally designed for the tough conditions of frac sand mining. EDDY Pump’s dredging equipment can be configured in many ways in order to optimize the frac sand retrieval.
Excavator Dredge Pump Attachment
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
Autonomous Dredge Solution
Autonomous ModDredge
Most dredges pump water. The Autonomous ModDredge pumps 30–70% solids by weight, versus the 10–20% typical of cutter suction dredges. That means more material moved per hour, fewer truckloads, and smaller containment. Combined with modular shipping and shore-based control, operators see up to 70% lower mobilization cost and 30–60% lower operating cost per cubic yard moved.
Cable-Deployed Dredge System
Cable-Deployed Pump
Patented Frac Pump
Fracking Pumps
The EDDY Pump’s patented open rotor design is optimal for fracking. It can be configured either electrically, hydraulically or directly driven off a diesel engine. Production rates of up to 7,000 GPM can be achieved with a head of over 200-ft. This is all achieved at a total life-cycle cost that is significantly less than any fracking pump on the market. The high chrome volute and rotor allows the pump to last significantly longer in a fracture pumping application. It also allows it to resist the corrosive fracking chemicals that are used while pumping.
Searching for a fracking pump manufacturer? EDDY Pump engineers and builds every unit in the USA - request a frac pump performance curve for your duty point.
Custom pumps are our specialty. Pump Info Here.
Custom Pump Solutions
Questions?
Tell us about your project. See the custom pump curve page and we can start the first step of a quote to determine if your project is a fit for our equipment. Contact Us Here
Frac Sand Processing
Frac Sand Pumping Scenario
Applications: Frac Sand Processing Pits
The purpose of this page is to identify your application and learn more about an equipment solution to meet your needs. These are the most common sand and aggregate applications that we use our equipment for. We are the OEM for the tools shown.
Application: Frac Sand Processing (water required)
Material: Frac Sand
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.
Ash Pumping Projects
Frac Sand Pumping Photos
Photos of recent ash pumping projects. Power plans and ash slurry ponds are the primary clients of EDDY Pump.
EDDY Pump Advantages
Why EDDY Pumps Are Better – Highlights
This video shows how EDDY Pump beats out traditional centrifugal pumps when it comes to tough slurry and abrasive materials. EDDY Pump is the at the heart of all of our featured dredge pump equipment including the Remote Operated Subdredge, Diver Operated Pump and a Excavator Attachment Dredge Pump.
Call for sales or support
If you need assistance with pump selection, sales or engineering support, call 619-404-1916.
Talk To About Any Question?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a frac pump?
A frac pump is any pump used in hydraulic fracturing operations. The term covers two types: high-pressure positive displacement pumps that inject fracturing fluid downhole, and frac sand pumps — slurry pumps that mine, transfer, and feed abrasive proppant to the blender. EDDY Pump builds the second type.
How does a frac pump work?
High-pressure frac pumps force blended fluid into the wellbore with reciprocating pistons. Frac sand transfer pumps work differently: EDDY pumps create a synchronized eddy current with an open rotor, moving sand-water slurry at up to 40–70% solids without the tight tolerances that abrasive sand erodes.
How does a sand pump work?
A sand pump moves sand suspended in water as a slurry. Suction pulls the sand-water mixture into the pump, and the rotor or impeller adds energy to push it through a pipeline. Sand requires wear-resistant design — EDDY pumps use a recessed high chrome rotor that sand never directly strikes.
What pump is best for frac sand?
For transferring abrasive frac sand, a high chrome, open-rotor slurry pump outperforms standard centrifugal designs, which erode quickly. The EDDY frac sand pump moves up to 1,200 tons per hour and tolerates 40–70% solids, with far longer wear life than close-tolerance impeller pumps.
Can centrifugal pumps handle frac sand?
Briefly, but at high cost. Frac sand erodes close-tolerance centrifugal impellers quickly, forcing frequent rebuilds and downtime. That is why frac sand operations increasingly use open-rotor designs like the EDDY Pump for transfer duty, reserving centrifugal and piston pumps for clean-fluid stages.
Can EDDY pumps move dry frac sand?
No — EDDY pumps move sand as a slurry. The sand needs at least one to two feet of water on top to create a pumpable sand slurry. For dry sand handling, conveyors or pneumatic systems are used; once water is available, EDDY pumps take over for transfer at distances over two miles.
Can I rent a frac sand pump?
Yes. EDDY Pump offers rental packages for frac sand and dredging projects, including excavator pump attachments and cable-deployed pumps, with engineering support. Rentals suit single-season pit projects; high-utilization operations usually buy as the lifecycle cost is lower.
What equipment is used for frac sand mining?
Frac sand mining equipment includes excavator dredge pump attachments, autonomous dredges for 24/7 pit pumping, cable-deployed pumps for crane sites, booster pumps for long pipelines, and blender feed pumps. EDDY Pump manufactures all of these as the OEM.
HD (Heavy Duty) Slurry Pumps / Dredge Equipment