Ceramic proppant and method for producing same

• US 10,442,738 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2017
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: <<Nika-Petrotech>> Limited Liability Company
• Original Assignee: <<Nika-Petrotech>> Limited Liability Company
• Inventors: Rusinov, Pavel Gennadievich, Balashov, Aleksey Vladimirovich
• Primary Examiner(s): Runyan, Silvana C
• Application Number:
  US16/072,570
• Publication Number:
  US 20190031568A1
• Time in Patent Office: 979 Days
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3274 Ferrites
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/3418 Silicon oxide, silicic acids, or oxide forming salts thereof, e.g. silica sol, fused silica, silica fume, cristobalite, quartz or flint glass constituents C04B2235/36
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/349 Clays, e.g. bentonites, smectites such as montmorillonite, vermiculites or kaolines, e.g. illite, talc or sepiolite
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/658 Atmosphere during thermal treatment
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/661 Multi-step sintering
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/77 Density
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/80 Phases present in the sintered or melt-cast ceramic products other than the main phase
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2235/96 Properties of ceramic products, e.g. mechanical properties such as strength, toughness, wear resistance
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/195 Alkaline earth aluminosilicates, e.g. cordierite or anorthite
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/20 rich in magnesium oxide , e.g. forsterite C04B35/195 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/2625 containing magnesium
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/62655 Drying, e.g. freeze-drying, spray-drying, microwave or supercritical drying
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/6268 characterised by the applied pressure or type of atmosphere, e.g. in vacuum, hydrogen or a specific oxygen pressure
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/62695 Granulation or pelletising devices for shaping artificial aggregates from ceramic mixtures B28B1/004
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/64 Burning or sintering processes C04B33/32 takes precedence ; powder metallurgy B22F
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 35/82 Asbestos; Glass; Fused silica
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 8/80 Compositions for reinforcing fractures, e.g. compositions of proppants used to keep the fractures open
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/26 by forming crevices or fractures

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a ceramic proppant, including a step for preparing an original charge material, involving the grinding of source materials, particularly magnesium-containing materials, and auxiliary materials, thus producing a charge material, granulating the charge material so as to produce granules of a proppant precursor, and firing the granules of proppant precursor, thus producing proppant granules, wherein the method includes a step for pre-firing the magnesium-containing material in a reducing atmosphere. The invention also relates to a ceramic proppant produced via the indicated method.

Claims

1. A method for producing a ceramic proppant, comprising steps of:

a) pre-firing source materials, said source materials comprising magnesium-containing material, in a furnace having an atmosphere with an oxygen content of 0.001 to 5 weight percent, said atmosphere being maintained by introducing a carbon-containing additive,

(b) preparation of a charge material, said preparation of the charge material including grinding said pre-fired source materials with auxiliary materials;

(c) granulating the charge material to produce proppant precursor granules; and

(d) firing the proppant precursor granules to produce proppant granules.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pre-firing step is carried out at a temperature from about 900°

C. to about 1100°

C.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step (b) of preparing the charge material comprises co-grinding the magnesium-containing material and the auxiliary material.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step (b) of preparing the charge material further comprises mixing ground source materials with water to form a slurry, and drying and grinding the slurry to obtain the charge material.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising fractionation of the proppant granules.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising drying and fractionation of the proppant precursor granules.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the atmosphere has an oxygen content of less than 3 wt %.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the carbon-containing additive comprises natural gas, coal, charred coal, or mixtures thereof.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pre-firing step (a) is carried out in shaft furnaces.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the magnesium-containing material is a material based on a magnesium silicate selected from peridotites.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step (d) of firing the magnesium-containing material proppant precursor granules is carried out at a temperature from about 1200°

C. to about 1350°

C.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary material comprises silica-containing components, including quartz sand, hydromicaceous clays, montmorillonite clays, and refractory clays.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the charge material contains 45 to 70 wt % of the magnesium-containing material.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the auxiliary materials comprise quartz sand in an amount from 30 to 55 wt % of the charge material weight and clay in an amount from 0 to 10 wt % of the charge material weight.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the proppant granules comprise enstatites with embedded magnesioferrites.

16. A ceramic proppant produced by the method according to claim 1.

17. The ceramic proppant according to claim 16, comprising an enstatite content of 50 to 80 wt % and a magnesioferrite content of 4 to 8wt %.

18. The ceramic proppant according to claim 17, wherein the enstatite is clinoenstatite.

19. The ceramic proppant according to claim 17, further comprising magnetite of 0.5 to 2 wt %.

20. A method of using the ceramic proppant according to claim 16, comprising:

providing the ceramic proppant for hydraulic fracturing of a subterranean formation.