Porous Proppant in Fracking

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  Invention Summary U-6110 is a proppant – a solid material designed to keep hydraulic fractures open during mining – for use in fracking.  Fracking is a process of mining for natural fuel resources that is done by creating fissures in the earth and then pumping proppant in to hold the fissures open before they are closed due to geological pressure.  The new proppant has a reduced specific gravity meaning it is lighter weight. Additionally, the two-layer design produces increased performance of the proppant. Value Proposition Porous design of the inner chamber decreases density while sacrificing little to no strength in preliminary tests. Lower density means a lower specific gravity.  This provides a greater ability to get into cracks both above and below the horizontal shaft. The porous outer layer can deliver reactants to the fracture that can hold it open longer or increase the effectiveness of natural fuel extraction. Market Opportunity North American production of proppants was 38,402 kilotons in 2013 and it is expected to reach 72,216 kilotons by 2019.  In terms of revenue, the market was $6.8 billion in 2013 and is expected to reach $11.9 billion by 2019. North American production of sand proppants was 28,736.2 kilotons in 2013 and it is expected to reach 53,302.8 kilotons by 2019.  In terms of revenue, the market was $3.3 billion in 2013 and is expected to each $5.5 billion by 2019. Ceramic proppants are expected to witness the fastest growth rate in North America in terms of volume as well as revenue, growing at a CAGR of 12.3% and 10.6% from 2014 to 2019, respectively. Given the type of proppant this technology is and target market presented, this technology would replace the Ceramic and Resin Coated proppants currently on the market. Because oil prices dropped unexpectedly the projections for 2019 are skewed but based on trends and the production of this proppant, the initial target market for U-6110 would be roughly $6 billion.