EORI Project:

PVT Characterization of Reservoir Fluids

rock-fluid matrix
Examples of technical questions that call for new knowledge
• How many phases are present? Minimum miscibility pressure?
• What's the phase composition and density?
• How to account for the composition of reservoir fluids?
• How to account for asphaltene and wax precipitation?
• How to account for the molecular forces and their impact on recovery?
• How to account for CO2-induced effects?
 Separation =
f (P s , T s , xis , yis ,VLs ,VGs ,  Ls ,  Gs )

CO 2
k

Flow = f ( P k , T k , xik , yik ,VLk ,VGk ,  Lk ,  Gk )

Reservoir fluid = f ( P r , T r , xir ,VLr ,  Lr )

k
Current technology crude
Empirical, narrowly specialized equations for composition, density,
viscosity, etc., need to be replaced by more and more physically realistic
and hence more predictive models.

Deliverable
Theoretical 'equation of state' models of reservoir fluids, key to
reservoir simulation and recovery prediction… and an efficient
mechanism for reducing molecular science to practice…such as SAFT.

 ~ seg ~ chain ~ assoc

P
RT
 1 

a a  a  
Milestone examples
 High-pressure instrument installation
 Measurements
 An approach to characterizing petroleum fluids
Extension to water/salt-containing systems
 Solid-phase model
Exploratory activities and future proposal examples
 Model of solid-containing phase equilibria
 Continuous-thermodynamic and group-contribution approaches to
characterizing reservoir fluids
 Molecular simulations
 SAFT viscosity
 CO2+polymer viscosity
EORI Personnel:
Hertanto Adidharma Research Professor
Brian Towler Associate Professor
Mac Radosz Professor
Sugata Tan Postdoc Research Associate
Andre Blasig Postdoc Research Associate
Xiaoyan Ji Postdoc Research Associate
Zhang Rong Research Assistant
David Jost Administrator
UW Nano-membranes for CO2 Capture
from Flue Gas and Natural Gas

'Holy Grail'
Capture the flue-gas CO2
that causes global
warming, use it to squeeze
more oil from the
depleted reservoir, and
seal the balance
underground after oil
stops flowing.*

* In the process, improve the economy of CO 2 separation from the gas and oil sources.
 EORI Project:
CO2 Separation For Enhanced Oil Recovery and
Cleaner Environment

Current technology expensive

Amine absorption technology costs $40/ton CO 2
Target -- $5/ton, but any gain will count.

Goal
To develop novel separation materials for energy and cost effective
CO2-capture processes; specifically, to synthesize, characterize and
understand novel membranes and sorbents for separating CO 2 from
flue gas, natural gas, and other CO2 streams.
Key technical challenge: efficient membrane

Synthesize CO2-hungry hairy 'nanoparticles'…

Crosslinked- core
O + + Initiator
O O
R1 R2 Microemulsion
R Oligomer or polymer chain
O
Nanoparticles
O
Example of R: C OCH CH2O CHCH2O O CH2 CH2 CH3 N CH2 CH2
x x x
CH3 CH3 H PEI
PEG
PEC

… and network them loosely in a thin film

Casted into
+ O
thin film Copolymerization
R
R = PEI, PEG or PPC
Nanoparticle membrane

Status: Preliminary materials synthesized, patent disclosures filed

Deliverables
 Nanoparticle membranes + characterization data
 Ionic absorbents + characterization data
 Ideally -- UW patented and licensed technology
What we build on
 Polymer synthesis and characterization lab
 Thermodynamic characterization tools for
polymeric and ionic separation agents
 Over a quarter century experience in supercritical-fluid science in
general, including supercritical CO2 separations and CO2-enhanced oil
recovery (papers, book)
 Collaborative project with Ohio State University (OSU)
Milestones
 Synthesize nanoparticle materials
 Characterize their basic properties
 Test the best candidates for sorption
 Build a lab for membrane flux and selectivity
 Similar milestones for other separation agents

Additional exploratory activities and future

proposal examples
 Nanoparticle sorbents + characterization data
 Poly(ionic liquids), submitted pre-proposal to DoE, with OSU
 Polymeric CO2 viscosifiers needed for enhanced sweep efficiency
EORI Personnel:
Youqing Shen Assistant Professor
Mac Radosz Professor
Hertanto Adidharma Research Professor
George Hu Postdoc Research Associate
Zhang Zhong Postdoc Research Associate
Jianbin Tang Research Aide
Shijie Ding PhD Research Assistant
Shang Ying PhD Research Assistant
David Jost Administrator