Proppants and methods of making and use thereof

Abstract

The present disclosure includes proppants and methods of making the proppants. The proppants herein may contain titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, and/or aluminum dioxide. Also included in the present disclosure are methods of using the proppants to treat a reservoir.

1 - 14 . (canceled) 
     
     
         15 . A method of making a proppant, the method comprising:
 granulating a clay that comprises kaolinite and from about 5% to about 25% by weight titanium dioxide; and   sintering the granulated clay.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the clay comprises from about 50% to about 95% by weight kaolinite. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising adding titanium dioxide to the clay before granulating. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein granulating the clay comprises grinding a slurry that comprises the clay. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the slurry is prepared by combining the clay with water, and the slurry has a solids content ranging from about 40% to about 60 by weight. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the slurry is a first slurry prepared by combining the clay in dry form with a second slurry comprising water and a material different than the clay. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the slurry comprises a dispersant. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the slurry has a solids content ranging from about 45% to about 75% by weight. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising forming a pellet from the granulated clay before sintering. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the pellet is formed by a fluidizer. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the clay is a by-product of a kaolin beneficiation process. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the beneficiation process is a selective flocculation process. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the by-product comprises from about 8% to about 40% by weight titanium dioxide. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the by-product comprises from about 15% to about 30% by weight titanium dioxide. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the by-product comprises a flocculating agent. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein from about 40% to about 96% of particles in the granulated clay have an equivalent spherical diameter of less than 0.25 μm as measured by Sedigraph. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising adding a binding agent before or during granulating the clay. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein sintering is performed at a temperature ranging from about 1200° C. to about 1600° C. 
     
     
         33 - 36 . (canceled)