DEVELOPMENT OF GLASS AND GLASS CERAMIC PROPPANTS FROM GAS SHALE WELL DRILL CUTTINGS

Johnson, F. ; Fox, K.

关键词: LDRD;    Proppants;    Flame;    Spheroidization;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1096222
RP-ID  :  SRNL-STI-2013-00431
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1096222

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The objective of this study was to develop a method of converting drill cuttings from gas shale wells into high strength proppants via flame spheroidization and devitrification processing. Conversion of drill cuttings to spherical particles was only possible for small particle sizes (< 53 {micro}m) using a flame former after a homogenizing melting step. This size limitation is likely to be impractical for application as conventional proppants due to particle packing characteristics. In an attempt to overcome the particle size limitation, sodium and calcium were added to the drill cuttings to act as fluxes during the spheroidization process. However, the flame former remained unable to form spheres from the fluxed material at the relatively large diameters (0.5 - 2 mm) targeted for proppants. For future work, the flame former could be modified to operate at higher temperature or longer residence time in order to produce larger, spherical materials. Post spheroidization heat treatments should be investigated to tailor the final phase assemblage for high strength and sufficient chemical durability.