Composition and process for pelletizing carbon-based materials for proppant and industrial applications
AssigneeCarbo Ceramics Inc.
InventorsMinjung Cho, Todd Roper, Thu Lieng
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for producing an electrically-conductive pellet includes reducing a size of a first material. The method also includes wetting the first material to produce a first slurry. The method also includes introducing the first slurry into a fluidizer to produce a first pellet. The method also includes reducing a size of a second material. The second material is an electrically-conductive material. The method also includes wetting the second material to produce a second slurry. The method also includes applying the second slurry to the first pellet.
Claims15
A method for producing a pellet, comprising:
- reducing a size of a material, wherein the material includes a blend of a clay and a coke such that the clay forms a composite network of electrically conductive domains and ceramic domains when solidified, wherein the blend has a weight ratio of coke to clay from about 1:25 to about 5:1, wherein the clay includes one or more of kaolin, bauxite, and alumina;
- wetting the material with water and alginate to produce a slurry;
- and
- flowing the slurry through a nozzle to produce a droplet of the slurry, the droplet falling into a solution to solidify the slurry into a pellet, wherein the pellet has an electrical conductivity of about 100 S/m to about 4000 S/m.
A method for producing an electrically-conductive pellet, comprising:
- reducing a size of a first material, wherein the first material is alumina, silica, kaolin ore, or bauxite ore or combinations thereof;
- wetting the first material to produce a first slurry;
- introducing the first slurry into a fluidizer to produce a first pellet;
- reducing a size of a second material, wherein the second material comprises an electrically-conductive material, wherein the second material includes a blend of a clay and a petroleum coke such that the clay forms a composite network of electrically conductive domains and ceramic domains when solidified, wherein the blend has a weight ratio of coke to clay from about 1:25 to about 5:1;
- wetting the second material to produce a second slurry;
- applying the second slurry to the first pellet to provide an electrically conductive pellet, wherein the pellet has an electrical conductivity of about 100 S/m to about 3000 S/m;
- and
- calcining the electrically-conductive pellet to provide a calcined electrically-conductive pellet comprising a core that is a calcined first material and a shell comprising calcined electrically-conductive material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.