GRANULATED INORGANIC PARTICULATES AND THEIR USE IN OILFIELD APPLICATIONS
Disclosed herein are granulated inorganic particulate compositions exhibiting at least one property chosen from improved material handling, low dusting, easy make-down in to mineral-water slurry, and requiring lets energy to produce than spray dried inorganic particulate products. In one embodiment, the granulated inorganic particulate compositions are characterized by a moisture content ranging from 2% to 60% by weight relative to the total weight of the composition, such as for example from 2% to 10% or from 30 to 50%. In another embodiment, the granulated inorganic particulate compositions have an average granule size of greater than about 10 mesh. In a further embodiment, the granulated inorganic particulate composition comprises granules of inorganic particulate that are friable when subjected to a shear force. The granulated inorganic particulate may take on any shape, ranging from and including but not limited to very angular, to sub-rounded, to approximately spherical (i.e., having a Krumbein sphericity of at least about 0.8).
1 - 143 . (canceled)
144 . A method for treating a subterranean formation comprising:
providing a granulated inorganic particulate composition having an average granule size of at least about 20 mesh;
admixing the granulated inorganic particle composition into a fluid, such that the inorganic particulate is dispersed into the fluid as a suspended inorganic particulate; and
injecting the fluid and suspended inorganic particulate into the subterranean formation.
145 . The method of claim 144 , further comprising depositing the suspended inorganic particulate into a fracture in the subterranean formation.
146 . The method of claim 144 , wherein the granulated inorganic particulate composition comprises an inorganic particulate having an average particle size ranging from about 20 mesh to about 500 mesh.
147 . The method of claim 144 , wherein the granulated inorganic particulate composition has an average particle size of greater than about 12 mesh.
148 . The method of claim 144 , wherein said granulated inorganic particulate composition comprises mica particulate.
149 . The method of claim 144 , wherein said granulated inorganic particulate composition comprises a material selected from silica sand, bauxite, andalusite, alumina, barite, or talc.
150 . The method of claim 144 , wherein said granulated inorganic particulate composition comprises a material selected from ceramic, porcelain, earthenware, stoneware, brick, glass, fly-ash, or slag.
151 . The method of claim 144 , wherein said granulated inorganic particulate composition comprises a plate like mineral.
152 . The method of claim 151 , wherein the plate like mineral is selected from schist, shale, phyllosilicates, glauconite, kaolinite, smectite, pyrophyllite, phengite, montmorillonite, saponite, vermiculite, hectorite, sepiolite, palygorskite, and laponite, a sodium silicate hydrates, a serpentine mineral, chlorite, talc, inosilicates, pyroxenoid minerals, amphibole minerals, silica, flint, novaculite, kyanite, zeolites, hydrotalcite, minerals of the sjogrenite-hydrotalcite group, wulfenite, asphalts, and graphite.
153 . The method of claim 144 , wherein said granulated inorganic particulate composition comprises an inorganic particulate having a CILAS median particle size (d50) ranging from about 1 micron to about 50 microns.
154 . The method of claim 144 , further including providing a binder, wherein said binder is present in an amount ranging from about 0.1% to about 10%.
155 . The method of claim 154 , further including providing a binder, wherein said binder is present in an amount ranging from about 0.1% to about 0.5%.
156 . The method of claim 154 , wherein said binder comprises a material selected from hydroxy ethyl cellulose, alginates, guar gum, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, bentonites, and carboxymethyl cellulose.
157 . The method of claim 144 , wherein said granulated inorganic particulate composition has a moisture content ranging from about 5% to about 25%.
158 . The method of claim 144 , wherein the granulated inorganic particulate composition has an angle of repose ranging from about 15 to about 25 degrees.
159 . The method of claim 144 , wherein the granulated inorganic particulate composition has a packed bulk density ranging from about 0.5 g/cm 3 to about 1.5 g/cm 3 .
160 . The method of claim 144 , wherein the granulated inorganic particulate composition comprises an inorganic particulate having a shape selected from angular or sub angular.
161 . The method of claim 144 , wherein the granulated inorganic particulate composition comprises inorganic particulate granules having a Krumbein sphericity of at least about 0.8.
162 . The method of claim 144 , further comprising providing a dispersant.
163 . The method of claim 162 , wherein the dispersant is selected from sodium polyacrylate, soda ash, and condensed phosphates.