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The function of a propping agent is to hold the fracture open after the fluid injection is stopped and the fracturing fluid has been removed or has leaked off into the reservoir. Proppants are sized particles that hold fractures open after a hydraulic fracturing treatment. In addition to naturally occurring sand grains, man-made or specially engineered proppants, such as resin-coated sand or high-strength ceramic materials such as sintered bauxite, also can be used. Proppant materials are carefully sorted for size and sphericity to provide an efficient conduit for production of fluid from the reservoir to the wellbore.

A well proppant-packed fracture should have a much higher permeability than the reservoir rock, having linear flow and negligible pressure drop through the fracture to the wellbore, giving rise to increased well productivity. The reservoir can now flow from the extremities of the fracture to the wellbore through the highly conductive proppant pack. The effectiveness of the propping agent has great bearing on the success of a fracture treatment.

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