NANOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS: OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

Kamal Banjara

Rodrigo Benedetti

Bob DeBorde

John DeLeonardis

Overview

• Oil and Gas Industry

•Nanotechnology in the Industry

• Applications http://kiaostherealitytraveler.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-do-you-like-this-reailty.html

Applications

•Geothermal Energy

•Fuel Energy

•Better Equipment

•Smart fluids

•Sensors

webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca

stockwatch.in

Superwetting nanomenbranes for selective absorption.JIKANG YUAN, XIAOGANG LIU, OZGE AKBULUT, JUNQING HU, STEVEN L. SUIB, JING KONG AND FRANCESCO STELLACCI.

Introduction

Julio Cortez / Houston Chronicle

•Oil spills and wastewater

•Conventional Techniques

Oil Spills Clean UpBooms -- Floating barriers placed around the oil or around whatever is leaking the oil. Booms contain the oil so skimmers can collect it.

Skimmers -- Boats, vacuum machines, and oil-absorbent plastic ropes that skim spilled oil from the water's surface after booms have corralled it. The skimmer collects oil into a container so it can be removed.

In-situ burning -- Igniting freshly spilled oil while it's still floating on the water.

Chemical dispersants

Bioremediation industrysearch.com.au

erez-therm.com

NEW APPROACH:Nanowire membranes

WHAT ARE NANOMEMBRANES

?

Chemical composition Potassium sulphate Potassium persulphate Manganese sulphate monohydrate Solution ratio 1:2:1 in deionized water

K2SO4K2S2O8 MnSO4 . H2O

Transferred

Teflon-vessel

@ 2500C for 4 days in OVEN

Final product: Superhydrophilic Manganese oxide nanowire membranes

Use of Polydimethysiloxane (PDMS)

Provides silicon Silicon is hydrophobic

PDMS

@ 2340 C and for 30 mins

nanomembrane

Final product; Silicon coated superhydrophobic membranes

What they have accomplished MIT engineers have developed self-assembled

nanowire membranes with superwetting properties (0.05 s).

By coating the membrane with hydrophobic molecules, the wetting characteristics are reversed

http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/dn16340/0-nanotechnologys-biggest-stories-of-2008.html

The nanomembrane was assembled underwater and dried.

SEM high magnification few of nanowire bundle under various magnification

Optical image of the cryptomelane membrane

Scanning electron microscope image of cross section area of the

membrane

Later the wool-like bundle was stretched out and pressed in a similar way that paper is made.

What they found:

Very robust

Reusable

Hydrophobicity doesn’t decrease with use

HOW DO NANOWIRE

MEMBRANES WORK?

Nanowire membranes act as nano-capillary sponges

the pore size distribution centered about 10nm Surface area of 44 m2g-1

Membrane absorbs on average of 14 t m-3 of motor oil making it an ideal oil absorbent

Experimental results shows the membrane can soak up organic substance 20 times of its weight

Oil uptake studies of the silicone-coated nanowire membrane ; absorption capabilities of the membrane for a selection of organic solvents and oil in terms of its weight gain

SELECTIVE ABSORPTION BETWEEN DIFFERENT ORGANIC COMPOUNDS

NOTE: THE SEPARATION PROCEDURE IS SIMILAR THAT WE DO USING TLC PLATES IN OUR

LABROTORIES

Comparison to porous Polypropylene and silicon-coated

glass fabric membranes

Manganese oxide NanowiresPolypropylene and silicon coated

glass fibers

Water contact angle ( Ѳ>170 ) Water contact angle 142 and 128 resp.

In mixture of toluene and water, these nanowires absorb only toluene

Absorbs both water and toluene

selective absorption of different sizes toluene

Doesn’t show any notable selectivity

Thermal stability up to 380 0 C Not so stable

Conclusions

Nanowire membranes can be controlled to be either hydrophilic or hydrophobicAddition/subtraction of coatingThermodynamically stable

Selective solubilityPolar v. non-polarNon-polar v. non-polar

Applications

Oil SpillsAbsorbs only organicsRegeneration

Separation Process

sanfrancisco.ismyhome.com

Assessment

Useful technology Wide variety of applications Manganese Oxide is Toxic

ouhsc.eduManganese OxideOptionoxides.tradeindia.com

Further Research Possibilities Membranes that are specific to one

species Techniques for large-scale production Use compounds that are non-toxic Full properties of material

filebox.vt.edu

Questions?

