納米技術承載石油未來？ 聽聽專家如何解讀

The answers:

Shaun Smithers：
The answer would appear to be almost any application – the limits would only be our imaginations! I for one could imagine numerous applications for the eventual use of this technology for smart components in well control equipment such as self-healing ram packers or well control equipment that have surfaces exposed to the well-bore coated in reactive coatings that could extend the life of the equipment far beyond its current limits. Or coatings on hydraulic equipment that are impervious to corrosion and have improved sealing capabilities with dynamic seals. Or elastomerics such as o-ring seals that can change properties when subjected to changes in pressure or temperature so that fluid leaks would be a thing of the past. There really is no limit to where this could go.

There is much R&D being conducted and funded for the application if Nanotechnology to the O&G industry. I recall reading a fascinating article very recently regarding research to produce membranes and adsorbents from nanotubes that could separate H2S and CO2 from oil. I believe Rice University right here in Houston is also conducting R&D on nanoparticles to create ceramic proppants as a replacement for sand proppants that would have the ability to push further into the reservoir. You may want to contact the Chemistry Dept. at Rice and ask who is heading this R&D up.

Greg Baehr：
Christina Lomasney of Modumetal Inc. has published an article on nanomaterials’ applications to oil and gas. Her piece argues that cost-competitive nanomaterials can improve well economics by allowing sucker rod strings and other downhole equipment to endure corrosive or high-temperature environments much longer. She adds that nanomaterials can reduce offshore OCTG costs as much as 30 percent and improve production by allowing operators to use lighter, thinner tubulars.

The remainder of her article looks at using tiny sensors to monitor reservoirs, creating ‘smart materials’ that can detect and repair damage, and deploying proppants that use nanochemical reactions to inhibit scale or corrosion.

Colter Cookson：
Christina is far from the only person advocating nanotechnology’s use in oil and gas. In 2014, I had the chance to interview five individuals with the Advanced Energy Consortium, a collaborative effort involving academics from 30 universities and professionals from eight of the world’s largest oil and gas companies. Much of AEC’s work focuses on using electronic sensors, chemically-reactive nanomaterials, and nanoscale contrast agents to determine where oil is, gather geological data, map fracture networks, and monitor waterfloods.

The article also includes comments from Oceanit, an engineering firm that has developed a cement capable of warning operators about wellbore integrity issues, as well as a water-repelling coating that can enhance the corrosion resistance of pipelines and downhole tubulars.

In the same article, Karen Peltier, the director of labs with the Tertiary Oil Recovery Program at the University of Kansas, discusses using nanotechnology to create coatings for surfactants that will keep them from reacting until they enter the formation. Rafael Verduzco of Rice University describes efforts to develop nanoparticle surfactants and viscosity enhancers that can withstand high temperatures.

Many of these applications may be years away, and some of them may never materialize. However, the people I talked to seemed passionate about applying nanotechnology to oil and gas. They also told me that the AEC is doing a great job of getting nanotechnology experts with no oil and gas background to work in the industry.

Mohand Melbouci：
Lubrication would be greatly enhanced with nanotech.

Jason Johnson：
I agree Eric. I would like to learn more. I believe it can change the industry in fluids technology, and lubricants also. Might have to take some classes on this.

Mark Van Velzor：
Interesting opportunities especially those that reduce cost and increase production.

Timm Burnett：
Nano technology can provide coatings that will provide structural strength, corrosion resistant and wear resistant properties for the oil and gas industry. Through Nano layering Modumetal Inc. has demonstrated that coatings applied to many different types of substrates can achieve higher levels of performance.

Len Bland answered 10 hours ago
My company, Nano Gas Technologies, uses nano scale bubbles of gas in produced water to separate oil and remove suspended solids. We have a demonstration site in the Permian where we have recovered all but insignificant amounts (less than 7 mg/l) of TPH in the water.

Ray Ozdemir：
Novel nanostructured materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and porous polymer networks (PPNs) can be used for high capacity gas storage and (highly selective) gas separation. One emerging area is flare gas capture and storage for waste-to-power conversion. Intermittent and continuous flare gas could be stored in nanostructured materials at significantly less pressures compared to CNG since these materials offer high storage capacities. Nanostructured means that they have high surface areas and they can be ‘designed’ to selectively capture targeted species unlike conventional high surface area materials like activated carbons, zeolites or silica-based materials. MOFs have suffered durability issues in air and water but there are few companies with novel MOFs which have overcome this problem. These are the materials of the future and a lot of specialty chemicals companies are actively patenting the IP space, just Google ‘MOFs and PPNs’ to learn more or contact me, I would be more than happy to help.