Applications of nanotechnology in oil and gas industry: Progress and perspective

Nanotechnology has been successfully implemented in many applications, such as nanoelectronics, nanobiomedicine, and nanodevices. However, this technology has rarely been applied to the oil and gas industry, especially in upstream exploration and production. The oil and gas industry needs to improve oil recovery and exploit unconventional resources. The cost of research and oil production is under immense pressure, and it is becoming more difficult to justify such investment when the crude oil price is weak and depressed. There is a widespread belief that nanotechnology may be exploited to develop novel nanomaterials with enhanced performance to combat these technological barriers. Increasing funding resources from governmental and global oil industry have been allocated to exploration, drilling, production, refining, and wastewater treatment. For example, nanosensors allow for precise measurement of reservoir conditions. Nanofluids prepared using functional nanomaterials may exhibit better performance in oil production processes, and nanocatalysts have improved the efficiency in oil refining and petrochemical processes. Nanomembranes enhance oil, water and gas separation, oil and gas purification, and the removal of impurities from wastewater. Functional nanomaterials can play an important role in the production of smart, reliable, and more durable equipment. In this review paper, we summarize the research progress and prospective applications of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in the oil and gas industry.     

Towards Diastereomeric Pure Salts with Antisolvent Methods

Chiral molecules, especially enantiomers and diastereomers of purity > 99 %, present a significant market share within the chemical, pharmaceutical, and flavor industries. Antisolvent precipitations, both batch and semicontinuous operations to serve the current trends in flow chemistry were demonstrated to be environmentally benign and efficient tools in achieving high optical purities. Although salts are known to be insoluble in supercritical CO₂, instabilities of the nascent salts were detected and applied for increasing efficiency. Diastereomeric excess values of the crystalline products exceeded 99 % in maximum of three consecutive steps both by repeated resolution with half molar equivalent of the amine to the acid and by direct recrystallization of the salts.     

The metabolism and distribution of docosapentaenoic acid (n−6) in rats and rat hepatocytes

In this study, a new marine oil that contains 45% docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22∶6n−3) and 13% docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, 22∶5n−6) was administered to rats. The metabolism and distribution of DPA in rats was investigated. In experiment 1, the effects of DHA and n−6 fatty acids (linoleic acid, I A; arachidonic acid, AA; and DPA) on AA contents were investigated in vivo. LA group: LA 25%, DHA 30%; LA-DPA group: LA 15%, DPA 10%, DHA 35%; LA-AA-DPA group: LA 10%, AA 5%, DPA 10%, DHA 35% were administered to rats for 4 wk. In the liver, the AA content in the LA-DPA and LA-AA-DPA groups was significantly higher than in the LA group. The decreased AA contents in the LA group might be caused by DHA administration. Although DHA also was administered in the LA-DPA and LA-AA-DPA groups, the AA contents in these two groups did not decrease. These results suggested that DPA retroconverted to AA, blunting the decrease in AA content caused by DHA administration. To conduct a detailed investigation on DPA metabolism and its relation with AA and DHA, rat hepatocytes were cultured with pruified DPA and DHA for 24 h. We discovered the retroconversion of DPA to AA occurred only when AA content was decreased by a high DHA administration; it did not occur when AA content was maintained at a normal level.     

Viscosity of silica optical fibres characterized using regenerated gratings

The viscosity of an optical fibre over 1000–1150 °C is studied by inscribing an optical fibre Bragg grating that can withstand temperatures up to 1200 °C and monitoring fibre elongation under load through the Bragg wavelength shift. This optical interrogation offers high accuracy and reliability compared with direct measurements of elongation, particularly at lower temperatures, thus avoiding significant experimental error. An excellent Arrhenius fit is obtained from which an activation energy for viscous flow of E_a = 450 kJ mol^?1 is extracted; addition of an additional temperature-dependent pre-exponential does not change this value. The log plot of viscosity is found overall to be consistent with that reported in the literature for silica measurements on rods and beams, but substantially higher than past work reported for optical fibres. The annealing and strain temperatures for an optical fibre were derived as 1114 °C and 1010 °C. However, it is shown that, because regenerated gratings already involve a post-annealing process at higher temperature, the structures are equilibrated and much more relaxed compared with normal fibres, making viscosity measurements meaningful. This work highlights the need to stabilize components for operation in harsh environments before their application, despite some mechanical compromise. Given the increasing expectation of all-optical waveguide technologies operating >1000 °C, the need to study the behaviour of glass over the long term brings added significance to the basic understanding of glass in this regime.     

