Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) have developed a fundamentally new composition of magnesia-silicate proppants - ceramic materials used in the extraction of hard-to-recover oil and gas reserves. They have become stronger and lighter than their counterparts existing today, and also much cheaper to manufacture. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. The technology for their production was successfully tested in the production conditions of the industrial partner OOO NIKA-PETROTEK (Semiluki, Voronezh Region).
Recently, ceramic materials have received unconventional applications in the oil and gas industry as proppants for oil and gas production by hydraulic fracturing. Propants are a material consisting of small granules. They are pumped into the earth formation together with the fracturing fluid. After hydraulic fracturing, they are able to keep fractures in the formation from closing, thereby facilitating the release of oil and gas.
Propants must be strong, light, and resistant to aggressive media. To do this, scientists are looking for their new compositions. Today, two types of proppants are produced by the domestic industry: aluminosilicate (based on high-quality kaolins and refractory clays) and magnesia-silicate (based on olivinites, dunites and serpentinites) proppants. Due to the limited resource base, the emphasis is on the latter.
TPU scientists have developed a technology for producing magnesia-silicate proppants with improved physical and technological properties. They used a natural silica additive - diatomite. This is a sedimentary rock, a decomposition product of diatomaceous algae, with a porous structure. It has replaced sand, which is traditionally used as an ingredient in magnesia-silicate proppants.
“The main composition of diatomite is silica in an amorphous, reactive state. This feature of the structure gives it a number of advantages compared to sand, in which silica is in a less active crystalline state. Such a difference in the structure of the silica additive activates the process of sintering and compaction of the ceramic matrix,” explains the project leader, professor of the Scientific and Educational Center N.M. Kizhnera TPU Tatiana Vakalova.
In addition, the production of such proppants is much cheaper than analogues: they are fired at lower temperatures, which reduces energy costs.
Now scientists are conducting research on the creation of ceramic proppants using man-made waste from fuel and energy and chemical and metallurgical complexes. These are various ash-containing wastes, metallurgical slags and sludges.
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