Proppant Manufacturing from Drill Cuttings via Flame Spheroidization
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing demand for proppants in hydrofracturing has led to rising costs due to the use of conventional raw materials like Brady and Ottawa White sands, kaolin, and bauxite, while drilling cuttings, a common byproduct, are typically discarded, posing environmental and safety risks.
Innovation Solution
A method to manufacture proppants from drilling cuttings by separating, cleaning, and pulverizing them, followed by forming pellets that are then melted and solidified in a flame drop tower to create spherical proppants, which can withstand high pressures and provide adequate conductivity for hydrofracturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional raw materials (Brady and Ottawa White sands, kaolin, and bauxite) are used to manufacture proppants, then proppant quality and performance are ensured, but production costs increase rapidly due to increasing demand
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameters by using drilling cuttings (a waste byproduct) instead of conventional raw materials. The drilling cuttings are processed through pulverizing, classifying, and sintering to achieve the required proppant strength and physical properties, thereby reducing material costs while maintaining performance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts drilling cuttings, which are typically discarded as waste and pose environmental hazards, into valuable proppant material. This transforms a harmful waste disposal problem into a beneficial resource that reduces both production costs and environmental impact
2Ease of manufacture
If drilling cuttings are discarded as waste, then production costs for conventional materials remain manageable, but environmental and safety risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of discarding drilling cuttings as waste, the patent recovers and reprocesses them into useful proppant material. The cuttings are separated from drilling fluid, dried, pulverized, classified, and sintered to create high-quality proppants, thereby eliminating waste disposal issues and environmental hazards
3Ease of manufacture
If drilling cuttings are used as proppant material, then production costs decrease and waste is utilized, but the material must be processed through multiple steps to achieve required strength and conductivity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the processing into distinct stages: separation of cuttings from drilling fluid, drying to remove moisture, pulverizing to reduce particle size, classifying to separate by size, and sintering to achieve required strength. This systematic segmentation makes the complex processing manageable and efficient
Solution Approach 2:
The sintering process serves multiple functions simultaneously: it binds the pulverized particles together to create strength, removes remaining hydrocarbons through thermal decomposition, and achieves the required physical properties for proppant performance, thereby reducing the need for separate processing steps
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
This approach reduces production costs, utilizes abundant waste materials, and produces proppants with the necessary strength and conductivity for hydrofracturing, while also offering an environmentally beneficial recycling solution.
Implementation Method 1
melting the plurality of pellets inside the flame drop tower, producing a plurality of liquefied pellets
Implementation Method 2
solidifying the plurality of liquefied pellets into a proppant
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides methods and techniques for manufacturing proppant or lost circulation material from drilling cuttings. In an example embodiment, a method for manufacturing proppant or lost circulation material from drilling cuttings includes obtaining solid drilling cuttings from drilling fluid, removing any remaining hydrocarbon from the solid drilling cuttings, and rending the solid drilling cuttings into a powder form. The method further includes using the powdered drilling cuttings as raw material in a proppant or lost circulation material manufacturing process. In an example embodiment, the proppant or lost circulation material manufacturing process can be sintering or flame spheroidization.