Nano Technology in Oil Industry Essay

IntroductionNanotech applications & Nanoparticles have been successfully employ in bore mud for the Last 40-50 years. late the contrastive disciplines of the anele industry, such as exploration, native and assisted turnout, monitor, refining and distribution, atomic number 18 approaching nanotechnologies receivable to its immense Potential for Confronting take exceptions, per turnance cleansement & cost. specially in ultra-deep body of body of water supply and artic environments, Severe rootage conditions (high-temperature and high-pressure formations), nonconventional resources of energy,Heavy fossil rock anoints, tight attack, tar sands rootages)Present nanotech applications in crude oil industryMost of the major oil and process companies, such as BP, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Total and Schlumberger.done research in exploiting nanotechnologies to improve oil and gas production. Developing belowground small- and nanosensors that could be injected in oil and gas wellbores & designation of nanotech potentialities applied to EOR issues. Recent published results speak astir(predicate) Single-Walled-Carbon-Nano Tube (SWNT) / Silica nanohybrids, active at the changeable interface, if delivered at the O/W interface, would react and convert the oil properties to increase oil mobilization, hence oil recovery. Researchers ars analysing the potential benefits derived by the application of nanomaterials, nano fluents and nanomembranes in oil industry. Sensors Nanomaterials atomic number 18 unparallelled weapons for the development of sensors and imaging- contrast agents due to the significant alterations in their optical, magnetic and electrical properties, along with their ability to form (electrically and/or geometrically) percolated structures at low volume fractions. such(prenominal) nanomaterials, when combined with smart fluids, can be use as uttermost(a)ly sensitive down spate sensors for temperature, pressure and stress even down th e stairs extreme conditions.The ultimate evolution of instruments for oil prospects is perceived to be nanorobots, which should really provide an effective mathematical function of the reservoir. Nanorobots steady remain a dream,shared by the medical and oil sectors. But advances in nanosensors miniaturization are decent a reality. Coatings A wearing away-resistant material solution correspond by nanometric thin filmsand composites with nanostructured fillers are in the advance(a) stage. corrosion-resistant materials are the just ready to happen nanotechnology-based applications,due to its relatively low risk, high effectiveness and low complexity. Nanocoated, wear-resistant probes, do of tungsten carbide or boron nitride, enhance the life-time span and efficiency of the drilling systems. The same applies to the nano-layered corrosion inhibitors in pipes or tanks, which creates a permanent molecular coating on the surface of metals, eliminating corrosion. Nanofluids and n anomaterials for drilling and accomplishment Nanotechnology has opened the development of smart fluids for drilling, production and stimulation applications.Nanofluids and nano-based additives exhibit major advancement by deepen drilling by adding benefits like wettability alteration, ameliorate pass reduction and sand consolidation. A specialized rock oil lab has developed an advanced fluid commingle with nanosized particles and superfine powder that significantly improves the drilling speed up and can eliminate formation damage in near wellbore zone. With the synthesis of a novel embrace of elastomeric composites filled with carbon nanotubes or other powerfully anisotropic nano-objects, a unafraider, tougher and more rugged drilling tools and apparatus will be manufactured in future. These tools will ensure a significant incubus reduction and facilitate self-sensing elements to be interrogated for the real-time observe of the most critical parts.Another substantial technique in the development of super-hard materials is the use of nanostructured dispersed-hardened materials .First generation of nanotech applications for astir(p) hydraulic fracturing are re exposeed by BakerHughess nanostructured metal composites, combined by magnesium, aluminium and other alloys, which offer both strength at degrade weight and the ability to dissolve away infra certain conditions. Another example is the proppant produced by Oxane Materials, conventional by nano-structured ceramic material which is as arduous as but lighter as ceramic proppant. A possible solution for mitigating fines, by nanocrystals for treating hydraulic fracture proppant packs to fix formation fines.Nanotechnology application for reservoir monitoring & for enhanced oil recovery Nanomembranes A new generation of lightweight and wet nanomembranes is universe developed and employed, Which will remarkably enhancethe exploitation of tight gas by providing efficient methods for removing i mpurities, separating gas streams and enabling GTL production. Nanoporous and nanoparticulate materials are also quite supporting to manage the Health, Safety, Environmental, risks arise due to presence of carbon dioxide and H2S in hydrocarbon mixtures.Nanotechnology application for reservoir monitoring The crude oil sector and the medical visualize the dream of a nanosensor able to provide in-situ information roughly the systems under analysis. The most complicated and Complex challenge faced by oil industry is that it requires strong technical improvements in injected nano sensors into the reservoir, to face placement and recovery, safeguard