Micromesh Ceramic Proppant for High-Stress Microfractures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing proppants, such as silica sand and ceramic materials, fail to maintain mechanical strength in deep wells due to crushing under high closure stress, necessitating a proppant with high mechanical strength and abrasive characteristics.
Innovation Solution
A micromesh proppant is produced by forming a slurry of ceramic material, drying and sintering pellets, and breaking them to achieve particles with sizes ranging from 150 to 500 mesh and a crush strength of 1% to 20% at 7,500 psi, using materials like kaolin and bauxite.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If 100 mesh sand and smaller is used for abrasion purposes and forming microfractures, then abrasive characteristics are improved, but mechanical strength deteriorates and the proppant breaks easily under high closure stress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite proppant structure by coating ceramic particles with a binder material. The ceramic core provides hardness and abrasive characteristics, while the binder material provides mechanical strength and resistance to crushing. This composite structure allows the proppant to maintain both abrasive properties and mechanical strength simultaneously, resolving the contradiction between particle size/abrasiveness and structural integrity under stress.
2Volume of moving object
If proppant size is reduced to form microfractures, then fracture width is improved, but proppant crush strength deteriorates under high closure stress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials with a ceramic core and binder coating to maintain crush strength in reduced-size particles. The ceramic core retains hardness and abrasive properties even at small sizes, while the binder material provides structural support that prevents premature crushing, enabling microfracture formation without sacrificing strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical and chemical parameters of the proppant by using sintered ceramic particles with specific pore structures and binder materials with optimized mechanical properties. This allows the proppant to achieve both small particle size for microfractures and high crush strength through controlled sintering and binder selection.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The micromesh proppant effectively props open microfractures in deep wells, maintaining production rates by resisting crushing under high stress.
Implementation Method 1
drying the droplets to form pellets
Implementation Method 2
sintering the pellets to form sintered pellets
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a micromesh proppant for use in hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells. In one embodiment, a process for forming proppant particles includes providing a slurry comprising a ceramic raw material containing alumina, atomizing the slurry into droplets, coating seeds comprising alumina with the droplets to form green pellets, sintering the green pellets to form sintered pellets, and breaking the sintered pellets to form proppant particles comprising a sintered ceramic material and having a size of from about 150 mesh to about 500 mesh and a crush strength at 7,500 psi of from about 1% to about 20%. In one embodiment, a proppant particle includes a sintered ceramic material and having a size of from about 150 mesh to about 500 mesh and a crush strength at 7,500 psi of from about 1% to about 20%.