Review and Perspectives of Coated Proppant Technology

Abstract

Conventional proppants have the problem of proppant flowback and the inability to fully distribute along long fractures. To solve these problems, coated proppants have emerged and have been successfully used in many oilfields. Polymers are widely used in the petroleum industry, and one of their functions is for proppant coatings. Polymer coatings can change the mechanical properties of the proppant, improve the fracture conductivity of the proppant, and give the proppant other properties, such as self-suspending, low-density, antiflowback, and hydrophobic properties. This paper reviews the polymers and polymer nanocomposites commonly used in proppant coatings, introduces the performance characteristics of various functional proppants, and describes the latest developments regarding coated proppants, which can be of reference for petroleum workers.