R&D Study Group - What can nanotechnology do for the oil and gas industry?
With changing oil and gas prices, as well as political pressure, there is a need to improve the yield from domestic oil and gas plays. How can nanotechnology accomplish this? One of the challenges with a frac job is enabling the largest volume of the frac to be accessed by the proppant. Using nanotechnology allows for the creation of a lightweight but strong proppant with superior roundness and particle size uniformity. Environmental pressure and legislation are going to be critical factors in water usage for fracing. In particular, the ability to purify, economically, frac and produced water for reuse is a growing need in the US. Nanotechnology, developed as part of an EPA grant, allows for the fabrication of functionalized non-fouling membranes that can accomplish this. Finally, how can you be sure that it is not your frac that is responsible for the claim of damage to the environment? These issues will be discussed in context of technology developed in the Barron research group.
Location:
Norris Center - Westchase
9990 Richmond Avenue
Houston
,
Texas 77042