LIGHT CERAMIC PROPPING AGENT AND METHOD OF ITS MANUFACTURE Russian patent published in 2017 - IPC C04B33/02 C04B33/04 C04B35/14 C09K8/80 

FIELD: oil and gas industry.

SUBSTANCE: method of producing a ceramic proppant, comprising propping agent, including grinding of charge, granulation of batch and its firing, with the milling of the charge comprising two stages - dry and wet. Wet milling is carried out in an alkaline medium, and as a charge, natural quartz sand is used in an amount of 85-99% by weight of the mixture and an alumina-containing material in an amount of 1-15%. Quartz sand all or partially is preprocessed at a temperature above 900°C. While wet grinding, the alkaline medium is created by adding any of the known alkalis or salts having an alkaline potential, for example potassium hydroxides, or sodium silicates, or sodium tripolyphosphate, or a mixture of any of the aforementioned alkalis or salts in a ratio of 1 to 99%. As an alumina-containing material, kaolinite, refractory, porcelain, ceramic clays or other similar material are used, or a mixture of such materials in a ratio of 1 to 99%.

EFFECT: obtaining a product of low bulk density, which possesses sufficient strength due to the creation of a colloidal structure formed by wet grinding in a specially made alkaline medium.

5 cl, 1 tbl, 11 ex