What Is Ceramsite Proppant And What Is It For

Ceramic Proppants

Within the category of ceramic proppants, proppants are also available in three sub-categories, with higher density proppants able to withstand greater stress:

            

      

◆High Strength Ceramic Proppant is designed for intermediate depth oil and natural gas wells with closure stresses up to 15,000 psi and higher.

Characteristics: 

High crush strength and conductivity in the deepest wells.

◆Intermediate Strength Ceramic Proppant is designed for high performance in natural gas and oil wells with closure stresses of up to 12,500 psi and higher.

Characteristics: 

High flow capacity for optimal returns.

Provides a high fracture conductivity in moderate depth wells.

Good economic conductivity.

◆Light Weight Ceramic Proppant is designed for high performance in moderate depth natural gas and oil wells with closure stresses up to 10,000 psi and higher.

Characteristics:

Widely used ceramic proppant.

Excellent for slick water fracturing applications and horizontal wells.

Lower settling rates to achieve more efficient proppant placement.

Density similar to Sand with much higher crush resistance than sand.

◆Ultra-lightweight proppant closure stresses up to 7500 psi and higher.

Characteristics:

Reduces proppant settling.

Allows for increased propped length.

Can be more useful in situations where high pump rates or carrier fluids with low viscosities are needed.

Benefits of ceramic proppants

While ceramic proppants cost more than their naturally-made counterparts, they do offer  advantages that make them the preferred choice in some settings, because they are capable of maximizing the yield from a given well . These advantages include:

Greater crush strength

As well bores get deeper, the pressure on proppants gets higher, and frac sand is not always up to the task.

Ceramic proppants can withstand a much greater crush strength than traditional frac sand products – up to 10,000 psi.¹ This allows drillers to access much deeper shale formations.

Higher Conductivity

Ceramic proppants also boast a number of characteristics that translate to better conductivity, or the effectiveness at which the petroleum product can flow around the proppants in the rock fissure.

Improved uniformity in size, shape, and overall sphericity allows natural gas or oil to more easily flow around ceramic proppants in the well bore.

Conductivity is further improved due to the stable thermal and chemical nature of ceramic proppants; there is much less risk for the proppant to thermally or chemically react with the shale formation causing an undesirable deposit to form, which would ultimately clog the fissure.¹

Tailored solutions

Because they are manmade, the characteristics of ceramic proppants can be much more tightly controlled than with sand products. Proppants can be selected based on a variety of engineered characteristics to offer a more tailored solution to the specific needs of a well site.