LWP reports positive results from fly-ash test at Brisbane pilot plant
BRISBANE -- Oil & Gas technology company, LWP Technologies Limited, is pleased to report very positive results from the ongoing fly-ash test work being undertaken at the Company’s Brisbane-based pilot plant.
LWP’s Research & Development (R&D) team has been testing Queensland-sourced fly-ash at the pilot plant with laboratory results showing very positive results, which further validate LWP’s path to commercializing cost effective, fly-ash based proppants for use in oil & gas hydraulic fracturing.
To date, LWP has been primarily focused on competing in the ceramic proppants market, however, the ability to deliver a superior product and compete on price with imported mined frac sand gives LWP access to a large portion of the proppants market not previously envisaged.
The focus is on developing proppants using minimal bauxite to compete in Australian markets where mined frac sand is often imported. The high transport and logistics costs of importing frac sand to Australia from the U.S. provides an excellent opportunity for an LWP licensee to manufacture and sell a far superior product at a similar price point to mined frac sand.
Further, the more that proppants are handled during the transportation and handling process, the more proppants degrade, which may result in the proppants received at the unconventional oil and gas well bearing little resemblance to the proppants that left the mine gate, and may contain more than the 10% fines specified as the maximum allowable in the API and ISO standards.
Potential end users have shown keen interest in being able to obtain pristine, spherical proppants that conform to the API and ISO standards, provided they are available at a price point that was competitive with mined frac sand.
The primary objectives for LWP’s R&D team has been to:
1. Formulate a financial model to evaluate whether LWP proppants are able to be manufactured at a price point to compete with imported mined sand proppants.
The financial model indicates that proppants made from Australian fly-ash are able to be locally produced for less than the transportation and handling costs of importing frac sand proppants mined in the USA. The profit margin should be attractive to a potential licensee.
2. Optimize the proppant mix design to minimize bauxite required (a high cost input item) to achieve a minimum 6,000 psi proppant, as 6,000 Psi is significantly higher in compressive strength than most mined frac sand proppants delivered to Australian unconventional oil and gas wells.
The in-house test results outlined below confirm that this objective has been not only achieved, but exceeded.
3. Determine the maximum compressive strength ceramic proppants achievable using Australian fly-ash with 10% bauxite or less in the mix design. The R&D team is confident that given further time for optimization, the proppants produced in the pilot plant will achieve even higher compressive strength proppants.
That the Company’s technology can be adjusted/modified to take advantage of proppant markets where the primary proppant costs are for transportation and handling, using the same fly-ash resource bodes well for the Company’s prospects.
