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GC Possible Nanotechnology Applications in Petroleum Reservoirs*
Bob Hardage1
Search and Discovery Article #40396 (2009)
Posted March 20, 2009
*Adapted from the Geophysical Corner column, prepared by the author, in AAPG Explorer, February, 2009, and entitled “Thinking Nano Is a Big Thing”. Editor of Geophysical Corner is Bob A. Hardage. Managing Editor of AAPG Explorer is Vern Stefanic; Larry Nation is Communications Director.
1Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin ([email protected])
Let’s think small. Real small – because an exciting science referred to as nanotechnology is being introduced into reservoir
characterization
and
monitoring
. The sizes of devices and sensors that can now be fabricated to react in measurable ways when they contact a specific fluid, chemical or biological agent have been reduced so that they can be injected into some hydrocarbon reservoirs and become part of the fluid flow through the
reservoir
system. The term “nano” indicates the minute size of everything related to this technology. Common terminology appearing in descriptions of this new
reservoir
-
monitoring
science includes nanodevices, nanosensors and nanorobots.
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NanodevicesPhysical sizes of nanodevices are shown in Figure 1. The sensors range in size from that of a microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) device (as large as 100 micrometers [μm]) down to a “buckyball” (1 nanometer [nm] in diameter) – a range of five orders of magnitude. A buckyball is a spherical cage of carbon atoms, commonly 60 atoms (C60) but sometimes more, capable of encasing a molecule or ion that can be designed to react in a predesigned way whenever it contacts a target molecule. A buckytube, or nanotube (Figure 1), is an elongated cylinder of carbon atoms having a diameter a bit more than one nm and a length ranging from one μm to several millimeters. A nanotube also can contain process-activated molecules. Similar to a buckyball’s behavior, the reaction of a nanotube offers a host of possibilities that may provide diagnostic information about
The target molecule that initiates the desired reaction can, in theory, be tailored to be a wide range of molecules found in, or associated with, producing hydrocarbon systems. Nanodevices, perhaps, can be made that initiate their predesigned action after set periods of calendar time to measure how far they have progressed through a
To put the possibility of injecting nanodevices into reservoirs into perspective, a comparison between
Because nanotubes can be designed to become efficient electrical conductors, electromagnetic (EM) measurements may be the branch of geophysics that first develops applications of nanotechnology in
All of these possible applications, and others, are being discussed and proposed by scientists who develop nanodevices and by geoscientists and engineers who wish to use the devices in
It
will be some years before nanoscience can be put into practice in
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