Client:

Founded over 100 years ago, this customer has about 50,000 employees in over 80 countries. For this case, we worked with their Mega-Camp in the Eagle Ford Shale operating 10 Frac Fleets.

Key Outcomes:

Delivered smaller and more precise shots of lubrication more frequently
Increased packing life
Expanded reservoir capacity
Minimized refill intervals, human touches, and time in the Red Zone
Evolved the hydraulic fracturing client to continuous production pumping practice by enlarging the capacity 650%
Maintained desired performance and reliability with zero component failures over the course of a year

Location: Eagle Ford Shale
Date: Jan. to Dec. 2019
Product: Spitzer FlowMaster Packing Lube System
Reservoir Capacity: 60 lb.
System Driver: 24 VDC Electric Motor
System Type: Centro-Matic
Application: Reciprocating Plunger Seal Packing on a Trailer Mounted Frac Pump

Overview:

Hydraulic fracturing has evolved into a continuous production situation with rigorous demands on the equipment used and the personnel involved. Our client was experiencing field performance issues throughout their Frac Fleet with their packing lubrication system. Specifically, the previous system was designed to discontinue flow of lubricant to the fluid end upon failure of one packing point. As the fracing industry evolved and the hours of operation increased, the maintenance time of the systems also increased proportionately. Furthermore, the customer struggled with frequent refilling of the small reservoir. This limitation created risk of introducing contamination into the reservoirs and concern of safety hazards with operators in the Red Zone. The goal was to improve system reliability and design that would enhance packing life and uptime performance, while reducing the number of human touches.

Recommendations and Implementations:

Advocated a large (60 lb. capacity) single line parallel system
Exceptional performance in harsh and severe environments
Developed a filtration system on the reservoir lubricant fill port to combat contamination when refilling
90% of lube system failures could be attributed to contamination or impurities
Engineered lubrication rates for increased efficiency
Delivered smaller, precise shots of lubricant, more frequently
Installed and commissioned custom systems in three (3) hours per frac pump
Four (4) frac pumps were equipped with the Spitzer FlowMaster Packing Lube System
Commenced a 365-day field test of the Spitzer FlowMaster Packing Lube System
Pumped from the “dirty” side of the frac manifold
Served in numerous Zipper Fac’s in the Eagle Ford
Performed frequent system validation checks to monitor success
Partnership with the client enabled the packing life to be tracked over the course of a year

Results:

Increased average packing life from 50 to 130 stages on pumps working dirty side of the manifold
Delivered lubricant more frequently in smaller dosages
Created independent operating metering valves for continuous lubrication to all points in the system, should blockages occur
Expanded the reservoir capacity eight (8) times than previous reservoir
Decreased the frequency in refill from once every shift to every five (5) days
Mitigated contamination through filtration resulting in zero component failures to date
Constructed a rugged solution that has lasted over a year in some of the harshest environments
Achieved the return on investment in less than one year, based solely on packing life