Understanding Ceramic Proppants: Are They All Created Equal?

Saldungaray, Pablo; Palisch, Terry

doi:10.2118/164042-ms

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Pedro Saldungaray, Terry Palisch, Josh Leasure; CARBO Ceramics, Inc. to have higher strength, improved shape, optimal sieve distribution and long term durability, although not all ceramic proppant is created equal [Saldungaray 2013]. Pedro Saldungaray, Terry Palisch, Josh Leasure; CARBO Ceramics, Inc. to have higher strength, improved shape, optimal sieve distribution and long term durability, although not all ceramic proppant is created equal [Saldungaray 2013].…”

Section: Spe-177978-msmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Proppants Do More Than Hold The Fracture Open?

2015

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In the 1940's experimental fracture treatments were performed without proppant. However in most formations unpropped fractures heal quickly with no sustained benefit, and in 1947 river sand was introduced as proppant. The first evolution in proppants came in the 1950's, when river sands started to be replaced by higher quality mined sands from Illinois and Texas. This was the early recognition that employing more uniform, rounder, stronger -and ultimately more conductive proppantproduced larger production gains. From this point on efforts concentrated on improving sand performance and finding new propping materials that could cope with harsher conditions. In the 1960's, petroleum engineers incorporated walnut hulls, glass and plastic beads into frac designs. The 1970's saw the introduction of resin coated proppants and the first commercial bauxite based ceramic proppant, followed by low and intermediate density ceramics in the 1980's. However, throughout this time, proppants still served one primary purpose -to prop open the fractures and provide a conductive flowpath for hydrocarbon production.Placement of proppant deep into the formation brings a unique opportunity of conveying new functions, additional to the primary roles of keeping the frac mechanically open and providing a conductive path for production enhancement. For decades most proppant development efforts concentrated on developing proppants that could either cope with higher stress and deliver higher conductivity or improve proppant transport via lower density, while minimal effort was put in adding other functionalities. Recently it has been recognized that other functions can be incorporated into manmade proppants during the industrial manufacturing process, thereby exploiting the placement opportunity. These functions might include assuring flow in the production system, providing reservoir surveillance or monitoring fracture properties. This paper will review the latest technology developments that enable the incorporation of these functions into proppants, including how the new proppant delivered technologies permit users to cost effectively deploy additional functionalities in the initial completion of hydraulically fractured, frac-packed and gravel-packed wells. The paper will also present recent case histories of field implementations of these technologies which illustrate how these high function proppants can reduce overall operating costs, enhance production and diagnose hydraulic fractures.

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Section: Spe-177978-msmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Proppants Do More Than Hold The Fracture Open?

2015

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“…[5][6][7] The proppant should have a high resistance to the fracture closure stress after decreasing the fracturing pressure, in case that they would be crushed under a tremendous value of loading. 10,11 To maximize the fracture conductivity, the proppants are also required to be distributed uniformly inside a fracture, especially inside a fracture with a low concentration of proppants. 10,11 To maximize the fracture conductivity, the proppants are also required to be distributed uniformly inside a fracture, especially inside a fracture with a low concentration of proppants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…16,17 In addition, many kinds of literature have focused on the effects of types, shapes, size, and compositions of proppants on oil and gas flow efficiency. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Moreover, the intermediate strength ceramic proppants should be more durable than clay-based ceramic proppants and sand proppants under cyclic stresses. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Moreover, the intermediate strength ceramic proppants should be more durable than clay-based ceramic proppants and sand proppants under cyclic stresses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5,8,9 Compared with sand-based proppants, ceramic proppants have been widely used in the hydraulic fracturing industries due to its high strength and uniform size. 10,11 To maximize the fracture conductivity, the proppants are also required to be distributed uniformly inside a fracture, especially inside a fracture with a low concentration of proppants. [12][13][14][15] Meanwhile, the proppant embedment into the fracture face can occur due to an increased fracture closure pressure in a depleted reservoir or a weakened rock matrix in the water-sensitive formations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of surface wettability of ceramic proppant on oil flow performance in hydraulic fractures

