Sintered spherical pellets containing clay as a major component useful for gas and oil well proppants

Patent · Tue Mar 24 00:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:5184632

Fitzgibbon, J J

This patent describes a method for increasing permeability in a subterranean formation penetrated by a well wherein a fluid is pumped into the well to create a fracture in the subterranean formation. This patent describes improvement in introducing into a fluid composite, spherical, sintered pellets comprised of a combination of clay and a member of the group of bauxite, alumina, or mixtures thereof, the pellets containing on a dry weight basis a major portion of clay, the pellets having an apparent specific gravity of less than 3.40 and having a titanium dioxide content of at least 2.68 weight percent derived from the bauxite and clay and having components other than Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, SiO{sub 2}, Fe{sub 2} and TiO{sub 2} in an amount no greater than 2.50 weight percent; introducing the pellet-containing fluid into a fracture, the compaction pressure of which is between about 280 and about 700 Kg/cm{sup 2} (4,000 and about 100,000 psi), to deposit a propping distribution of the pellets, the pellets having an average particle size between 0.1 and 2.5 millimeters.

• Assignee: Carbo Ceramics Inc., Irving, TX (United States)
• Patent Number(s): US B1 4427068; A
• Application Number: PPN: US 7-347210
• OSTI ID: 5184632
• Resource Relation: Patent File Date: 9 Feb 1982
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
03 NATURAL GAS
FRACTURING FLUIDS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
NATURAL GAS WELLS
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
OIL WELLS
RESERVOIR ROCK
PERMEABILITY
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
AUGMENTATION
CLAYS
FRACTURES
PELLETS
PROPPING AGENTS
SINTERING
SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
CONFIGURATION
FABRICATION
FAILURES
FLUIDS
FRACTURING
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
WELLS
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production
030300 - Natural Gas- Drilling
Production
& Processing