Proppants are hard microspheres that are injected into well bores to “prop” open rock fissures, allowing oil and natural gas to flow out. While frac sand is the most commonly used proppant, ceramic proppants offer a tailored solution in demanding drilling settings.
Greater crush strength. Ceramic proppants can withstand a greater crush strength than frac sand products, which allows drillers access to deeper shale formations.
Higher conductivity. Ceramic proppants also offer better conductivity, to the effectiveness at which the petroleum product can flow around the proppants in the rock fissure.
Tailored solutions. Ceramic proppants are manmade, and therefore their characteristics can be more tightly controlled than with sand proppants. Ceramic proppants can be selected based on a variety of engineered characteristics to offer a tailored solution to the well site.
FEECO provides feasibility testing and process development around the manufacture of ceramic proppants. In addition to our testing services, FEECO also manufactures rotary kilns to meet your proppant sintering needs, as well as rotary dryers and coolers for the proppant production process.
For more detailed information, read our blog post Ceramic Proppants: A Specialized Alternative to Frac Sand, or contact a FEECO expert today!