Building a full-scale model of a trapped oil reservoir in a laboratory

But now, University of Alberta researchers have developed a way to replicate oil-trapping rock layers in a laboratory and show energy producers the best way to recover every last bit of oil from these reservoirs.

Mechanical engineering professor Sushanta Mitra led a research team that uses core samples from oil drilling sites to make 3-D mathematical models of the porous rock formations that can trap huge quantities of valuable oil.

The process starts with a tiny chip of rock from a core sample where oil has become trapped, That slice of rock is scanned by a Focused Ion Beam-Scanning Electron Microscopy machine, which produces a 3-D copy of the porous rock. The replica is made of a thin layer of silicon and quartz at Nanofab, the U of A's micro/nanofabrication facility.

The researchers call the finished product a “reservoir on a chip”, or ROC.

The hugely expensive process of recovering oil in the field is recreated right in our laboratory.. Theresearchers soak the ROC in oil and then water, which is under pressure, is forced into the chip to see how much oil can be pushed through the microscopic channels and recovered.

ROC replicas can be made from core samples from oil-trapping rock anywhere in the world. “Oil exploration companies will be able to use ROC technology to determine what concentration of water and chemicals they'll need to pump into layers of sandstone or limestone to maximize oil recovery,” said Mitra.

The research findings were published in the journal Lab Chip, a publication of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Media Contact

Brian Murphy EurekAlert!

More Information:

http://www.ualberta.ca

All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry

Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.

Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Memory Self-Test via Smartphone

… Can Identify Early Signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Dedicated memory tests on smartphones enable the detection of “mild cognitive impairment”, a condition that may indicate Alzheimer’s disease, with high accuracy….

The Sound of the Perfect Coating

Fraunhofer IWS Transfers Laser-based Sound Analysis of Surfaces into Industrial Practice with “LAwave”. Sound waves can reveal surface properties. Parameters such as surface or coating quality of components can be…

Partners & Sponsors