Deploying nanotechnology for oil and gas flow assurance: Understanding the transport and penetration of nano-particles in porous media

Scaling problem is one of the common engineering challenges in ‘flow assurance’ in the oil and gas industry. Since mechanical or chemical treatment frequently requires sacrifice in fluid production, it is often preferable to avoid this problem, for example by conducting a scale squeeze treatment. This treatment includes an injection of scale inhibitor to hinder scale formation in the rock. Its effectiveness corresponds to its attachment lifetime in the rock formation. This is where nanotechnology has an important role for its capability to enhance the attachment of the scale inhibitor on the rock surface. The question that arises is how and where the injected nanoparticles are distributed and attached on the walls of the rock pores. It is difficult and costly to perform evaluations in pores of a rock formation in an actual oil field. Therefore developing a computer simulation is necessary. This research has successfully demonstrated a development of simulator to explore the science and engineering of nanoparticle transport in microchannels. The phenomenon in the system are explored using a combination of model experimental systems and novel Finite Element Analysis (FEA) computational simulations of fluid flow in microchannels of porous structures. The effect of the advection, diffusion, microchannel’s surface roughness and curvature variety to the nanoparticle transport in the system are investigated. It is discovered that the adsorption is encouraged by diffusion when the advection is insignificant. When advection is significant, a plenty of injected nanoparticle is needed to achieve similar adsorption in a system with diffusion domination. Nanoparticles are transported less effectively in microchannel with high curvature configuration. The density of the adsorption distribution in this type of microchannel is less uniform than in microchannel with simpler curvature. Rough surface increases the adsorption, where the distribution of nanoparticles into dead-end region in the microchannel system is governed by diffusion. The modelling framework in this thesis is versatile to use for modelling any transport that is coupled with surface phenomenon in microchannel system by changing the utilised governing equations and assumptions.