Engineered Nanoparticles for Unconventional Hydrocarbon Resource Recovery

用于非常规碳氢化合物资源回收的工程纳米颗粒

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-03880
• 负责人: Husein, Maen
• 金额: $ 2.84万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739530
• 关键词: Engineered; Nanoparticles; Unconventional; Hydrocarbon; Resource

Canada's oil sands deposit extends over 142,200 km2 in northern Alberta. With approximately 168 billion barrels of proven reserves, this deposit is the third largest proven crude oil reserve in the world following the Arabia and Venezuela. Canada's other unconventional hydrocarbon resources such as tight oil and tight gas are also abundant. Unlocking these resources is, nevertheless, challenging and employs material and energy intensive processes. These processes incur high cost and severe environmental footprint. Given the current oil and gas market and public awareness, industry is in dire need for innovative, efficient processes to sustain Canada's unconventional hydrocarbon utilization. Nanotechnology, via engineered nanoparticles (NPs), offers viable routes for unconventional hydrocarbon exploration, production and upgrading. Our previous work has demonstrated the superior performance of NPs in catalyzing oil upgrading and improving the performance of drilling fluids. A major difference between our approach and the literature is the use of in-house/in situ prepared/modified NPs. In situ preparation of NPs entails carrying out finely balanced reactions which lead to a superior control over resultant particle size and their state of dispersion. Our approach constitutes a platform technology which enables the preparation and surface modification of a wide variety of inorganic NPs ranging between 5 nm to 70 nm, each suited for a given application. The current proposal explores the application of in-house prepared and/or modified NPs to promote the functionality of polymer flooding fluids and fracturing fluids. The requested fund will enable the pursuit of the following paths. 1) The design of novel NP-polymer flooding sols composed of strongly associated NPs and polymers. Such a sol is better able to displace oil; including heavy oils, from reservoirs by virtue of its high viscosity and strongly interconnected front. Highly interconnected NP-polymer sols can be achieved via in situ preparation of NPs. Furthermore, only low amounts of the NPs are needed to preserve the polymer from thermal, mechanical and chemical degradation. Subsequently, lower mass of the polymer is needed, which in turn reduces the cost and environmental footprint of polymer flooding. 2) Engineering smart fracturing nanofluid with temperature-tunable viscosity. Such a fluid delivers the proppants to tight reservoirs with minimum friction. In the meantime, it does not pose restriction toward hydrocarbon flow, once the fracturing job is complete. Smart fracturing fluids are highly desired, especially given the cost and environmental footprint of the current fracturing operations. Ultimately, our work contributes to improving the efficacy, while reducing the cost and the environmental impact of Canada's unconventional hydrocarbon resource utilization. This, in turn, attracts more local and foreign investors, which creates more job opportunities for the Canadians.

加拿大的油砂矿床在艾伯塔省北部延长了142,200 km2。该押金约有约1680亿桶，这是在阿拉伯和委内瑞拉之后的世界上第三大原油储备。加拿大的其他非常规的烃资源，例如紧密的油和紧燃气也很丰富。然而，解锁这些资源是具有挑战性的，并采用了材料和能源密集型过程。这些过程产生了高成本和严重的环境足迹。鉴于当前的石油和天然气市场以及公众的意识，行业迫切需要创新，有效的流程，以维持加拿大非常规的碳氢化合物利用。通过工程纳米颗粒（NP），纳米技术为非常规碳氢化合物勘探，生产和升级提供了可行的途径。我们以前的工作证明了NP在催化油升级和改善钻孔液的性能方面的出色表现。我们的方法和文献之间的主要区别是使用内部/原位准备/修改的NP。 NP的原位制备需要进行精细平衡的反应，从而使对产生的粒径及其分散状态进行了卓越的控制。我们的方法构成了一种平台技术，该技术可以使各种无机NP的准备和表面修饰在5 nm至70 nm之间，每个无机NP都适合给定应用。当前的提案探讨了内部准备和/或改良的NP的应用，以促进聚合物洪水泛滥液和破裂液的功能。 请求的基金将实现以下途径。 1）由密切相关的NP和聚合物组成的新型NP聚合物洪水的设计。这样的溶胶可以更好地取代石油。包括重油，从储层凭借其高粘度和强烈相互联系的前面。高度互连的NP聚合物溶胶可以通过NP的原位制备来实现。此外，仅需要低量的NP来保护聚合物免受热，机械和化学降解的影响。随后，需要较低的聚合物质量，从而减少了聚合物洪水的成本和环境足迹。 2）工程智能压裂纳米流体，具有可调粘度。这样的液体将支撑剂带到最小摩擦的紧密储层。同时，一旦破裂作业完成，它也不会对碳氢化合物的流动施加限制。智能压裂液是高度期望的，尤其是考虑到当前破裂操作的成本和环境足迹。 最终，我们的工作有助于提高功效，同时降低加拿大非常规碳氢化合物资源利用的成本和环境影响。反过来，这吸引了更多的本地和外国投资者，这为加拿大人创造了更多的就业机会。