Preparation And Properties Of Low Density Oil Fracturing Proppant With Non-metallic Minerals

As a kind of artificial ceramsite,oil proppant was calcined at high temperature using bauxite as main raw materials,followed bauxite crushed,sieved,mixed and granulated.Oil proppant presented several advantages,such as low density,high intensity,good liquidity,anti-acid,and alkali corrosion.Oil proppant could effectively improve the oil production rate and increase the well production.In this paper,oil fracturing proppant with low desification and high strength properties was prepared at high temperature,using bauxite,kaolin,tuff and bentonite non-metallic minerals as the raw material,and adding proper additives.The performance of the proppant influenced by the calcining process and additives were investigated.The main contents include the following aspects:?1?Single factor experiment method were selected to investigate the performance of the proppant varied by the raw material of aluminum silicon ratio,different additives and the dosage,calcining temperature,and calcining time.The appropriate ratio of raw material and additive dosage were determined,optimizing fabrication process.?2?Basing on the single factor experiment results,the experimental conditions were optimized and the best combinations of parameters were selected by orthogonal experiment method.The influence of calcining temperature,the dosage of additives?CaF₂ or MgO?and the interaction between these factors were studied.Moreover,the experimental conditions were investigated by using visual analysis and variance analysis.The results showed that the calcining temperature and the dosage of CaF₂ were significant factors for influencing the performance of the proppants.?3?Basing on the orthogonal experiment results,the proppant was coated by resin.The low density and high strength of modified proppant were prepared by selecting the appropriate concentration of resin,the main raw material ratio,curing temperature,and curing time.?4?The bulk density,apparent density,broken rate and spherecity,crystal phase composition,and morphology of the proppant have been measured.Favorable performance of the non-metallic low density oil fracturing proppant can be achieved through the optimized preparation conditions,including bauxite,kaolin,tuff,and bentonite proportion of 78 ? 7 ? 10 ? 5;with CaF₂ content of 1.0%;calcining temperature of 1250 ?;and calcining time of 90 min.For this sample,the bulk density was 1.548 g·cm^-3,the apparent density was 2.764 g·cm^-3,the granule strength was 46.09 N,the broken rate under the closure pressure of 52 MPa was 21.43%.Prefect performance of the resin coated proppant could be attained through the optimized preparation conditions,including the quality ration of the resin and ethanol was 1?6,the mass ratio of the resin solution and proppant was 1?5,curing temperature of 160 ?,and curing time of 30 min.For this sample,the bulk density was 1.437 g·cm^-3,the apparent density was 2.669 g·cm^-3,the granule strength was 70.72 N,the broken rate under the closure pressure of 52 MPa was 15.43%.Oil fracturing proppant with low density was prepared by static sintering at high temperature,with non-metallic as raw materials.This study provided a new way and a new method to imply the effective uses of the non-metallic mineral like kaolin,tuff,bentonite and perlite.