(118c) Synthesis of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles Under Reservoir-like Conditions (Invited)

Pervaiz Shahid, Raza Ghulam, Amjad Muhammad, Lai Xiaojun and Wen Dongsheng

School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS29JT

The energy demand of the world is rising and oil is presumed as a principal energy source for the next few decades. The era of finding “easy oil” is coming to an end and future supply will depend on fossil fuels supplied by non-conventional reservoirs and from enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. Around 50~70% of the original oil is still trapped in existing reservoirs after the primary and secondary recovery. Many EOR techniques have been developed based on thermal, chemical, mechanical and biological approaches. Recently, use of nanoparticles to improve oil production has received convincing interest in both academia and industry which greatly relies on the fabrication, stabilization and delivery of nanoparticles to the reservoir.

This project proposes a novel concept to synthesize nanoparticles in-situ, i.e., under reservoir-like conditions and to understand their formation kinetics. Different to conventional hydrothermal synthesis of nanoparticles, the uniqueness of harsh conditions (i.e. temperature up to 150^oC, high pressure of a few hundred bars and high salinities, with the co-existence of oil/ gas phase) inside reservoirs require to understand the influence of temperature, pressure and salinity on nanoparticle production and their formation kinetics. This work focuses on the influence of these variables based on hydrothermal/ solvothermal reactions on size, morphology and stability of cerium oxide nanoparticles. The results revealed the influence of reaction temperature, pressure and salinity on the nanoparticle production and showed that stable nanoparticle dispersions, i.e. nanofluids, can be produced at a low temperature, high salinity and high pressure.