Composite silica proppant material
AssigneeBadger Mining Corporation
InventorsEugene P. Lunghofer, Larry A. Wolfe
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Abstract
An improved lightweight and highly permeable proppant composition for use in increasing the productivity of a gas or oil well. The proppant composition includes equal amounts by weight of uncalcined bauxite, uncalcined shale and quartz, held together with a binder formed of wollastonite and talc in an amount of less than 10% by weight of the composition. The proppant composition has an alumina content of less than 25% by weight of the composition and a silica content of over 45% by weight of the composition.
Claims41
A gas and oil well proppant comprising a mixture of:
- a) from about 1% by weight to about 10% by weight talc;
- b) from about 1% by weight to about 10% by weight wollastonite;
- c) from about 5% by weight to about 33% by weight bauxite;
- d) from about 10% by weight to about 65% by weight quartz;
- and
- e) from about 10% by weight to about 65% by weight shale;
- wherein the mixture has an alumina content of less than about 25% by weight, and a silica content of greater than about 45% by weight.
A proppant composition for use in gas and oil wells, comprising a mixture of:
- (a) a hydraulic fluid;
- and
- (b) a proppant particulate material comprising a mixture of
- (1) from about 1% by weight to about 10% by weight talc;
- (2) from about 1% by weight to about 10% by weight wollastonite;
- (3) from about 5% by weight to about 33% by weight bauxite;
- (4) from about 10% by weight to about 65% by weight quartz;
- and
- (5) from about 10% by weight to about 65% by weight shale;
- wherein the mixture has an alumina content of less than about 25% by weight, and a silica content of greater than about 45% by weight.
A method for forming a proppant formed of a composite, sintered, generally spherical pellets, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) preparing a mixture of equal parts of sized powders of bauxite, quartz, shale, and adding a binder of talc and wollastonite to said mixture in an amount of less than about 10% by weight of the mixture;
- b) adding an amount of starch and water to the mixture;
- c) forming the mixture into a number of generally spherical particles;
- and
- d) heating the particles to sinter the particles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.