Coretrack Ltd has commenced commissioning at its recently constructed pilot-scale proppant plant at Clontarf, near Brisbane, Queensland.
Coretrack is developing a new ceramic proppant grade based on fly-ash for use in hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells.
Construction of the pilot plant commenced in December 2014 and the fine grinding mill is now built and commissioned. Several other components have now also been completed, including installation of the plant’s external bag houses and the mixer/granulator.
The production line at the proppant pilot plant almost complete Courtesy Coretrack Ltd
Coretrack’s installed mixer/granulator ready for commissioning. Courtesy Coretrack Ltd
Final ducting, placement of kiln refractory materials, electrical hook-up plus cooling system water, and burner installation are still required prior to commissioning.
Each component of the plant will be commissioned separately, and Coretrack anticipates fly-ash and other raw material inputs (including bauxite) will be prepared and ready for start-up of proppant manufacturing by early May 2015.
The pilot plant is designed to validate the scalability of the Coretrack proppant product as a cost effective and superior alternative to the more traditional bauxite and clay-based proppants.
In a company statement, Siegfried Konig, Executive Director said: “The plant continues to rapidly advance towards completion and we are delighted that we have now commenced the commissioning phase of the project. We continue to remain on schedule to commence initial production of our unique fly-ash based proppant in the current quarter.”
Hear about Coretrack’s ceramic proppant project first hand by listening to Siegfried Konig, Executive Director, Coretrack Ltd present “Ceramic proppant development using fly ash as raw material” at IMFORMED’s Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2015, 27-29 May 2015.
On successful commissioning of the pilot plant, Coretrack plans to seek joint venture partners and/or licensing agreements to commercialise its proppant product.
“We continue to remain on schedule to commence initial production of our unique fly-ash based proppant in the current quarter.” said Siegfried Konig, Executive Director, Coretrack Ltd
Should commercial production of Coretrack’s ceramic proppant come to fruition, then this would represent the world’s only commercial scale plant producing ceramic proppants based on fly ash feedstock raw material.
Until the end of January 2015, that title was held by Oxane Materials’ Van Buren plant in Arkansas, USA. However, the company abruptly ceased operations in the New Year and closed the plant.
The move was followed by a string of announcements from the major ceramic proppant players idling production capacity in the face of falling demand owing to the oil price crash.
Coretrack’s concept is that its licensed technology would be used in satellite proppant plants established near coal-fired power plants (the source of the fly ash feedstock raw material) in proximity to shale oil and gas plays.
The notion of using a waste material such as fly ash as the main feedstock raw material is not only environmentally sound, but also contributes to cost savings in either producing/processing or procuring supplies of calcined bauxite and/or kaolin.
Learn about the latest trends and developments in proppant supply at demand at IMFORMED’s Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2015, 27-29 May 2015, presentations include:
Oil & gas market outlook
Steven Ilkay, President, Oil & Gas Advisor, USA
Oilfield minerals: supplying the market
Dave Frattaroli, Chief Commercial Officer, Unimin Energy Solutions, USA
North American proppant market supply, demand, & pricing outlook
Samir Nangia, Principal, IHS (formerly PacWest Consulting Partners), USA
Frac sand: US exploration and production – where’s it heading?
Mark Zdunczyk, Consultant Geologist, USA
Proppants from Brazil: Curimbaba Group past, present, & future
Peter Miura Nakachima, Manager Research & Development, Curimbaba Group, Brazil
Chinese ceramic proppant & oilfield chemicals: recent development, status & future
Gene Kim, CEO, AM2F Energy Inc., USA
The future of ceramic proppants in the unconventional shale market
Jack Larry, General Manager, Saint-Gobain Proppants, USA
Ashapura International: proppant development and the Indian market
Manan Shah, Manager, Ashapura International Ltd, India
Ceramic proppant development using fly ash as raw material
Siegfried Konig, Executive Director, Coretrack Ltd, Australia
Frac sand developments for the Argentinean shale gas market
Richard Spencer, President & CEO, South American Silica Corp., USA
For more information and registration details please click here.
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