Gas and Oil Industry - Nanotechnology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Nanotechnology

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Nanotechnology in the Oil

and Gas Industry

Joshua Moreno

Scott Marwil

Danielle Miller

Introduction  How can nanotechnology help the oil and gas industry?  First, let’s identify the problems:  Drilling equipment tends to wear down fairly quickly  Normally, oil wells are only able to recover about 1 out of every 3 barrels of oil from a reservoir  Current Seismic technology cannot produce high enough resolution data about the oil reservoir  With peak oil fast approaching, there is a definite need to be able to fully utilize all of the resources that are available

Nanocoatings

 Anti-wear for drilling parts

 Anti-corrosion for pipelines and other exposed long term structures

 Lubricants and drilling mud

 Thermal coatings to lower deformation

 Anti-fouling for ships

Anti-wear coating

 Goal is to increase durability in moving

parts

 Increased durability gives added

toughness, a longer life span, and a lower equipment cost over time

 Coating is usually sprayed on and will

bond with the host material.

 Drilling materials need advances to be

able to reach hard to get oil reserves

Nanovar

 Much denser than metal on an atomic level  Provides strength, hardness, and thermal resistance which are three things needed in oil drilling in the future to reach reserves

Anti-corrosion

 Long lasting coatings are needed to protect under sea pipes from sea water

 Coatings used on rigs and other platforms to prevent rust and corrosion that can cause safety issues  More environmental friendly than anti- corrosion paints and cheaper

Nanofluids - lubricants

 Suspensions of nanoparticles in fluids

that enhance its properties

 Main advantage in the oil and gas

field is the enhanced thermal

properties (performs well at high/low

temperatures, transfers heat well,

insulates well, etc)

 Highly customizable to the desired

situation

Nanofluids – drilling mud

 Nanofluids used in drilling mud is being looked at as a solution to ultra deep drilling fluid

 Nanoparticles added at a low weight percentage can have a big impact in the fluid

 The suspension of nanoparticles can provide enhanced stability against sedimentation along with better thermal, mechanical, electrical, and magnetic properties  Customizable for the situation and geography/region

 Improvements will enable access to deeper, hotter regions in high grade formations where oil cannot currently be reached

Anti-fouling

 AMBIO project is seeking a nanocoating solution that eliminates fouling  Focuses on how microorganisms attach to the surfaces of ships  Seeks to combine a low drag silicon coating with carbon nanotubes

Wrap-up

 Still a lot of development occurring in

this field

 Development slowed by competing

companies. No free flow of

information

 Will be greatly important as we seek

harder to reach oil and gas reserves

Reservoir Surveillance

 These “reporters” are designed to change their molecular makeup depending on what they encounter – water, petroleum, hydrogen sulfide, etc

 They are also given tags, similar to barcodes, that can tell scientists how long they have been underground

Reservoir Surveillance

 Lastly, they are being designed to be able to report properties about the material that they are currently near

 With the ability to report temperature and pressure, they can relay valuable information to scientists

Nanorobots

 Another new technology that may have an impact on the oil and gas industry is nano-robots. The EXPEC Advanced Research Center has been looking into this new technology  They have coined the phrase resbots, or reservoir robots  These resbots are designed for a similar purpose as the nanoreporters; however, they are proving to be difficult due to their larger size

Resbot lead technologist Mazen Kanj illustrates that one drop of solution contains more 600 billion Resbots. One milligram of the dry material holds 6 trillion Resbots.

Nanorobots

 In order for any particle to move through an oil reservoir, it must be able to pass through tiny pores in the rock  In order for resbots to be able to pass through them, EXPEC ARC had to manipulate the physical and chemical properties of the resbots until they were able to pass through the pores

Reservoir rock holds oil in tiny pores connected by “pore throats,” outlined in red, which are even smaller than the pores. Nanorobots must be small enough to pass through the pore throats.