Optimize labor costs, minimize emissions, and improve efficiency with the Sahara Facility Cyclone

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

High volumes of sand are typically associated with the flowback stage. This is when operators need to use sand management equipment to ensure no sand gets into the production facility and causes extensive damage. 

However, in many cases, operators still see high volumes of sand during the steady state phase as well. While the sand volume isn’t typically high enough to warrant a separate sand management vessel at each well, it’s also not low enough to not have any sand management equipment at all. Many wells during the steady state phase can produce upwards of a thousand pounds of sand per day, which needs to be removed before it reaches the production facility.

The most effective and economical way to manage sand production from wells in the steady state phase is to use the Sahara Facility Cyclone. It is ideal for production facilities that are connected to multiple wells during the steady state phase and can handle combined flow rates from dozens of wells at a time. Not only that, but this technology is truly customizable based on the needs of the client. 

In this article, we’ll show you exactly how the Sahara Facility Cyclone can help operators manage sand during the steady state phase, as well as optimize labor costs, minimize emissions, and improve overall efficiency. 

The Problem: Large amounts of sand, high labor costs, and poor operational efficiency

The Montney zone is Canada is a mountainous region with many remote locations. It’s not uncommon in this area to have well pads that have 10, 12, or more wells. One of our clients is a major producer in this area. 

Before working with EnerCorp, they had a 10-well pad in the steady state phase, with all of the wells producing about 12,000 lbs per day. Each well in the pad was set up with its own sand management vessel, and each vessel needed to be emptied once per day due to the large amount of sand produced.

Dumping this 12,000 lbs of sand from the 10 wells was an arduous and laborious task, costing the operator high labor costs. It simply wasn’t an efficient solution for the long term. 

The client approached EnerCorp to see if we could develop a solution that would help them cut costs, make their operations more efficient, and ensure no sand reached their production facility.

The solution: Custom engineered sand management solutions that consider the operator’s goals and requirements

At EnerCorp, we don’t believe in one solution for multiple problems. Our approach to sand management includes application engineering and customization because we believe that is how we can achieve the best results.

EnerCorp recently developed the Sahara Facility Cyclone, designed to manage sand from multiple wells in the steady state phase. Based on the same industry-leading technology as the Sahara Advanced Sand Cyclone, the Sahara Facility Cyclone removes virtually all sand from the production stream.

Some of the benefits of the Sahara Facility Cyclone include:

• Greater sand capture rate: The Sahara Facility Cyclone can capture sand particles as small as 50 microns, with a sand capture rate of 99.9%. 
• Fewer maintenance touchpoints: Instead of maintaining multiple sand management vessels at different locations, operators can oversee a single vessel with a single set of SOPs. 
• Less NPT for facility cleanouts: The Sahara Facility Cyclone removes erosive sand before it reaches the production facility, which means the facility doesn’t need to shut down for repairs or maintenance as often due to sand damage. 
• Lower operating costs: There are no monthly rental costs with the Sahara Facility Cyclone because it is operator owned. The cost is amortized over the life of the facility. 
• Higher flexibility: The Sahara Facility Cyclone can be moved to another facility once the original facility does not require equipment for sand mitigation. The Cyclone can be fully customized for the well pressures of the new facility. 
• Better insights: With the Sahara Facility Cyclone, operators can get clear data to quantify sand produced from the pad, enabling them to make better data-driven decisions. 
• Less HSE exposure: By minimizing sand management equipment, operators can also reduce the amount of crew on site. This protects both the personnel and the environment. 

For our client in the Montney, we custom engineered the Sahara Facility Cyclone to recover 12,000 lbs of sand per day from their 10-well pad. The team also constructed a blowdown unit for the client to create a combo complete closed loop system. This enables the client to monitor the sand in the cyclone and the blowdown unit.

With one Sahara Facility Cyclone, the client could get rid of the 10 individual sand management vessels at each well. Instead of blowing down each unit once a day, the client now only needs to blow down the Sahara Facility Cyclone once a day. 

The results: optimized labor costs, minimized emissions, and enhanced efficiency 

For our client in Canada, the customized Sahara Facility Cyclone brought a number of benefits beyond just sand management. While we were able to ensure that virtually all sand particles were removed from the production stream of the 10-well pad, we also helped the client achieve:

• 40% cost savings: The client no longer needs personnel to blow down 10 separate sand management units at 10 separate locations. Instead, just one crew is required to blow down the Sahara Facility Cyclone once a day as it had a capacity of 12,000 lbs of sand. 
• Fewer environmental releases: With a combo closed loop system and fewer leak points, the Sahara Facility Cyclone helps operators further their ESG mandates.
• Less truck traffic: Operators can further minimize emissions by reducing the amount of truck traffic due to the reduced equipment footprint. This client has reduced their truck traffic by nine times.

Improved flexibility: The Sahara Facility Cyclone is customized to the requirements of this client’s well pad, and can be left on the facility for years. If the wells stop producing sand, the Cyclone can also take on sand produced by near-by frac-hits, ensuring there is no sand entering the facility at any time.