tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post1951003855728474101..comments2024-03-27T18:46:34.971-05:00Comments on nanoscale views: Nano and the oil industryDouglas Natelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340091255404229559noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-89225910792922387522015-09-08T00:48:28.855-05:002015-09-08T00:48:28.855-05:00The down hole nanoparticle reporter applications a...The down hole nanoparticle reporter applications are usually oversold. They can't really send particles in and get them back (let alone report anything). It is just an idea. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-20044903705604297542015-09-06T10:57:53.542-05:002015-09-06T10:57:53.542-05:00Shell's R&D may be stable, but the oil com...Shell's R&D may be stable, but the oil companies often are not the drivers of technological advancement anymore. There are some notable exceptions, like Aramco running the one of world's fastest, most powerful computer systems to address thorny geosciences questions with fewer assumptions/approximations, but over the last couple of decades the operating companies have massively outsourced their R&D to the service companies to reduce costs.<br /><br />And the service companies, their research budgets... well let's just say people doing research are not far from the first to get pink slips, unless they are politically protected or are directly bringing in revenue. It's a death-by-a-thousand-cuts situation, fire one guy here, another guy there, before you know it "whoa what happened?".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-34770803154807152002015-09-02T14:12:26.048-05:002015-09-02T14:12:26.048-05:00Our global dependence on hydrocarbons is clearly o...Our global dependence on hydrocarbons is clearly one of "damned if you don't - damned if you do". We'll never feed, clothe, move, warm/cool, and house 7.3 billion+ humans without near current inputs from cheap energy, and our planet won't remain habitable for long if we keep burning stuff. Indeed, a classic predicament. Colour me a 'shill' for the reality of our situation. I see a big shift in humanity's collective behaviour over the next few decades, and I seriously doubt that shift will be voluntary. There's no answer anyone will like to our oil/coal/gas-fueled overshoot condition. Ideas like nano-tech will be rendered irrelevant.GHunghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00136462392295328093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-70352446373965110272015-09-02T08:25:37.542-05:002015-09-02T08:25:37.542-05:00I never meant to imply that nano is the "savi...I never meant to imply that nano is the "savior" of anything. The speaker was pointing out that nanoscience shows up in several aspects of the oil industry these days: functionalized nanoparticles as passive reporters/sensors to assess and monitor well conditions and reservoir structures; functionalization and control of surface interactions (hydrophobicity; oleophobicity); surface coatings to control wear, corrosion, and adhesion; miniaturized sensor technology for active down-hole monitoring; modeling of capillary effects; and of course back-end processes like catalysis. Basically his point was that aspects of nano are becoming more widespread in practice (moving out of the lab and into applications). I wouldn't interpret that as acting as a savior, but rather that nano stuff is moving into real technologies at some rate in that industry.<br /><br />None of this is a value judgment on my part about the use of fossil fuels. The world gets 80% of its energy from hydrocarbons, and this is part of that. We're not about to run out of oil or gas or coal. If oil was $150/barrel, huge supplies of stuff that is difficult to extract (tar sands) would become economically viable. If anything, the sociological problem in the short term is that oil/gas/coal is too cheap, such that people would rather burn it now and not worry about possible long-term consequences. (Now I get to wait for the obligatory troll response that I'm a naive shill for "big solar" or something.)Douglas Natelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13340091255404229559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-2593379314372718942015-09-01T23:04:07.828-05:002015-09-01T23:04:07.828-05:00Well, let me be the first one to admit I don't...Well, let me be the first one to admit I don't understand your explanation of the positive role of nano in drilling. In fact, I find it rather alarming that nano is regarded as the savior of the highly indebted oil exploration industry. It seems they are scraping the bottom of the barrel on two fronts: geological limits and technological limits.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com