Looking for a new source of natural proppants in Poland

The importance of proppants is significant, because their properties affect hydraulic fracturing treatment effectiveness. Quartz sands are often used as propping agents. Due to their good properties and low price, they are still more likely to be used than, for example, modern ceramic proppants. Procedures of determination of each parameter are specified in ISO 13503‒2:2010, and according to them, quartz sands from 4 Polish deposits, located in different areas of the country were tested. All results were compared with parameters of the Belgian sand (model sand), which is usually used during fracturing treatments in our region. The most important factor, which determines whether a kind of sand is useful as a hydraulic fracturing proppant, is its crush resistance. The tested sands are mostly low class because of their limited strength. There is only one type of sand from Bukowno deposit which has similar crush rate, sphericity, roundness and bulk density to the accepted model. Acid solubility and turbidity is higher than exemplary, but in acceptable range. Bukowno deposit could be a likely resource of proppants for domestic petroleum industry.