Dong

Wang

2019

Energy Science & Engineering

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Ceramic proppants are critical products for holding induced fractures open and enhancing hydrogen productivity in low‐permeability reservoirs. Though the effects of proppant size and proppant type on the well productivity have been well studied in the past, the role of the proppant surface wettability in the oil flow performance has not been thoroughly investigated. To help the readers and the industries understand the wetting behavior of ceramic proppants, this research was designed to analyze the effect of the proppant wettability on the flow efficiencies of oil and water under different conditions (for example, various proppant size, water saturation, and waterflooding). Also, it was required to determine the optimal wettability of proppants in the available candidates for the enhancement of oil recovery in the hydraulic fracturing process. Results of the work indicate that the proppant wettability plays an essential role in the productivities of water and oil in tight sandstones. Compared with the same‐size oil‐wet proppants, the mixed‐wet proppants contribute to increasing the oil flow efficiency and reducing the produced volume of water. However, an increased value of proppant size can significantly enhance the oil recovery. Besides, using the oil‐wet proppants, the waterflooding phenomenon can lead to a lower oil recovery than that of the non‐water‐flooded specimen. Based on the findings of the microscopic structural characteristics of the proppant surface, a fluid channel mechanism was proposed to help understand the proppant wettability effect on the flow behaviors of oil and water. This research can provide guidance on the determination of proppants in the designs of hydraulic fracturing operations. These findings can help the reservoir engineers dealing with hydraulic fracturing better design the surface wettability of the proppants, especially for those reservoirs with a multi‐phase flow.

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“…The effects of proppant size, water content in the sandstone, and guar gum addition to the fracturing fluid have been studied with CC proppant. But, sandstones were not created equal and ceramic proppants are not made from the same materials . The effects of different sandstones on the effectiveness of oil‐wet proppant from different proppant manufacturers in promoting oil flow have not been investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of surface wetting behavior of ceramic proppant on the two‐phase flow across the interface of sandstone and fracture

Xiao

Wang

Guo

et al. 2019

Energy Science & Engineering

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The objective of this study was to gain an understanding of water‐oil two‐phase flow from sandstone reservoirs to propped hydraulic fractures. The effects of PC (code for provider) oil‐wet and water‐wet fracture proppants on the competing flow of water and oil from Parker Berea and Upper Gray Berea sandstones to proppant‐packed fractures were experimentally investigated in this study. Water and oil were simultaneously injected into core sample, and the injection volume at water breakthrough was used as a measure of phase flow efficiency. The PC oil‐wet ceramic proppants were found to have the property of attracting‐oil‐repelling‐water (AORW) effect on the water‐oil two‐phase flow from sandstones to proppant‐packed fractures. This effect is explained by the theory of oil and water channels in the sandstones. Oil‐wet proppant particles contact oil channels in the sandstone and attract oil into the fracture owing to the affinity between the oil‐wet surface and the oil in the oil channel. The AORW effect of PC oil‐wet proppant was found to drop as the water cut in the sandstone increases. This is attributed to the fact that there are more water channels in high water‐cut sandstones than in low water‐cut sandstones, reducing the chance for the oil‐wet proppant to contact oil channels and attract oil. The PC oil‐wet proppant was found to behave differently in different types of sandstones. Its AORW effect is higher in low‐permeability sandstones than in high‐permeability sandstones. This may be because there are more oil channels in low‐permeability sandstones than in high‐permeability sandstones, increasing the chance for the oil‐wet proppant to contact oil channels and attract oil.

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Understanding Ceramic Proppants: Are They All Created Equal?

Cited by 7 publications

References 8 publications

Can Proppants Do More Than Hold The Fracture Open?

Can Proppants Do More Than Hold The Fracture Open?

Effect of surface wettability of ceramic proppant on oil flow performance in hydraulic fractures

Effect of surface wetting behavior of ceramic proppant on the two‐phase flow across the interface of sandstone and fracture

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