A
proppant is a solid material, typically sand, treated sand or man-made ceramic materials, designed to keep an
induced hydraulic fracture open, during or following a fracturing treatment. It is added to a
frac'ing fluid which may vary in composition depending on the type of fracturing used, and can be
gel,
foam or slickwater–based. In addition, there may be unconventional frac'ing fluids. Fluids make tradeoffs in such material properties as
viscosity, where more viscous fluids can carry more concentrated proppant; the energy or pressure demands to maintain a certain flux pump rate (
flow velocity) that will conduct the proppant appropriately;
pH, various
rheological factors, among others. In addition, fluids may be used in low-volume well stimulation of high-permeability
sandstone wells (20k to 80k gallons per well) to the high-volume operations such as
shale gas and
tight gas that use millions of gallons of water per well.