Air lifting sand
AssigneeSio Silica Coporation
InventorsBrent Randal Bullen, Laura Amanda Weeden
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for extracting sand from an underground sandstone formation. The apparatus comprising: a conduit having an upper end and a lower end to engage a sandstone formation, a gas injection line to inject gas at an injection point, wherein the gas injected at the injection point generates a low pressure region at the lower end to draw a sand slurry from the sandstone formation, and a collection port proximate to the upper end of the conduit wherein the sand slurry in the conduit is to be removed. The method comprising: lowering a pipe and air injection line into a sandstone formation, injecting air into the pipe to create a low pressure region at a lower end of the pipe to draw a sand slurry from the formation, and collecting the sand slurry at a collection port.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- lowering a lower end of a pipe into a sandstone formation;
- injecting air into the pipe proximate to the lower end to generate a low pressure region at the lower end to draw a sand slurry from the sandstone formation;
- and
- collecting the sand slurry at a collection port proximate to an upper end of the pipe.
An apparatus comprising:
- a conduit having a lower end and an upper end, wherein the lower end is to engage a sandstone formation, and wherein the lower end is opposite the upper end;
- a gas injection line to inject gas at an injection point proximate to the lower end, wherein the gas injected at the injection point generates a low pressure region at the lower end to draw a sand slurry from the sandstone formation;
- and
- a collection port proximate to the upper end of the conduit, wherein the sand slurry in the conduit is to be removed from the conduit via the collection port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.