Southwestern Energy Company
Proppant and methods of using the same

Abstract:

Provided herein are novel proppants for use in hydraulic fracturing. The proppant has a core substrate and a light-weight substrate. The light weight substrate comprises a plurality of composite particles; a filler material; and an adhesive. The filler material has a particle-distribution-size of about 5 percent to about 20 percent of the particle-distribution-size of the plurality of composite particles. Additional additives can be optionally added to light-weight substrate. The adhesive binds the light-weight substrate to the core substrate to produce the proppant having a specific gravity of about 1 g/cc. Proppant can travel with the carrier fluid in a frac fluid rather than settling out quickly or floating away.