Nanofluidics for Energy

许多大规模的能源应用依赖于小规模的流体运输。在过去的几年里，我们的团队和其他人开发了用于生物能源、碳封存、储层流体分析和量化传统微孔油气藏中孔隙尺度运移的微流体方法。然而，目前的全球能源正在被非常规石油和天然气业务重塑，即对纳米孔道页岩气和致密油藏进行水力压裂。裂缝性油藏中的流体运移是高温高压下多组分多相流通过纳米孔隙和微裂缝的复杂相互作用，可以是润湿的，也可以是非润湿的。这是一个非常复杂的过程，人们对此知之甚少。*这一发现赠款项目的重点是开发和应用纳米流体工具，以提供对裂缝性油藏中运移的基本了解。目标1将提供第一个数据集，量化与油藏相关的温度、压力和表面条件下的纳米尺度碳氢化合物传输参数。这样的数据根本无法获得，而且最近的研究表明，与经典理论的一些重大偏离是可以预料的。目标2将利用纳米光子结构在长度尺度上有效地“观察”毛细管的行为--在传统显微镜不可能的情况下。这一方法本身将是一项重大的方法学进步，并将为纳米尺度上的相关毛细现象提供新的线索。目标3从整体上考虑了动态渗流条件下多相多组分流体在微裂缝、纳米孔隙油藏中的完全耦合复杂性。总而言之，这三个目标将为了解页岩气和致密油作业核心的纳米尺度输送现象提供一个窗口。*正在北美部署的大规模流体过程突显了理解这些固有的小规模流体过程的重要性。特别是在加拿大的情况下，正如加拿大科学院理事会2014年的一份特别报告中所讨论的那样，迫切需要将科学搞好。因此，这项工作的结果将直接告知加拿大的三组利益攸关方：经营者、公众和政策制定者。该项目的一个同样重要的成果是一个由高素质人员组成的专业团队，他们拥有全球独一无二的技能和对为新兴能源应用提供动力的纳米级流体传输的洞察力。**

Many large scale energy applications rely on small scale fluid transport. Over the last few years our group and others have developed microfluidic approaches for bioenergy, carbon sequestration, reservoir fluid analysis, and quantifying pore-scale transport in conventional microporous oil and gas reservoirs. Current global energy, however, is being reshaped by unconventional oil and gas operations, namely the hydraulic fracturing of nanoporous shale gas and tight oil reservoirs. Transport of fluids in fractured reservoirs is a complex interplay of multicomponent multiphase flow through both nano-pores and micro-fractures, which may be wetting or non-wetting, at high temperature and pressure. This is a very complicated process that is poorly understood. ***The focus of this Discovery Grant project is to develop and apply nanofluidic tools to provide a fundamental understanding of transport in fractured reservoirs. Aim 1 will provide the first data set quantifying nanoscale hydrocarbon transport parameters at reservoir-relevant temperatures, pressures and surface conditions. Such data are simply not available, and there are indications from recent studies that some significant deviations from classical theory can be expected. Aim 2 will employ nanophotonic structures to effectively `see' capillary behavior at length-scales where traditional microscopy is impossible. This approach will be a major methodological advance in itself, and will shed new light on the relevant capillary phenomena at nanoscales. Aim 3 takes a holistic approach to incorporate the full coupled complexity of multiphase multicomponent fluids under dynamic flow conditions in micro-fractured, nano-porous reservoirs. Collectively, these three aims will provide a window into the nanoscale transport phenomena at the heart of shale gas and tight oil operations.***The importance of understanding these inherently small-scale fluid processes is underscored by the large-scale at which they are being deployed in North America. Particularly in the Canadian context, there is a critical need to get the science right as discussed in a special 2014 report by the Canadian Council of Academies. The results of this work will thus directly inform three sets of stakeholders in Canada: operators; the public; and policy makers. An equally important output of this project is a specialized team of highly qualified personnel with globally-unique skills and insight into the nanoscale fluid transport powering emerging energy applications.**