Optimizing the Lightweight Ceramic Proppants Properties

The paper presents results of sintering proppants parameters and its influence on light ceramic proppants obtained by the mechanical granulation method. The proppants were prepared basing on a ceramic composition consisting of three raw materials such as kaolin, clay and bauxite mixed with poly(vinyl alcohol) binder with a molecular weight 26000 g/mol and hydrolysis degree of 88%, added in amount of 5 wt% with respect to the powder. Sintering temperature range oscillated between 1200 and 1225°C, kiln rotations were 1-2 rpm. Sintered proppants were characterized in compliance with PN-EN ISO 13503-2 norm and bulk density, sphericity coefficient, turbidity, solubility in acids and scanning electron microscopy observations have been estimated. The results demonstrated that sintering temperature and kiln rotation have an essential effect of the proppants parameters.