Design and Testing of a Graphite Foam-Based Supercooler for High-Heat-Flux Cooling in Optoelectronic Packages

The feasibility of using graphite foam as a heat sink and heat spreader in optoelectronic packages is assessed. A “supercooler” is designed, fabricated, and tested to verify its cooling capability under high heat flux conditions in a typical optoelectronic package. The supercooler uses graphite foam as a primary heat transfer material. Water is soaked into the graphite foam, and under evacuated pressure, boiling is initiated under the heating region to provide enhanced cooling. Experiments were conducted for a heat flux of up to 400 W/cm² deposited over a heating area of 0.5 mm × 5 mm. Two-dimensional transient temperature distributions were recorded using a high-speed infrared camera. Data were obtained for steady heating, and for periodic heating with frequency up to 8 Hz. Results show that the supercooler is very efficient in dissipating heat away from the heating region. The average cooling rate during the cooling period exceeds 170 K/s.     

New temperature dependent thermal conductivity data for water-based nanofluids

This paper presents effective thermal conductivity measurements of alumina/water and copper oxide/water nanofluids. The effects of particle volume fraction, temperature and particle size were investigated. Readings at ambient temperature as well as over a relatively large temperature range were made for various particle volume fractions up to 9%. Results clearly show the predicted overall effect of an increase in the effective thermal conductivity with an increase in particle volume fraction and with a decrease in particle size. Furthermore, the relative increase in thermal conductivity was found to be more important at higher temperatures. Obtained results compare favorably with certain data sets and theoretical models found in current literature.     

Surface modification of DF-2 tool steel under the scan of a YAG laser in continuously moving mode

Pulsed Nd:YAG laser with focus diameter of 1.06 μm was used to treat successively and continuously the surface of DF-2 cold work tool steel plate. Surfaces irradiated under a large range of laser setting parameters resulted in very different morphologies and microstructures. Roughness of the treated surface was measured by Talysurf profilometer, whilst surface morphologies and microstructures were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Change of crystalline structure and composition of the treated surface layers before and after treatments were studied by energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDX). Cross-sectional micro-hardness of the treated layers was also analyzed. Measured micro-hardness values clearly indicated the performance improvement of the treated surface owing to the formation of martensite. Penetration depth of the micro-hardness varied greatly with the laser irradiating parameters that recursively results in different microstructures. Suitable control of the laser irradiation parameters allowed the accomplishment of highest micro-hardness at the outermost surface.     

A novel partitioning method as a possible tool for investigating meat. I.

 This paper describes a practical application of the interfacial protein enrichment method, called three-phase partitioning (TPP), and outlines its significance in the differentiation of multicomponent protein systems, such as homogenates and drips of different meats (pork, beef, chicken, turkey and wild-boar). The results obtained using the single-protein model system are also reported to demonstrate the basic process and some characteristic features of TPP. For meat-protein-partitioning experiments, ammonium sulphate (41% relative saturation) and 23.7% tert-butanol were used at 20 – 25°C. Using this two-liquid system, a characteristic distribution of three phases (including a semi-solid midlayer) was obtained for homogenates of eight different meats following centrifugation. Compressibility, expressed as a ratio of layer thickness obtained by low-speed (200 g) and medium-speed (4500 g) centrifugation, allowed us to distinguish between beef and pork drips. A good correlation was found between layer thickness and storage time for wild-boar samples. The partitioning presented here can be considered as a rapid and simple method for comparison between raw meat samples of different origin. Received: 9 July 1997 / Revised version: 1 October 1997