(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)
() has advised that construction is underway at Ecopropp Pty Ltd’s pilot-scale proppant manufacturing plant in Queensland.
In May the company moved to acquire the unlisted developer of disruptive game changer ceramic proppants technology.
The ceramic proppant market was worth about $2.5 billion in 2013. Demand is expected to grow further.
Ecopropp has since progressed the planning and development of a pilot plant at its project site in Clontarf Queensland.
Construction of the pilot plant is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2015 with production of proppants is scheduled to commence in the second quarter of 2015.
The pilot plant is designed to validate the scalability of Ecopropp’s unique fly-ash based proppant product.
Construction Progress
External concrete works plus electrical installation and office and laboratory construction is currently underway as is the internal concrete foundation for the milling equipment.
Installation of the plant’s natural gas and LPG gas supply is scheduled for this month and the fly-ash and other raw materials to feed the plant are also due to arrive on-site this month.
The majority of long lead-time equipment items and critical technical componentry such as granulation equipment and sophisticated burners are in the process of being shipped to site with installation expected to take place in January 2015.
Ecopropp’s German-based technical team are also due on-site in early January 2015 to oversee the final stages of construction and then assume responsibility for the operation and management of the pilot plant.
Proppants
Proppants are pumped into an oil and gas well under pressure to ‘prop’ open the tiny fractures created in hydrocarbon-bearing shale rocks during fracking to allow oil and gas to flow from the ground fractures.
Traditional ceramic proppants are made from clay and/or bauxite.
Ecopropp’s proppants are made from fly-ash a by-product of coal fired power stations. This is stronger lighter and expected to have lower manufacturing cost than comparable products.
Hydraulic fracturing has been responsible for the shale oil and gas boom in the U.S.
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