A new technology has emerged to replace a seemingly clear-cut commodity: sand.

Oil producers have long relied on sand to help pry open previously inaccessible pockets of oil and natural gas trapped in shale rock. But now ceramic beads are pushing their way into the hydraulic fracturing process as a way for drillers to increase productivity.

Recent use of the tiny beads -- called ceramic proppant -- has not calmed drilling and fracking critics' concerns over the environmental safety of the process, which still includes shooting chemical solutions down well bores at high pressures.

But research has shown that the beads hold up better under pressure and are more effective at breaking through rock, compared with standard sand collected from Wisconsin and the upper Midwest. And although ceramic proppant is considerably more expensive, some industry experts have touted its potential long-term benefits.

"If they frack with sand and the well dies within a few months because the sand all crushed, that's a bad investment," said Jon Olson, associate professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Texas, Austin.

Although overall growth has been rocky, many new companies have joined the sand business over the past few years, seeking to capitalize on the nationwide fracking boom. Recent technology has also spurred development of ceramic proppant. One such product, developed using nanotechnology in a Rice University lab, is being marketed by Houston-based company Oxane Materials.

"It's always nice to say we predicted the future," said Andrew Barron, a Rice chemistry professor who helped design Oxane's proppant. "We were in the right place at the right time as the market grew" (Jeannie Kever, Fuel Fix, Jan. 14). -- BS