Abstract:
Objective In view of the large amount of solid waste in the process of oil and gas development and the single way of resource utilization, the ceramic proppant for hydraulic fracturing was prepared by drilling cuttings and secondary aluminum ash, which can effectively broaden the way of resource utilization of drilling cuttings and reduce the production cost of oil and gas development.
Methods The low density and high strength ceramic proppant for fracturing was prepared mainly by secondary bauxite, adding 20 wt% drilling cuttings, 10 wt% secondary aluminum ash and methylcellulose as binder at different sintering temperatures. The effects of sintering temperature on the structure, crystal phase composition and product properties of proppant were studied.
Results The drilling cuttings need to be pretreated to reduce the effect of organic matter in the drilling cuttings on the subsequent raw embryo sintering. When the sintering temperature was 1 300 ℃, its primary crystalline phase was corundum and secondary crystalline phase was barium feldspar, the bulk density of the proppant was 1.45 g/cm3 and the crushing rate was 5.26% under 52 MPa closure pressure, which could meet the quality requirements of 0.38 mm/0.25 mm proppant under SY/T 5108-2014 Measurement of properties of proppants used in hydraulic fracturing and gravel-packing operations.
Conclusions Sintering temperature is a critical control parameter for preparing ceramics proppant. With the increase of sintering temperature, the liquid phase produced inside the proppant gradually increase, which is conducive to accelerate the diffusion and the mass transfer rate, and promote the densification of the proppant. But excessive liquid phase will lead to the expansion and deformation of the proppant and adversely affect the crushing ability. The suitable sintering temperature is recommended to be 1 260-1 300 ℃ when using drilling chips, aluminum ash and bauxite as raw materials.
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