METHOD OF MANUFACTURING OF LIGHT CERAMIC PROPPANTS AND LIGHT CERAMIC PROPPANTS

摘要

A method for manufacturing of light ceramic proppants made from a mixture of raw materials that is mechanically granulated in a granulator or that is granulated in a spray dryer from a pourable ceramc mass, to obtain granulate having a granule size of 150-1700 μm (12-100 U.S. Mesh, ASTM E11-04, ISO 13503-2), and next the granulate is fired and the fired granulate is fractioned. The mixture of raw materials is prepared from: illite-beidellite-ka-olinite high-plastic clays of the Poznan series in the amount of 10% to 40% by weight; kaolinite clays in the amount of 10% to 45% by weight; kaolin in the amount of 20% to 40% by weight; fly ash from brown coal combusted in a power plant in the amount of 10% to 35% by weight; and treatment agents in the amount of up to 10% by weight. The mixture of raw materials is mixed and homogenized in a homogenizer, and the obtained granulate is fed to a fluidised bed dryer, in which it is dried to a moisture content below 3%, and the granulate is fired in a rotary furnace in a temperature from 1150° C. up to 1410° C. in time from 120 to 600 min, obtaining proppants which contain from 18% to 32% by weight of Al203, from 40% to 76% by weight of SiO₂, and have a specific gravity from 2.15 Mg/m³ to 2.90 Mg/m³ and a bulk density from 1.35 Mg/m³ to 1.70 Mg/m³, depending on the firing time.