Proppant Producers

Borden Chemicals 180 E. Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43215-3799, USA Telephone +1 (614) 225-4127 E-mail anschutzda bordenchem.com URL http //www.bordenchem.com/ - Diamond Flex - Econo Flex- AcFrac CR - AcPack - SB Prime - PR-6000 - SB-Excel - PR-6000 - CR-4000 

Santrol P.O. Box 639,2727 FM 521, Fresno, TX 77545, USA Telephone +1 (281) 431-0670 Fax +1(281) 431-0044 E-mail sales santrol.com URL http //www.santrol.com/ AcFrac Black - Tempered HS - Tempered DC - Tempered LC - Tempered TF - Super HS - Super LC - Super TF- Super DC 

Fairmount Minerals Chardon, OH, USA E-mail sales fairmountminerals.com URL http //www.fairmount-minerals.com/ Ottawa sand 

Oglebay Norton Industrial Sands Phoenix Office, Suite 320,410 North 44th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85008, USA Telephone +1 (602) 389-4399 Fax +1 (602) 389-4389 URL http //www.oglebaynorton.com/ Brady sand 

Unimin Corp. 258 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT 06840-5300, USA Telephone (800) 243-9004 Fax (800) 243-9005 Jordan sand 

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All ceramic proppant producers use as feedstock essentially bauxite and, to a lesser extent, other industrial minerals with a high alumina content such as kaolin, nepheline syenite, wollastonite, talc, and feldspars. The final spherical shape is obtained by several processing routes currently used in the ceramics industry for producing beads and other particulate materials. The most common of these processes are pelletizing and sintering, atomization, fire polishing, and flame spraying. 

To carry proppant material into the fracture to create a conductive path for produced fluids... 

After the completion of the fracturing treatment, the fluid viscosity should decrease to allow the placement of the proppant and a rapid fluid return through the fracture. It is important to control the time at which the viscosity break occurs. In addition, the degraded polymer should produce little residue to restrict the flow of fluids through the fracture. 

The flowback of a proppant following fracture stimulation treatment is a major concern because of the damage to equipment and loss in well production. The mechanisms of flowback and the methods to control flowback have been recently discussed in the literature [ 1343]. To reduce proppant flow-back, a curable resin-coated proppant can be applied [1349]. The agent must be placed across the producing interval to prevent or reduce the proppant flowback. 

B. Dewprashad. Method of producing coated proppants compatible with oxidizing gel breakers. Patent US 5420174, 1995. 

Proppant (trade name, producer) Particle size distribution (mesh) Bulk and pycnometer densities (p/kg.m ) Crushed fraction (wt.%) Weight loss HCl-HF 60°C (/wt.%) Weight loss boiling water (wt.%) Permeability (121°C) (k/D) Conductivity (121°C) (k/D-ft) Roundness index (RI) Sphe- ricity Price (US / tonne)... 

Proppants, usually composed of sand and occasionally glass beads, prop or hold fissures open, allowing gas to flow out of the cracked formation. An ideal proppant should produce maximum permeability in a fracture. Fracture permeabUity is a function of proppant grain roundness, proppant purity, and crush strength. Larger proppant volumes allow for wider fractures, which facilitate more rapid flowback to the production well. Over a period of 30 minutes, 4500 to 15,000 gal of fracturing fluid will typically transport and place approximately 11,000 to 25,000 lb of proppant into the fracture (Powell et al., 1999). 

In addition to scale particles, produced water often contains other suspended solids. These include formation sand and clays, stimulation (fracturing) proppant, or miscellaneous corrosion products. The amount of suspended solids is generally small unless the well is producing from an unconsolidated formation, in which case large volumes of sand can be produced. Produced sand is often oil wet and its disposal is a problem. Sand removal is discussed in a later subsection entitled "Equipment Description" under Section 3.6. 

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