high density ceramic of proppants made of sintered bauxite proppant creates a problem

It has been recognised that the high density ceramic of proppants made of sintered bauxite proppant creates a problem in the placement of the material. This arises from the fact that the fluid used to transport the proppant requires modification from that used to transport for example, resin coated silica sand because of the substantially greater tendency for particles of sintered bauxite to settle more rapidly from the suspension. This increases the cost of placing the proppant but an even greater cost penalty results from the higher density by comparison with that of silica sand. It will be immediately obvious that a proppant with density of 3.7, which is typical of sintered bauxite presently used, will require a greater mass of material to fill a fracture of given volume than proppant with density of 2.65.