Characterization of Local Sands for Possible Use as Proppant

• Main Author: Suhaimi, Nor Ernie Akmal
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2008
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/7840/1/2008%20Bachelor%20-%20Characterization%20Of%20Local%20Sand%20For%20Posible%20Use%20As%20Proppant.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/7840/

This paper presents results on literature and experimental works on Malaysia local sands for the possible use as proppant. Proppant is a granular substance that is pumped into the formation by the fracturing fluid and helps keep the cracks open after a fracture treatment. In Malaysia, proppant used during the hydraulic fracturing are imported from foreign countries such as United States and Canada. This situation may lead to the increase of the well stimulation cost. This project is to study characteristics of various types of local sands for the possible source of proppant. The study focuses on characterizing and data gathering using several available testing and in accordance with American Petroleum Institute (API) standards. Sand samples taken from several locations were subjected to several testing and analyses such as particle size distribution, crush resistance, density and porosity determination, mineralogy analysis, photomicrograph and permeability test to determine their special characteristics. These experiments involved major equipments like Scanning Electron Micrograph, X-Ray Diffraction, X-Ray Fluorescence, Auto Pallet machine, MAZAK CNC Integrex - III 5X and Ultrapycnometer 1000 Version 2.2. All the experiments followed closely the requirements set by American Petroleum Institute. However, some procedures were modified to suit the condition of equipments. The results obtained from the present study are then compared with the existing characteristics of sand based proppant in the market. Even though the local sands cannot surpass the typical sand based proppant at certain characteristics, they do show promising results and meet some of the API- RP 56 requirements. Several recommendations are included in this report for improvement.