Systems and methods to strengthen sand proppant
First Claim
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1. A method of increasing the crush resistance of silica sand used as proppant to fracture hydrocarbon formations, the method including:
- washing silica sand having a preselected range of grain particle size in a washer to remove impurities;
exposing at least a portion of the washed silica sand to electromagnetic radiation for a period of time of at least thirty seconds, the electromagnetic radiation being generated from a local electromagnetic radiation source and having a frequency of between about 300 MHz and about 300 GHz;
adding the silica sand to a sand tumbler to be rotated, andtumbling the silica sand in the sand tumbler for a period of at least about five minutes.
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Abstract
Methods and systems for cost effectively transforming lower quality sands into higher quality sands for use as proppants in fracking operations. One or more of an attrition process, a microwaving process and a tumbling process, and systems therefor, are disclosed and shown to be applied to sands having inferior physical properties in order to increase the performance of those sands as proppants in hydrocarbon formation fracturing.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of increasing the crush resistance of silica sand used as proppant to fracture hydrocarbon formations, the method including:
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washing silica sand having a preselected range of grain particle size in a washer to remove impurities; exposing at least a portion of the washed silica sand to electromagnetic radiation for a period of time of at least thirty seconds, the electromagnetic radiation being generated from a local electromagnetic radiation source and having a frequency of between about 300 MHz and about 300 GHz; adding the silica sand to a sand tumbler to be rotated, and tumbling the silica sand in the sand tumbler for a period of at least about five minutes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25)
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21. A method of increasing the crush resistance of silica sand used as proppant in hydrocarbon formation fracturing, the method comprising
washing silica sand having a preselected range of grain particle size in a washer to remove impurities; - and
exposing at least a portion of the washed silica sand to electromagnetic radiation for a preselected period of time, the electromagnetic radiation being generated from a local electromagnetic radiation source and having a frequency of between about 300 MHz and about 300 GHz. - View Dependent Claims (22, 26, 27)
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Specification