Rebuttal from U1We agree that we all need to work on our speaking

skills, such as eye contact and overall verbal delivery. We should also avoid filler words.

Some people thought our introduction was either too long or too short, and many people felt that it was

vague and off-topic.

Our intention with the introduction was to familiarize the audience with the problems of current oil spill

cleanup and how nanotechnology can help out. We should have made it a little more clear and possibly

improved our organization.

More in-depth research could have been done by us on the hazards of such materials and similar research

being done by other groups. http://www.freewebs.com/matthewstolte/Oil_Spill!_by_Berger.jpg

http://www.ivan-ong.com/wp-admin/images/public.jpg

Review of Group U1’s Presentation-

By Group U2: -Kyle Demel

-Keaton Hamm

-Bryan Holekamp

-Rachael Houk

industrysearch.com.au

The presenters could have discussed the following more in depth:

• Further applications of oil- soaking nanomembranes:– Small-scale water clean-ups– Self-cleaning fabrics/carpets– Super absorbent rags– Hydrocarbon storage– Filter membranes

• Introduction – Needed to be longer

Group 3: Krista Melish James

KancewickPhillip Keller Mike Jones

Super wetting Nanomembranes

for Selective Absorption

Review from Group U3

Presentation Review: Ugrad #1Presentation Review Material Review Good Volume and Tone Need to reduce use of verbal

distractors (umm, like, etc.) and pauses

Slight tendency to present to the slide versus the audience

Good slide design Consistent format Use of graphics enhanced

presentation Well thought out and easy to

follow

Overall Grade: 90

Article chosen appropriate and Interesting

Selective absorbance characteristics of non-polar liquids holds future value

Speed and selectivity of absorbtion are astounding Holds promise for oil spill clean up Laboratory separations Industrial absorption bed material

Questions for further research: What are the hazards of

regeneration? Can the technology be applied to

other areas such as solute adsorption (seawater) or gas adsorption (fuel storage)?

Super wetting Nanomembranesfor Selective Absorption

Review from Group 4

Group U4

Main PointsPossible uses rely on the

hydrophobicity of the membrane.Tested on a laboratory scaled

and proved to absorb oil and not water.

Reusable.When scaled up, could be used to

clean up oil spills.Chemical properties could be

modified to absorb other substances, thus broadening the range of applications.

Debate over its hazardousness.

Group U4

Nanotechnology Applications: Oil and gas industry

Review of Team U1 by Team U5 – Jaynesh Shah, Greg Pudewell, Edwin L. Youmsi Pete and John Pack.

Oral and Quality of Slides Review The speakers did a

great job of speaking in a clear manner.

They were confident and sounded knowledgeable on the subject.

The slides were visually appealing and consistent

Graphics helped gave visuals about and helped understand the subject

Technical Review

The presentation was technically sound

Good use of technical jargon

Paper selection was relevant and recent

Perhaps research other new methods of cleaning up oil spills

The presentation was well laid out and there were illustrations to support their points.

The paper presented was very innovative and possessed many potential future uses.

Further research needs to be performed to determine the feasibility of large scale production.

They could have spoken more clearly and made more eye contact with audience.

Nanotechnology Applications: Oil and Gas Industry

Presented by Undergraduates 1 (U1)Critiqued by Undergraduates 6 (U6) – Pavitra Timbalia, Michael Trevathan, & Jared Walker

Group U6

Review from U6 to U1

What We LearnedNanowire/nanomesh is:• Highly hydrophobic• Extremely durable• Has a strong affinity toward hydrocarbons• Capable of significant hydrocarbon separation – based on polarity• Only been produced on small scale• The cost of production is unknown• Potential toxicity issues while manufacturing• In the future it will be capable of efficiently cleaning up spilled oil in the field.

Group U6

Review from U6 to U1

Mass Production

• It seems that the nano-capiliary sponges can be used to selectively absorb or set boundaries for and contain leaked oil. In order to make this possible, a large amount of sponges are needed.

• What efforts have researchers made to improve the techniques to mass-produce this nano-material?

• Have they been successful?• How far has the research been done to

commercially produce the material for use?

Jung Hwan Woo

Review from G6 to U1c

Socioeconomic Issues

• Is the production toxin-free? (especially for large-production)

• Is this material more cost-effective than the current methods discussed in the introduction?

Jung Hwan Woo

Review from G6 to U1c