Quartz Sand Proppant

Quartz Sand Proppant

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Quartz sand proppant, also known simply as frac sand or proppant, plays a crucial role in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations in the oil and gas industry.

What Are The Different Types Of Quartz Sand Proppant?

During the hydraulic fracturing process, clean fracturing fluid is initially pumped to create sufficiently wide fissures. Subsequently, a mixture of proppant and fracturing fluid, commonly referred to as slurry, is injected into these fractures.The primary design objective of proppants is to fill the fracture space, possessing enough strength to keep the fracture walls separated. This ensures the maintenance of a conductive pathway to the wellbore even after the completion of the treatment and potential leakage of fracturing fluid.

Types of Proppants for Hydraulic Fracturing

Proppants for hydraulic fracturing applications can be broadly categorized into two types: natural silica sand and synthetic ceramic proppants. 

Fracturing quartz sand is a highly pure, granular material with hardness and toughness. Its main component is silica, and its particle size meets the requirements of fracturing operations. This kind of quartz sand has high density and compressive strength and is not easily washed away and worn by fluids.

What Is The Density Of Quartz Sand Proppant?

Most resin-coated proppants still have a sand base. However, their shape is smoother and more rounded, improving their performance compared to traditional fracking sand. In contrast to irregularly shaped natural sand proppants, they exhibit lower compaction in fractures, resulting in higher permeability compared to other types of proppants.

The Superiority of Ceramic Proppants

Ceramic proppants, with their uniform and rounded shape, stand out as the most even and spherical among proppants. Possessing high strength and permeability, they allow trapped oil or natural gas to flow effortlessly from the fractures.

What Is The Purpose Of Quartz Sand Proppant?

Precision in Proppant Selection

Proppant materials undergo meticulous classification based on size and sphericity to provide an efficient conduit for the production fluid from the reservoir to the wellbore. As hydraulic fracturing gains prominence in the extraction of oil and gas, the demand for proppants has surged.

The choice of proppant is crucial for optimizing the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing operations. Whether it's the tried-and-true natural sand or the innovative resin-coated and ceramic proppants, each plays a vital role in ensuring the success of oil and gas extraction from wells. As the industry evolves, so does the demand for these essential components that facilitate the flow of valuable resources from reservoirs to wellbores.

In the hydraulic fracturing industry, frac proppant plays a critical role in maintaining well integrity and enhancing oil and gas extraction. Proppant sand is widely used, and understanding the types of frac sand is essential for selecting the right material for specific applications. There are different types of frac sand, each with unique properties, making it important to choose the appropriate frac sand types based on the specific geological conditions. Our sand proppant solutions are designed to meet these varying needs, ensuring optimal performance. Fracking proppants vary in frac density, which is a key factor in their effectiveness. Our frac sand proppant is engineered to deliver superior results, regardless of the application. If you need more information on the best proppant for your project, contact us today to learn about the options available in the market.

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Why Frac Sand So Popular In Oil Industry

Why do Americans like to use so much silica sand in the field of oil and gas? To answer this question, you need to understand fracturing.

In the oil(petroleum) field, fracturing refers to the use of hydraulic action to make oil and gas reservoirs form fractures in the process of oil or gas production, also known as hydraulic fracturing.

Hydraulic fracturing technology means that in the case of high pressure, the fracturing fluid is pumped into the oil well, resulting in high pressure at the bottom of the well. when the pressure is enough to fracture the rock, the formation will form fractures and expand forward to a certain space. In order to keep the fracture open, the proppant should be filled with the fracturing fluid in the fracture after fracturing. After the proppant is transported, the viscosity of the fracturing fluid is reduced and refluxed, so that cracks with high conductivity are produced.

At present, the oil fracturing proppants used in the world can be divided into 3 types: silica frac sand, ceramsite proppant and film-coated proppant.

In recent years, with the continuous downturn of oil and gas prices, reducing costs and increasing efficiency has become the main theme of oil and gas development. In addition to increasing drilling speed and increasing efficiency, North America has greatly reduced the amount of ceramsite and the cost of fracturing materials, considering fracturing cost and economic effect. Frac sand proppant plays a leading role in the application.

The content of SiO' in quartz sand is closely related to its particle size. Usually, the larger the particle size is, the higher the SiO' content is. The content of SiO' in silica sand used as a proppant is usually about 80%, while the content of SiO' in some high-quality silica sand is as high as 98%.

Because of the different applications, the content of SiO' in frac sand is not the main factor. So how to choose a good frac sand? There are 6 tips below need to note.

How To Choose The Right Frac Sand

1. Sphericity and Roundness

Sphericity refers to the degree to which the fracturing proppant (fracturing sand) is close to spherical. Roundness refers to the 'Round Degree' of frac sand particles, the more edges and corners of frac sand particles, the worse the roundness; on the contrary, the edges and corners are smooth, the roundness is good. Similar size round grains can ensure consistent permeability, thus providing greater fracture conductivity.

The sphericity and roundness of natural frac sand should not be ' 0.6. In the actual testing, the proppant sphericity and roundness are tested with the proppant sphericity and roundness chart, as shown in the following figure.
2. Acid Solubility

Acid solubility refers to the proportion of the mass of proppant dissolved by acid in acid solution.

Acid resistance is an important index of fracturing proppant. The proppant with good acid resistance can work in acidic strata for a longer time and maintain good conductivity. The allowable acid solubility values of various particle size proppants are shown in the table below. It is worth noting that the acid solubility standards of frac sand and ceramsite proppants are the same.

3. Turbidity

The turbidity of proppant refers to the degree of turbidity of the liquid after a certain mass of proppant is added to the distilled water of a specified volume, shaken and placed for a certain period of time, in FTU.

For more import oil proppants factoriesinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

Turbidity describes the surface finish of the proppant. According to the standards, the frac sand turbidity should be ' 100FTU. This can be solved by washing during processing.

4. Crush Resistance

Crush resistance is the crushing rate determined by the pressure test of a certain amount of fracturing sand proppant under rated pressure. The main factors affecting the crushing rate are roundness, sphericity, surface finish, microstructure etc.

The crushing rate of frac sand proppant affects the fracture conductivity. American Petrleum Institute(API) requires frac sand to withstand stress of 4,000'6,000 psi.

Size(μm)

Closure Pressure(MPa)

Crushing Pressure(KN)

Crushing Rate(%)

-850(16-20mesh)

21

42

'14.0

850-425(20-40mesh)

28

57

'14.0

600-300(30/50mesh)

35

71

'10.0

425-250(40/60mesh)

35

71

'8.0

425-212(40/70mesh)

212-106(70/140mesh)

5. Size

The size of the frac sand proppant is related to the viscosity of the fluid system and its ability to transport sand into the fracture, and the size range of the proppant is very important. Typical frac sand proppant sizes are usually between 20 ' 140 mesh (106μm ' 850μm), for example, 20 ' 40 mesh (420μm ' 840μm), 40 ' 70 mesh (212μm ' 420μm) or 70 -140mesh (106μm ' 212μm).

Different specifications are selected according to the depth of the well. 1 mesh refers to the number of emptiness on the screen per square inch, and the higher the number of mesh, the smaller the particle size that can pass through the screen.

6. Proppant Density

The density of frac sand proppant is the mass of proppant per unit volume (g/cm ³), which describes the overall density of the proppant accumulation. The main factors affecting the density are roundness, sphericity, surface finish and so on. The density of oil fracturing sand is low, which is easy to pump downhole. If the density is high, it is difficult to suspend in the fracturing fluid and fill in the fracture.

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