What Is Proppant?

You may already be familiar with fracing, where oil and natural gas are extracted from shale rock using underground explosions. But are you aware of the role proppants play in this process? Keep reading to learn more about the different types of proppants and how they revolutionized the oil and gas industry.

What Is the Role of Proppant in the Oil and Gas Industry?

Proppants are an essential tool for extracting oil and natural gas from shale rock deposits. Unlike other forms of rock, shale deposits do not have naturally occurring fissures through which oil and natural gas can flow. To extract oil and gas from these deposits, perforations are drilled into the wellbore and water, chemicals, and proppants are forced inside at a super-high pressure. This process fractures the shale, allowing gas and oil to flow and be extracted. This is why it’s also called hydraulic fracturing.

Proppants are the high-strength grit materials that hold these shale fissures open and allow for the extraction of oil and gas. If they are not included in the fracturing liquid, the fissures close, and much less oil and natural gas is able to escape to the surface for extraction.

Types of Proppants

There are three main types of proppant that are used in the hydraulic fracturing process. While each type of proppant has its own advantages, they all have extremely high crush strengths, which allows them to withstand high pressures and keep shale fissures open.

Silica Frac Sand Proppants

Silica frac sand is the preferred material for stimulated well production in the oil and gas industry. Silica withstands significant forces while remaining chemically inert because it’s made of high-quality silica quartz. Silica frac sand proppants can typically withstand forces up to 6,000 psi. However, there are many cases where proppants are required to withstand even greater pressures.

Ceramic Proppants

Ceramic proppants are popular because they offer superior strength under the high pressures of deep formations and can withstand higher pressure than silica sand. Ceramic proppants can typically endure under forces up to 10,000 psi.

Although they’re more expensive, ceramic proppants are available in a wider selection of grain sizes and boast a higher conductivity than natural frac sand. Many ceramic proppants are made from sintered bauxite, kaolin, magnesium silicate, or blends of bauxite and kaolin. Ceramic proppants are made in the following process:

Crushing: Raw materials are crushed into a powder and mixed with additives to develop specialized formulations that maximize performance.
Pelletizing: The mixed powder is pelletized to create a round, uniform product. Sizing is a critical component in performance. Mesh sizes range from 8 to 140.
Drying: Pellets are dried in industrial dryers to reduce the moisture content of the material.
Sintering: Pellets are sintered in a kiln for curing. The high temperatures cause the chemical reactions and crystalline changes that give ceramic proppants their crush-resistant strength.
Cooling: The pellets are removed from the kiln and sent to a rotary cooler, where they remain until they’re ready for transport.

Resin-Coated Proppants

Resin-coated sand proppants have been a mainstay in fracing for decades because of their ability to form a pack within fractures. Fracturing fluid and resin-coated proppants complement each other for optimized well completion. There are two main types of resin-coated materials:

Curable: Curable resin chemically reacts with other fracturing fluids, which allows the resin to bind together and prevents materials from flowing back into the wellbore.
Pre-Cured Resin: Pre-cured resin is fully cured before being injected into the fracture, making it highly resistant to crushing and interaction with other chemicals in the well.

Want to learn more about our industrial sand options? Explore the variety of uses for industrial sand with Pontotoc.

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Sieve Analysis

Sieve testing determines how much sand falls within frac sand size standards. This is the first evaluation we perform, and at least 90% of the sand must fall within marketed mesh sizes to be accepted.

Sphericity Assessment

Each grain of sand needs to be round and uniform for frac sand to have the necessary strength. We carefully assess our sand before delivery to make sure it meets our sphericity standards.

Computerized Particle Analysis

We run millions of particles through our computerized analysis to determine the size and shape of the sample. This allows us to evaluate the quality of our products through a non-biased technical assessment.

Acid Solubility Testing

Our acid tests indicate how much of a non-silica pollutant is in a sample. Contaminant levels greater than 3% are not considered within standards.

Turbidity Assessment

The turbidity tests used by Pontotoc show how dirty the frac sand is and whether it needs to go through additional cleaning processes.

Crush Resistance Testing

The sand is crushed at specific stress levels and sent back through the sieve analysis to determine the percentage of fines produced.

Pontotoc Sand and Stone Is Your Shale Gas Proppant Supplier

Pontotoc understands how important load time is in the oil and gas industry, which is why we’ve developed an innovative loading process that takes less than seven minutes. Our automated process makes ordering, hauling, and tracking easier for your business. Because your driver never has to leave their truck, it’s also safer.

Our sand goes through a rigorous cleaning and testing process that grades and removes debris and ensures compliance with industry standards. Once our sand arrives at your facility, it’s ready for use.

Contact Pontotoc today to learn more about our high-quality shale gas proppant.

What Is Proppant?

What Is the Role of Proppant in the Oil and Gas Industry?

Types of Proppants

Silica Frac Sand Proppants

Ceramic Proppants

Resin-Coated Proppants

H2: Semantic Keyword of Head Keyword

Sieve Analysis

Sphericity Assessment

Computerized Particle Analysis

Acid Solubility Testing

Turbidity Assessment

Crush Resistance Testing

Pontotoc Sand and Stone Is Your Shale Gas Proppant Supplier

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