Engineered Nanoparticles for Unconventional Hydrocarbon Resource Recovery

加拿大阿尔伯塔省北部的油砂储量超过142,200平方公里。该矿床已探明储量约为1680亿桶，是仅次于阿拉伯和委内瑞拉的世界第三大已探明原油储量。加拿大的致密油和致密气等其他非常规碳氢化合物资源也很丰富。然而，释放这些资源是具有挑战性的，需要使用材料和能源密集型的过程。这些过程会产生高昂的成本和严重的环境足迹。鉴于目前的石油和天然气市场和公众意识，工业迫切需要创新、高效的工艺来维持加拿大的非传统碳氢化合物利用。纳米技术通过工程纳米颗粒(NPs)为非传统碳氢化合物的勘探、生产和升级提供了可行的途径。我们之前的工作已经证明了纳米粒子在催化石油提质和改善钻井液性能方面具有优越的性能。我们的方法与文献的一个主要区别是使用内部/原位制备/改性的NPs。纳米颗粒的原位制备需要进行精细的平衡反应，从而对生成的颗粒大小及其分散状态进行更好的控制。我们的方法构成了一种平台技术，能够制备和表面修饰各种范围从5 nm到70 nm的无机纳米粒子，每种纳米粒子都适合特定的应用。目前的提案探索了内部制备和/或改性的NPs的应用，以促进聚合物驱油液和压裂液的功能性。所要求的资金将使追求以下道路成为可能。1)由强缔合纳米粒子和聚合物组成的新型NP聚合物驱油溶胶的设计。这种溶胶由于其高粘度和强相互连通的前缘，能够更好地将石油(包括重油)从储集层中驱走。通过原位制备纳米粒子，可以获得高度互联的纳米聚合物溶胶。此外，只需要少量的纳米颗粒来保护聚合物免受热、机械和化学降解。随后，需要较低质量的聚合物，这反过来又降低了聚合物驱的成本和环境足迹。2)具有温度可调粘度的工程智能压裂纳米流体。这种流体以最小的摩擦力将支撑剂输送到致密储层。同时，一旦压裂作业完成，它不会对碳氢化合物流动构成限制。人们非常需要智能压裂液，特别是考虑到当前压裂作业的成本和环境足迹。归根结底，我们的工作有助于提高效率，同时降低加拿大非传统碳氢化合物资源利用的成本和环境影响。这反过来又吸引了更多的本地和外国投资者，为加拿大人创造了更多的就业机会。

Canada's oil sands deposit extends over 142,200 km2 in northern Alberta. With approximately 168 billion barrels of proven reserves, this deposit is the third largest proven crude oil reserve in the world following the Arabia and Venezuela. Canada's other unconventional hydrocarbon resources such as tight oil and tight gas are also abundant. Unlocking these resources is, nevertheless, challenging and employs material and energy intensive processes. These processes incur high cost and severe environmental footprint. Given the current oil and gas market and public awareness, industry is in dire need for innovative, efficient processes to sustain Canada's unconventional hydrocarbon utilization. Nanotechnology, via engineered nanoparticles (NPs), offers viable routes for unconventional hydrocarbon exploration, production and upgrading. Our previous work has demonstrated the superior performance of NPs in catalyzing oil upgrading and improving the performance of drilling fluids. A major difference between our approach and the literature is the use of in-house/in situ prepared/modified NPs. In situ preparation of NPs entails carrying out finely balanced reactions which lead to a superior control over resultant particle size and their state of dispersion. Our approach constitutes a platform technology which enables the preparation and surface modification of a wide variety of inorganic NPs ranging between 5 nm to 70 nm, each suited for a given application. The current proposal explores the application of in-house prepared and/or modified NPs to promote the functionality of polymer flooding fluids and fracturing fluids. The requested fund will enable the pursuit of the following paths. 1) The design of novel NP-polymer flooding sols composed of strongly associated NPs and polymers. Such a sol is better able to displace oil; including heavy oils, from reservoirs by virtue of its high viscosity and strongly interconnected front. Highly interconnected NP-polymer sols can be achieved via in situ preparation of NPs. Furthermore, only low amounts of the NPs are needed to preserve the polymer from thermal, mechanical and chemical degradation. Subsequently, lower mass of the polymer is needed, which in turn reduces the cost and environmental footprint of polymer flooding. 2) Engineering smart fracturing nanofluid with temperature-tunable viscosity. Such a fluid delivers the proppants to tight reservoirs with minimum friction. In the meantime, it does not pose restriction toward hydrocarbon flow, once the fracturing job is complete. Smart fracturing fluids are highly desired, especially given the cost and environmental footprint of the current fracturing operations. Ultimately, our work contributes to improving the efficacy, while reducing the cost and the environmental impact of Canada's unconventional hydrocarbon resource utilization. This, in turn, attracts more local and foreign investors, which creates more job opportunities for the Canadians.