Comparison of selected properties of natural and ceramic proppants used in hydraulic fracturing technologies

Proppants are synthetic or natural grains used in the gas/oil well drilling industry to hold fractures open around the wellbore in order to enhance fluid extraction after hydraulic fracturing processes. Proppant shape, a significant factor in the hydraulic fracturing dynamic, has an impact on the proppant pack strength, permeability, and conductivity. Proppant should have an optimized spherical shape which is characterized by two values: sphericity and roundness. The other important feature of the proppant is acid solubility. Acid solubility test determines the suitability of a proppant for use in applications where the proppant can come into contact with acids. In this study we compared the roundness and sphericity as well as acid solubility of three ceramic proppants: Baltpropp 16/30 ISP Baltpropp 20/30 HSP and Baltpropp 30/40 HSP with two natural materials, namely sands from Katowice and Ostrowiec quarries and silicon carbide. In all performed tests ceramic proppants performed better than sand from the quarries in Katowice and Ostrowiec. The third ceramic material, silicon carbide had the lowest roundness and sphericity whereas its acid solubility was rather low.