Discussions about the potential for nanotechnology can very quickly attain “pie-in-the-sky” status, simply because the true potential isn’t known and most likely won’t be for many years. But within the past decade or so, the oil and gas industry has gone from “what if” scenarios to some proven successes and some additional promising R&D.

At a luncheon hosted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ R&D Committee, Matt Bell of Geodynamics introduced a panel discussion on nanotechnology by defining it as “messing around with stuff” at the molecular and atomic scale.

Research in the energy industry is quite focused on material science, including: interface science and colloids; passive nanotechnology, which starts with a full-sized tool or sensor and makes it smaller; active nanotechnology, which builds things up from the nano-scale; self-assembly at the nano-scale; bio-mimetics and bio-nano, which emulates the way nature assembles atomic particles and molecules; and nano-robotics, the ultimate goal or “moonshot” that the industry hopes to achieve.

Within the topic of materials, the industry is currently constrained by cost, physical issues (building things that are too heavy to move, for instance), and complexity. Bell said that this is clearly an opportunity and that breakthroughs are already being seen in other industries such as textiles, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and medicine.

“As usual, the oil and gas industry is behind the curve,” he joked.

There are obvious fits. Oil industry issues in the materials realm include abrasion, corrosion, strength-to-weight, and thermal conductivity. Proven nanotechnology can provide coatings to protect against abrasion, alloys to minimize corrosion, composites to avoid sacrificing strength for weight, and microstructure to keep components from overheating.

So why isn’t this happening? One key reason is a simple language barrier -- oil industry experts and nano-experts both have their jargon, and only through collaboration has some of this barrier been overcome.

Additionally there is what Bell referred to as the “panda analogy.” Giant pandas are an endangered species, yet placing a male and female in close proximity is no guarantee of offspring. It’s similar with different technologies -- placing energy experts and nano-experts in the same room is no guarantee of cross-pollination.

On a more gruesome note, panda parents often abandon or even eat their offspring, apparently out of jealousy. Bell likened this to a service company that buys and then shelves a new technology, believing that it’s too disruptive.

The opportunity is there, but it will take work in all areas of technology development. Researchers need to develop capabilities, concepts, and “pure nano,” Bell said, while the road to commercialization will require applications, products, and the concept of “nano inside,” borrowing the slogan from “Intel inside.” Bridging this gap will require applied research, proof of concept, field trials and adoption, and sales. And all of this will require venture capital and entrepreneurs.

Howard Schmidt from Saudi Aramco discussed his company’s work with nanotechnology, a topic of great interest since Saudi Aramco has taken the lead in this type of research. The company began its research in 2005 by focusing on active, passive, and reactive nano-agents for in situ sensing and intervention.

Passive nano-particles simply get injected into a reservoir, while active nano-particles might interact with other measurements such as electromagnetics (EM) or acoustics. Reactive nano-agents might actually make changes within the reservoir. The ultimate goal is the “intelligent nano-field” that can transmit data back to the operator. This type of nantechnology will ideally be simple, effective, scalable, and fieldable, Schmidt said.

All of these goals are intended to help Aramco improve its recovery rate from 50% to 70% in the next 20 years.

The first hurdle is to get the nano-materials to actually move through the reservoir and not get stuck to the rock surfaces or to each other. In a test using fluorescent 5.0- to 10-nm carbon particles, 5.0 kilos of product in suspension was injected into a well, and 86% of it was ultimately recovered. Cross-well tests are planned for 2012.

Another successful test involved mapping waterflood fronts. Current methods of mapping the oil-water contact often turn out to be guesswork with the water not behaving as planned. A small test using magnetic nano-particles indicated that an EM signal will slow down as it passes through water where these sensors are present. The delay in the EM signals allows scientists to do travel time tomography to better map the water front.

Finally, in the EOR arena, it’s important for Aramco to improve its surfactant delivery. In the fractured carbonates that characterize its older fields, it’s easy to lose large amounts of surfactants. Borrowing nanotechnology from the medical industry that identifies mouse tumors, Aramco developed a time-release surfactant that works quite well to move the oil, even in hot brine conditions.

There is much work to be done, but Schmidt said that the gains his company has realized so far have taken the promise of nanotechnology from science fiction to “a realistic dream.”

Contact the author, Rhonda Duey, at rduey@hartenergy.com.