Just about any local business can find a niche in the natural gas industry. All it takes is a little creativity, said Seth E. Alberts, vice president of Ralph S. Alberts Co. Inc. of Montoursville.
Alberts should know. His company, which is best known for manufacturing products for amusement parks, adapted its techniques in that field to construct durable plastic well pad liners used to contain spills at drilling sites.
The liners are sprayed on at the well site using the same equipment used at the company's manufacturing plant, Alberts said.
"About 50 percent of our gross business is tied into manufacturing seating and padding devices for the amusement industry - restraints, seats, lap bars," Alberts said. "The two main ingredients in that process is a polyurethane foam and polyurea coating."
"Because of the knowledge we have with the polyurea coatings, we knew there was an application similar to what people were using for spray-on pickup truck bed liners," he said. "We've been spraying it in our manufacturing process for 40 years, so all we had to do was figure out how to make the process portable."
In order to take the process on the road, the company bought and outfitted two trailers, he said.
"We equipped them with spray equipment we've been using in-house, along with with a generator, air compressor and 400 feet of hose, which allows us to cover a large area," he said.
According to Alberts, the liners are more durable than tarps typically used by drilling companies. Because they are not prone to "bunching up" like tarps, gas well workers are less likely to trip and fall on the liners.
"By nature the spray coatings are extremely durable, yet flexible, and they are known for being resistant to a wide range of chemicals," Alberts said.
The construct the liner, a geotextile fabric similar to felt is placed on the ground.
"Then we spray our polyurea coating over top of that fabric," Alberts said.
The materials used in the coating contain no hazardous air pollutants or volatile organic compounds, Alberts said.
The application is quick, too.
"The liner can be applied or laid down in about half the time it takes to lay down a traditional tarp liner," Alberts said. "Typically, a 200-by-200 (foot) liner we can do in 3 1/2-to 4 hours."
The liner cures almost instantly, he said.
The biggest selling point of the application, however, is its ability to be reused, Alberts said.
"Even though it may be a little more expensive than a traditional tarp liner, when you want to move to a new location, we can go back in, cut the liner into sheets and relocate it," he said. "Then all we have to do it go back and seal the seam lines."
"The original liner can be reinstalled for one-fourth the cost of the initial installation," he said.
Because of its durability, the liner can save a company money in potential fines related to spills.
"You can drive a D-9 dozer or track hoe over it and not puncture the surface," Alberts said.
In the extremely rare case a liner is punctured, it can easily be repaired, Alberts said.
"We can respray a patch and reseal a liner," he said. "It self-adheres."
Alberts admitted precipitation can interfere with the application. However, temperature is not a factor, he said.
Alberts said he sits on an Energy Roundtable comprised of representatives of the local business community and the natural gas industry.
"We meet once a month and talk about how we can position local businesses in the Marcellus Shale movement along with educating the general public about what's really taking place," Alberts said. "Through that we discovered a need for primary and secondary containment liners."
After adapting the process for the field, Alberts said he put together a marketing plan and began contacting gas companies working in the Marcellus Shale.
According to Alberts, his father, company President Edward Alberts "thought it was a wonderful idea" that was a "low-risk" endeavor for the company.
"If we weren't able to be successful, we could move all the equipment in-house and use it for our manufacturing process," he said.
Two companies - Stallion Oil Field Services and American Peak Production Services - were interested in the process, he said.
"We teamed up with them for our first job," Alberts said. "They saw a large value, specifically environmental, in using these liners over the traditional tarp liners."
The application can be adapted for other processes, such as spraying foam ditch breakers, which is used to prevent ditch erosion and washouts, and insulation, Alberts said.
Aberts said his company is an example of how the Marcellus Shale can be beneficial to local businesses - even those not traditionally tied to the gas industry.
"For a small local business like ourselves, we have been busy, but not as busy as in the past," Alberts said. "Now, we're almost overwhelmingly busy."
"There are local businesses being successful doing the things they've always done, but that they've been able to relate to the gas industry," he said.
All it takes is a little creativity.
