Proppant charge and method
US4664819A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 20, 1985 |
| Grant date | May 12, 1987 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 20, 2005 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T428/2998
- WIPO fieldBasic materials chemistry
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A pre-cured proppant charge useful, for example, for propping a fracture in a subterranean formation is disclosed. The charge is made up of a large number of particles composed of a single substrate particle which can be silica sand, glass beads, or the like, coated with a thermoset resin. The thermoset resin is one which, when it is the resin coating on particles of a proppant charge, produces such a charge when the Conductivity Ratio, as defined herein, throughout a given closure stress range is greater than that of a charge of the uncoated particles. The proppant is produced by coating the particulate substrate with a suitable thermosettable resin, controlling the coating step to produce substrate particles coated with a fusible, thermosetting resin, and curing the resin by heating the coated particles, so that substantially all of the resin coated particles are composed of a single substrate particle with a thermoset resin coating thereon, prior to introduction into a subterranean well. In use, the proppant is merely placed, usually suspended, in a carrier fluid, that is, introduced into a fracture in a subterranean formation.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.