Abstract
A new pregel blender is being developed to continuously mix dry gel on the fly for fracturing treatments. Specifically, this system can either continuously mix dry gel at the job concentra-tion the operator selects, or mix a liquid concentrate that is later diluted to the required final job concentration. A holding tank is provided to hydrate gels for both modes of operation.
The proposed system has several major economic and environ-mental advantages over previously designed preblenders. Not only should it provide a gel quality comparable to a liquid gel concentrate (LGC), but it will not require diesel and/or the other chemicals required to make LGCs. As a result, the system should save time and expense over LGC processes and conven-tional batch-mixing, while being safe to use in environmentally sensitive areas.
