When trying to decide on testing services, it can be a challenge deciding just how much to spend on testing at first.
Too little of a budget, and you run the risk of not really understanding what you might have in your sample.
Too big of a budget, and if your material isn’t even close to meeting minimum specs, you have wasted a lot of money.
For those who are interested in getting testing done for frac sand, I’ve taken a lot of the guesswork out of it.
I created the “Frac Sand Initial Testing Package” to do just the minimum to find out if my clients have sand that might meet frac sand specs.
Here’s what is included in the Frac Sand Initial Testing Package:
1. We process the sand, typically washing over a wet 200 mesh sieve to remove any dirt and debris, while retaining all of the sand. Then we dry in the oven, and afterwards calculate the percent lost. This helps with figuring out how much of the material will be lost with washing, and can help estimate the value of a sand deposit.
2. We perform sieve analysis. This shows the client how much sand they have, for each typical frac sand size category (like 20/40, 30/50, 40/70, and 100 mesh, which is typically 70/140 sized sand). And we look at each fraction under a microscope, to zero in on the best material there.
3. After selecting the best size, sphericity and roundness testing is done. This compares individual grains to the ideal frac sand particle shape.
4. Bulk density is done. This is for determining how much needs to be crushed in crush testing.
5. We do initial crush testing of the sand, to see if it meets the minimum specifications to make it into the frac sand market. Crush testing is really the most objective test that we can do for your sand.
All this testing retails at $1,100. But the package knocks it down considerably, to $950. Then, if we get good results, we can go right into K value crush testing and credit the initial crush test towards that expense.
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