in harsh environments , 3-D location, sensors powering and data store & retrieving. For example, the quantity of oil present in a reservoir could be assessed based on the bar of material lost or retained during the perish time, or the extreme conditions (temperature, pressure, salinity gradient) at which the nanoparticles were assailab le and for how long, could be determined. The idea can be to heart and soul nano-sensors in the reservoir periodically so as to regularly monitor changes in the well/ orbit conditions.In turn, this could result in enhanced production efficiency.several(prenominal) possible applications and exploitation schemes are afoot(predicate)ly under claim with nano-devices injected into a reservoir. A novel paramagnetic nanoparticles into proppant structures together with these smart proppant could help in mapping the fracture efficiency using detectable contrast agents. Further nanoparticles could preferably segregate into different fluid portions, hence providing enhanced characterization of the reservoir and, fianlly , alter oil recovery,due to their miniscule dimensions, increased surface land and high mobility. Nanotechnology application for enhanced oil recovery The greatest challenge at present is the opening night of increasing the efficiency of hydrocarbon production, both by u p(a) the current EOR methodologies and by developing alternative technologies.The current researches indicate the new generation nano-agents should modify the properties of the injected fluid, in terms of viscosity, niggardness, thermal conductivity and specific heat and modify the fluid-rock interaction properties, .The use of two different types of polysilicon nanoparticles (one nanometer-scale) in oil fieldsimproves wettability, to enhance water injection and improve oil recovery. The application of paramagnetic nanoparticles for EOR , possess a unique combination of liquid state and capability to interact with a magnetic field. The increment of a surfactant would greatly reduce the interfacial tension in waterwet reservoirs due to the presence of a dipole moment.The reservoir fluid molecules align, thus decrease the resistance to flow. ConocoPhillips, aims at creating a new disunite of polymer-type nanoparticles that can be incorporated with EOR injection fluids to improv e hydrocarbon recovery by penetrating small cerebrate throats without world trapped and hence the amount of dearly-won injection can be decreased.The University of Alaska Fairbanks investigated The possibility of improving gas injection for the Alaska North Slope dim oil recovery. Metal nanoparticles. reduce the viscosity of the sullen oil. Using super critical CO2 and viscousness ReducingInjectant (VRI) saturated by nanoparticles, exploit the thermal properties of nanoparticles for improved heat transfer to heavy oil explore the effects of Poly Di Methyl Siloxane and metal nanoparticles on density and viscosity for reducing mobility and viscous fingering Phenomena . When traffic with extremely low permeableness reservoirs, conventional approaches to water flooding cannot provide recovery factors greater than 0.2. This is mainly due to capillary forces which are very strong in narrow pore bring. With low-permeability reservoir rocks, the take aim of purity and filtratio n of injected water is one of the most important issues for a significant oil recovery.With rocks characterized by a permeability of 0.1 m2 the recovery factor deviates from an average of 0.4 by less than 10% if particulates in injected water are smaller than 200 nm. Nevertheless, with a rock permeability of 0.05 m2 the recovery factor is dramatically approaching set with the same particle ssize. A traditional water flooding technique is obviously unproductive in this latter case, unless water is filtered and purified of particulates down to at least(prenominal) 100 nm. Innovative water nano-filters are to be specially designed both to ensure kindred pore throats and the ability to recovery tens of billions of tons of oil. some(a) feel that oil is essentially a nanoliquid, with asphaltenes beingness the dominant part, flowing in a micro and often nanoscopic environment (i.e., the porous media).According to that,it seems justifiable to consider most of the oil and gas production technologies, reservoir treatments andstimulation as nanotechnologies. Under this signify of view, current petroleum science is depositing on the study and control of physical chemical phenomena occurring at the nanometer scale and the ability to correctly model the reservoir flow plays an important role. However, a suitable tool to reliably describe coupled phenomena is still missing. The present approach being discussed is, for creating nanorobots to monitor individual pores and channels and hydrocarbon flow, exchange information and identify zones which intensify the ancestry or the injection of water.CONCLUSIONNanotechnology Application to the oil industry has an immense potential & benefits. Some applications are already available,while others could come from Complementing the solutions developed for the biomedical, automotive, aerospace, chemical and, stuff Industries. Well drilling, fracturing and cementing as well as new generation membranes for gas separation already re ly on nanotech solutions. At present efforts are being made to design nano-sensors for reservoir characterization and monitoring and to produce nano-fluids for improving EOR processes. Promising results have been obtained from laboratory experiment, but field tests are still in progress..The future of nanotechnology applications is remarkable.