Flash Coating Treatments For Proppant Solids
Treatment methods for coated or uncoated proppants that can, among other things, control fugitive dust during typical handling procedures with typical transport equipment and/or add functional features to the proppant solid are disclosed herein.
1 . A process for treating free-flowing, finely divided proppant solids, said process comprising:
contacting said solids less than five seconds, less than two seconds, less than one second, or for the time it takes said solids to fall a distance of four feet with an amount of a liquid treatment agent that substantially retains free-flowing characteristics of the treated solids, wherein said solids are contacted with said liquid treatment reagent in an amount of less than 1 wt %, less than 0.5 wt %, less than 0.35 wt %, or less than 0.25 wt % based on the weight of said proppant solids.
2 . (canceled)
3 . The process of claim 1 , wherein said finely divided proppant solids comprise uncoated sand, resin-coated sand, sand with a cured or partially cured coating, bauxite, ceramic, coated bauxite, or ceramic.
4 . (canceled)
5 . The process of claim 1 , wherein said contacting comprises spraying said liquid treatment agent onto said proppant solids while said solids are in free fall, guided free fall, or during pneumatic transport.
6 - 7 . (canceled)
8 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the liquid treatment agent is effective to coat the solids with a hydrophobic coating, a coating that reduces friction, a coating that reduces dust, a coating that comprises a tracer, an impact modifier coating, a coating for timed or staged release of an additive, a coating that controls sulfides, a different polymeric coating, an acid or base resistant coating, a coating that inhibits corrosion, a coating that increases proppant crush resistance, a coating that inhibits paraffin precipitation or aggregation, a coating that inhibits asphaltene precipitation, or a coating comprising an ion exchange resin that removes anions and/or halogens.
9 . The process of claim 1 , wherein said liquid treatment agent comprises a polysaccharide solution a C 6 -C 16 alkoxylated alcohol, at least one acrylic polymer, an acrylic copolymer, or a mixture of at least one C 6 -C 16 alkoxylated alcohol and at least one acrylic polymer.
10 - 17 . (canceled)
18 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the liquid treatment agent is contacted with said solids immediately before, concurrently with, or immediately after passing said solids through a static mixer.
19 . The process of claim 1 , wherein said contacting step comprises:
applying a first liquid treatment agent with a first spray assembly onto said solids for less than five seconds;
passing the treated solids through a static mixer; and
applying a second liquid treatment agent with a second spray assembly onto said solids for less than five seconds,
wherein the first liquid treatment and the second liquid treatment are the same solutions or different solutions.
20 - 21 . (canceled)
22 . The process of claim 19 , wherein at least one of the first and second liquid treatment agents is effective to coat the solids with a dust reduction coating.
23 . The process of claim 19 , wherein at least one of the first and second liquid treatments is effective to coat the solids with an additional coating selected from a hydrophobic coating, a coating that reduces friction, a coating that comprises a tracer, an impact modifier coating, a coating for timed or staged release of an additive, a coating that controls sulfides, a different polymeric coating, an acid or base resistant coating, a coating that inhibits corrosion, a coating that increases proppant crush resistance, a coating that inhibits paraffin precipitation or aggregation, a coating that inhibits asphaltene precipitation, or a coating comprising an ion exchange resin that removes anions and/or halogens.
24 - 27 . (canceled)
28 . A process for producing free-flowing, finely divided proppant solids with reduced dust properties, said process comprising:
contacting said solids less than five seconds with an amount of a dust reducing liquid treatment agent that substantially retains free-flowing characteristics of the treated solids and reduces the dust produced by said solids, wherein said solids are contacted with the liquid treatment agent in an amount of less than 1 wt %, less than 0.5 wt %, less than 0.35 wt %, or less than 0.25 wt % based on the weight of said proppant solids, and wherein the dust produced by free-flowing, finely divided proppant solids with reduced dust properties is less than dust produced by solids not contacted with the dust reducing liquid treatment agent.
29 . (canceled)
30 . The process of claim 28 , wherein the liquid treatment agent is effective to coat the solids with a hydrophobic coating, a coating that reduces friction, a coating that comprises a tracer, an impact modifier coating, a coating for timed or staged release of an additive, a coating that controls sulfides, a different polymeric coating, an acid or base resistant coating, a coating that inhibits corrosion, a coating that increases proppant crush resistance, a coating that inhibits paraffin precipitation or aggregation, a coating that inhibits asphaltene precipitation, or a coating comprising an ion exchange resin that removes anions and/or halogens.
31 . The process of claim 28 , wherein said liquid treatment agent comprises a polysaccharide solution a C 6 -C 16 alkoxylated alcohol, at least one acrylic polymer, an acrylic copolymer, or a mixture of at least one C 6 -C 16 alkoxylated alcohol and at least one acrylic polymer.
