Valery Khabashesku
Professor, USA
Title: Engineered nanoparticles for oilfield applications: Recent advances
Biography
Biography: Valery Khabashesku
Abstract
Statement of the Problem: The oil industry is in critical need for advanced technologies that enable enhanced oil recovery and reliable equipment operations under increasingly harsh reservoir conditions, high pressure, high temperature, high salinity and sour environments. The recent advances made in nanotechnology R&D on basis of engineered nanoparticles, dispersed or in-situ generated in different media, offer viable solutions for such demanding oilfield applications as enhanced bitumen recovery from oil sands, tracers for reservoir monitoring, corrosion and erosion-resistant coatings, reduced wear elastomer seals and instrumentation for well logging and natural formations monitoring. Methodology: Laboratory flotation experiments on bitumen recovery from mined oil sands were done by using dispersed inorganic nanoparticle colloids. Fluorescent carbon quantum dots (CQD), were synthesized using electrochemical redox reactions. For preparation of fluorescent core-shell nanoparticles, colloidal synthesis was applied. A series of samples of HNBR elastomer filled with CNTs and 50 phr of N550 carbon black and a peroxide-based curing system was prepared by melt mixing in a C.W. Brabender internal mixer. Nanodiamond/Ni-B and Ni-P composite coatings were deposited on test coupons by an electroless technique. Scintillating glass ceramic nanocomposites for gamma ray detection were produced by controlled melting of mixed oxide and oxyfluoride media. Findings: Colloidal nanoparticles improved bitumen recovery by 5%. Synthesized 10-20 nm CQD were stable in API brine at 80 °C and recovered at 76 % in coreflow experiments. The abrasion resistance of the elastomer reinforced by CNTs was more than 100% greater than for the commercial one. The addition of diamond to Ni-P composite coatings resulted in three times lower erosion than monolithic Ni-B coatings. Novel nanostructured glasses 2BaF2·3SiO2·2GdF3·SiO2·CeF3 & 2BaCl2·3SiO2·2GdCl3·SiO2·CeCl3, respectively, showed a reasonably fast scintillation kinetics with a decay constant of 70-80 ns. Conclusion & Significance: The reviewed examples can open new opportunities for nanotechnology application in the oil industry.