Synthesizing and Screening High Mobility Nanoparticles for Advanced Oil Recovery

Nanotechnology is now an essential tool for solving problems in areas as diverse as environmental remediation and medical imaging. It is perhaps not surprising that it has also found relevance to the energy sector by enabling novel approaches for the detection, recovery and refinement of oil and gas. Because of their small dimensions, nanomaterials can in some circumstances reach even the sub-micron scale pores of reservoirs. Once there, materials can both provide detectable signals concerning the reservoir properties present deep underground as well as alter the chemistry of carbon resources. Of special interest is the application of nanotechnology to the recovery of hard to reach oil and gas from low producing reservoirs. The use of nanotechnology in oil and gas by definition requires engineered nanomaterials that can stand up to the conditions present in the borehole and reservoirs. These are relatively harsh environments, typically aqueous, that can be under very high pressures, temperatures and ionic strengths. Such unforgiving conditions present the first challenge addressed by this thesis, namely the development of nanoscale materials that retain their chemical and colloidal stability under reservoir conditions. Different techniques have been used to ensure such stability is possible for the nanoscale materials of interest to the oil and gas industry. Coating the nanoparticles with polymers can provide both chemical and solution stability to nanoparticles, protecting the inorganic core from dissolution and the particles themselves from aggregation. Chapter 2 describes the synthesis of a library of well-characterized polymers for such application. These materials were prepared by photoinitiated radical polymerization of acrylate monomers. These synthesized polymers act as phase transfer agents for nanoparticles prepared in organic media. They both render the materials water soluble, and most critical, stable against aggregation even under the high ionic strengths found in reservoirs. For nanoparticles to be useful in most reservoir applications, they must be mobile in porous media such as sandstone or clays. In order to screen various surface coatings quickly for promise as high-mobility coatings, Chapter 3 describes the application of quartz crystal microbalance analysis to the evaluation of particle attachment to model interfaces. This novel method can quickly analyze the attachment of nanoparticles through sensitive measurements of the increasing weight of a quartz oscillator subjected to nanoparticle deposition. Parameters such as the molecular weight of nanoparticle-attached polymers, as well as the pH and ionic strength of the solution, all impact the attachment of nanoparticles to a 2D interface comparable in many ways to a sandstone interface. Coating agents not only protect the nanoparticles from the harsh conditions they encounter underground, but they can also enhance mobility by limiting attachment to surfaces. Of the various polymers screened by the QCM methods described in Chapter 3, one was very promising. This material, which included a nanoparticle-polymer plus free polymer, also showed very little breakthrough in model studies using 1-D columns, thereby confirming the value of QCM as a screening tool for mobility. This system was also able to traverse a solid core of sandstone even in a very high ionic strength solution. In all cases, an essential requirement for high mobility was the intentional or accidental inclusion of free polymer in solution. Free polymer blocked the highly active surface sites of the various media, thereby minimizing attachment of the nanoparticles. The procedure by which the mobility of the system was modified is detailed in Chapter 4. Finally, Chapter 5 describes a fundamental study of the dimensional dependence of nanoparticle attachment using a model nanoparticle system. One finding from the prior work was that nanoparticle mobility is limited by interfacial attachment, not by size filtration through porous media. This chapter investigates the effect that the size will have in the transportation of the nanomaterials through the oil reservoirs. Polystyrene beads of different sizes were functionalized to mimic the chemical active surface of the polymer-coated nanoparticles, and their attachment and mobility was studied. Both the net amount of material that deposits as well as the timescale of deposition depends on nanoparticle size.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Natural Sciences

Grantor

Rice University

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Garcia Rojas, Daniel

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Colvin, Vicki L

• Nanoparticle
• Advanced Oil Recovery
• QCM
• Quartz Crystal Microbalance
• Sandstone
• Polystyrene beads
• taurine

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1911/105754

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.rice.edu:1911/105754