32 - 39 . (canceled)
40 . The process of claim 28 , wherein the liquid treatment agent comprises an emulsion of ethoxylated, propoxylated C 6 -C 12 alcohols, ethoxylated, propoxylated C 10 -C 16 alcohols, acrylic polymers, and water; or about 15% to about 30%, about 17 to about 28%, or about 20% to about 25% of ethoxylated, propoxylated C 6 -C 12 alcohols, or about 5% to about 20%, about 8 to about 18%, or about 10% to about 15% of ethoxylated, propoxylated C 10 -C 16 alcohols; or about 20% to about 25% of ethoxylated, propoxylated C 6 -C 12 alcohols, about 10% to about 15% of ethoxylated, propoxylated C 10 -C 16 alcohols, about 5% to about 10% acrylic polymers, less than 0.1% ammonia, and less than 0.05% free monomers; or about 20% to about 25% of ethoxylated, propoxylated C 6 -C 12 alcohols, about 10% to about 15% of ethoxylated, propoxylated C 10 -C 16 alcohols, about 5% to about 10% acrylic polymers, less than 0.1% ammonia, less than 0.05% free monomers with the remaining being water.
41 . A process of coating a free-flowing proppant, said process comprising:
contacting the proppant for less than five seconds with an amount of a liquid treatment agent that substantially retains free-flowing characteristics of the proppant to produce coated free-flowing proppant,
wherein the coating is a dust reducing coating, a hydrophobic coating, a coating that reduces friction, a coating that comprises a tracer, an impact modifier coating, a coating for timed or staged release of an additive, a coating that controls sulfides, a different polymeric coating, an acid or base resistant coating, a coating that inhibits corrosion, a coating that increases proppant crush resistance, a coating that inhibits paraffin precipitation or aggregation, a coating that inhibits asphaltene precipitation, or a coating comprising an ion exchange resin that removes anions and/or halogens, or any combination thereof.
42 . (canceled)
43 . The process of claim 41 , wherein the coating is a hydrophobic coating, a coating that reduces friction, a coating that comprises a tracer, an impact modifier coating, a coating for timed or staged release of an additive, a coating that controls sulfides, a different polymeric coating, an acid or base resistant coating, a coating that inhibits corrosion, a coating that increases proppant crush resistance, a coating that inhibits paraffin precipitation or aggregation, a coating that inhibits asphaltene precipitation, or a coating comprising an ion exchange resin that removes anions and/or halogens, or any combination thereof.
44 . A coated, free-flowing proppant comprising a dried and/or cured coating that comprises less than about 3 wt % of a treating agent.
45 . The coated, free-flowing proppant of claim 44 , wherein the coated, free-flowing, proppant exhibits reduced fugitive dust generation as compared to the uncoated proppant.
46 . The coated, free-flowing proppant of claim 44 comprising 0.0009-0.5 wt % or 0.001-0.35 wt % of said coating.
47 . (canceled)
48 . The coated, free-flowing proppant of claim 44 , wherein said coating comprises one or more of: monosaccharides or polysaccharides, surfactants, alkoxylated alcohols, acrylic polymers, methacrylic polymers, copolymers of acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid, methacrylates and copolymers thereof, polyvinyl acetates, vinyl acrylic copolymers, polybutadiene, low molecular weight mineral oils, acrylamide polymers, lignosulfonates, water-dispersible natural gums, water-dispersible pectins, water-dispersible starch derivatives, water-dispersible cellulose derivatives, or any mixture thereof.
49 - 50 . (canceled)
51 . The coated, free-flowing proppant of claim 44 , wherein said coating comprises at least one C 6 -C 12 alkoxylated alcohol and at least one C 10 -C 16 alkoxylated alcohol; one or more acrylic polymers; at least one C 6 -C 12 alkoxylated alcohol, at least one C 10 -C 16 alkoxylated alcohols, and at least one acrylic polymer; one or more methacrylic polymers, one or more copolymers of acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid, and one or more of methacrylates.
52 - 54 . (canceled)
55 . The coated, free-flowing proppant of claim 44 , wherein said proppant comprises a hydrophobic coating, a coating that reduces friction, a coating that comprises a tracer, an impact modifier coating, a coating for timed or staged release of an additive, a coating that controls sulfides, a different polymeric coating, an acid or base resistant coating, a coating that inhibits corrosion, a coating that increases proppant crush resistance, a coating that inhibits paraffin precipitation or aggregation, a coating that inhibits asphaltene precipitation, or a coating comprising an ion exchange resin that removes anions and/or halogens.
56 . The coated, free-flowing proppant of claim 44 , wherein said coating further comprises a sulfide scavenger or scale inhibitor.