Dry air classification delivers 91.6% frac sand yield from local dunes in Abu Dhabi
A four-unit Aerograder C100 air classification plant with a combined capacity of 260 TPH was commissioned in Abu Dhabi in May 2026 for a major oil and gas services operator. It strips minus 200 mesh fines from local dune and silica sand ahead of dry screening, delivering a 91.6% mass yield with residual fines at 0.94%, comfortably inside the 1% frac sand specification ceiling, and opening the door to locally sourced proppant across the GCC.
Proppant for hydraulic fracturing must be supplied in tight 20/40, 40/70 and 70/140 mesh size ranges, with minus 200 mesh (75 μm) fines held below 1%. Operators in Abu Dhabi have historically imported frac sand from North America and India, paying ocean freight, port handling and inland trucking for a high landed cost.
Local dune and silica sand resources are abundant but variable and fine-rich. When ultrafines are not stripped before the multi-deck dry screens, particles blind screen apertures, misplaced material erodes throughput and fines push product over the 1% specification ceiling. Water scarcity and regulatory scrutiny of tailings facilities make a dry pre-treatment route essential.
CFlo commissioned a dry air-classification plant using four Aerograder C100-class units in parallel, rated 4 × 65 TPH for a combined 260 TPH. Rather than one oversized shell, capacity was scaled by paralleling moderately sized units, preserving separation sharpness, holding energy intensity per tonne, keeping the plant running at reduced rate if one unit is offline, and sharing common spares.
The classifiers discharge a graded, fines-free coarse product to multi-deck dry screens that produce the 20/40, 40/70 and 70/140 bands. The cut was achieved on a feed concentrated below 30 mesh (600 μm), a tighter band than conventional dedusting duties and a more demanding case for the classifier. The separated fines stream has commercial value in brick-making, cementitious blends and filler markets.
The demonstrated median cut (d50) was approximately 325 mesh (40 μm), which is why the minus 200 mesh fines were stripped so cleanly. Across the one-week commissioning campaign, product fines stayed at or below 1% irrespective of feed rate, from 50 TPH to the 65 TPH per-unit design point, in single-unit and parallel operation and across both fan-duty set points, validating the capacity-by-replication design philosophy.
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