Synthesis and Performance Study of Proppant With High Strength and Low Density in Hydraulic Fracturing

ABSTRACT Currently, there are a number of problems with proppants (e.g., ceramic, quartz sand, etc.) commonly used in fracking operations. On the one hand, high‐viscosity fracturing fluids are required due to the high density of conventional proppants. However, incomplete gel breakage in high‐viscosity fracturing fluids may lead to residue damage to the formation. On the other hand, the rapid settlement of proppant may lead to premature closure of the fracture. In order to reduce the aforementioned problems, in the article, four low‐density proppants (PS, PS‐N, PMMA, and PMMA‐N) were synthesized by suspension polymerization using styrene (St), methyl methacrylate (MMA), and 2‐vinyl naphthalene (N) as the polymerized monomers. The structure was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, and scanning electron microscopy. The effects of reaction conditions on proppant density, sphericity, sortability, polymerization time, and fragmentation were discussed. Finally, the conductivity of the four low‐density proppants was compared, and the results showed that all four proppants had better conductivity than quartz sand. Among them, the polymethylmethacrylate proppant (PMMA) with the addition of inorganic dispersion enhancers has relatively better conductivity.