A large frac sand plant in San Antonio, Texas operates around the clock, loading an average of 15,000 tons per day and producing over 3 million tons per year. Frac sand, a high-quality quartz sand, is critical to hydraulic fracturing for the production of natural gas and oil.

Uniform in shape and highly resistant to crushing, frac sand is produced from high-purity silica sand deposits– requiring a specialized process with strict specifications. After extraction, raw silica sand undergoes wet processing to remove impurities. The sand is then sorted by size, crushed, dried, screened for classification, and tested before being packaged for distribution. Critical to this process, bucket elevators are used throughout the plant to move material vertically–regularly exposing mounted bearings to the abrasive, fine silica material.

Competitive split bearings were used at the seventh inch diameter head shafts, which required complicated on-site assembly and lubrication–making contamination upon installation inevitable. The bearings failed every 4 months, leading to costly unplanned downtime and lost production.