Method of Delivering, Transporting, and Storing Proppant for Delivery and Use at a Well Site
First Claim
1. A method of loading and transporting proppant, the method comprising:
- a) positioning a plurality of empty proppant containers, each located on a respective proppant transport road vehicle, in close proximity to a rail spur so that each of the plurality of empty proppant containers underlies a source of proppant received from rail cars on the rail spur, each of the plurality of empty containers including at least a first end surface and at least a second different end surface and each of the first and second end surfaces having a plurality of upright structural support members thereon to enhance integrity of the container for stacking and so that heavy weight from the proppant can be stored therein;
b) filling the plurality of empty proppant containers with proppant thereby to produce a plurality of proppant filled containers;
c) transferring the plurality of proppant filled containers with one or more proppant transporting road vehicles to a drill site; and
d) unloading each of the plurality of proppant filled containers with an unloader.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of delivering proppant to a well site has the steps of transporting a load of proppant in a vessel to a desired location, moving the load of proppant from the vessel into a container so as to create a proppant-loaded container, unloading the proppant-loaded container into a pneumatic bulk trailer, and transporting the unloaded proppant in the pneumatic bulk trailer to well site. The container is placed onto a bed of a truck and moved in proximity to the vessel. The proppant-loaded container is placed onto a tilting mechanism and then tilted so that the proppant is discharged through a flow gate of a container into a hopper. The proppant in the hopper can then be conveyed to the pneumatic bulk trailer.
6 Citations
6 Claims
-
1. A method of loading and transporting proppant, the method comprising:
-
a) positioning a plurality of empty proppant containers, each located on a respective proppant transport road vehicle, in close proximity to a rail spur so that each of the plurality of empty proppant containers underlies a source of proppant received from rail cars on the rail spur, each of the plurality of empty containers including at least a first end surface and at least a second different end surface and each of the first and second end surfaces having a plurality of upright structural support members thereon to enhance integrity of the container for stacking and so that heavy weight from the proppant can be stored therein; b) filling the plurality of empty proppant containers with proppant thereby to produce a plurality of proppant filled containers; c) transferring the plurality of proppant filled containers with one or more proppant transporting road vehicles to a drill site; and d) unloading each of the plurality of proppant filled containers with an unloader. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6)
-
-
4. The method of 1, wherein the one or more proppant transporting road vehicles comprises a plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles, and wherein the method further comprises:
staging the plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles so that each of the plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles receives one or more of the plurality of proppant filled containers, delivers the container away from the rail spur, thereby increasing the efficiency with which proppant is transferred by the plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles.
Specification