Research and Development, Operations Support, Quality Control
Calfrac’s state-of-the-art, purpose-built laboratory at the Technology and Training Centre in Calgary, Alberta is competitive with any operation of its kind in the pressure-pumping sector. This unique facility houses a wide range of highly trained engineers, chemists, and technologists who:
- Perform research and development (R&D) to develop new technologies as well as continually improving Calfrac’s existing fracturing fluids, cement blends, and various other product line chemistries;
- Provide support in-house and on-site to Calfrac’s field operations through testing field samples and trouble-shooting issues at the well site; and
- Perform quality control on every lot of Calfrac chemicals before they are shipped to field operations – a unique level of attention to detail.
The laboratory at the Technology and Training Centre is an extremely well-equipped facility with state-of-the-art equipment that allows Calfrac to provide exceptional customer service. Equipment utilized daily includes:
- Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Analyzer – Can identify up to 73 elements in a given field sample, allowing us to create a detailed fingerprint of the fluids we work with, provide quality control of product line samples and perform analysis of field samples;
- Friction Flow Loop – Enables testing, quantifying and developing improved friction-reducing chemistries;
- Dynamic Tube Block – Allows for the prediction, evaluation and treatment of the scale produced by the waters used for hydraulic fracturing;
- Brookfield Rheometers – Measure and help us optimize the viscosity and break profiles of various high-viscosity fluids used in day-to-day field operations;
- Full-scale high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) cement lab;
- Acid Corrosion Cells – Allow us to evaluate and tailor our acid packages to prevent corrosion; and
- Automated instrumentation – Used for analytical evaluation of chemistries that go into our product lines.
Calfrac typically performs comprehensive R&D, testing and quality control based on our evaluation of the reservoir and downhole conditions before beginning our operations in a new area.
These unique capabilities are all part of Calfrac’s customer-centric approach. We don’t just provide materials and fluids – we offer a wide range of custom-engineered solutions to each individual challenging well completion scenario. Our never-ending goal is to deliver consistent success to our customers.
