DEVELOPMENT OF GLASS AND GLASS CERAMIC PROPPANTS FROM GAS SHALE WELL DRILL CUTTINGS
The objective of this study was to develop a method of converting drill cuttings from gas shale wells into high strength proppants via flame spheroidization and devitrification processing. Conversion of drill cuttings to spherical particles was only possible for small particle sizes (< 53 {micro}m) using a flame former after a homogenizing melting step. This size limitation is likely to be impractical for application as conventional proppants due to particle packing characteristics. In an attempt to overcome the particle size limitation, sodium and calcium were added to the drill cuttings to act as fluxes during the spheroidization process. However, the flame former remained unable to form spheres from the fluxed material at the relatively large diameters (0.5 - 2 mm) targeted for proppants. For future work, the flame former could be modified to operate at higher temperature or longer residence time in order to produce larger, spherical materials. Post spheroidization heat treatments should be investigated to tailor the final phase assemblage for high strength and sufficient chemical durability.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-08SR22470
- OSTI ID:
- 1096222
- Report Number(s):
- SRNL-STI-2013-00431
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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