Small particles hold big potential to green up the oil sands

It’s hard to believe something so small could improve an industry as vast as the oil sands. Nanoparticles are measured in units of one-billionth of a metre and research at the Schulich School of Engineering is showing they pack a real punch when it comes to enhancing heavy oil upgrading and recovery, cleaning up industrial waste water and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The research team at the Schulich School of Engineering is the first in the world to apply nanotechnology to oil sands research.

“Nanotechnology is a relatively new area of science and presents a range of fresh opportunities to reduce the environmental footprint of the oil sands industry,” explains Nashaat Nassar, a researcher in the University of Calgary’s In Situ Energy Centre. “Multi-metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles display a range of unique properties that can be used to sustain the oil sands industry through the development of processes that are more environmentally friendly and cost-effective.”

Those properties include quantum confinement, surface plasmon resonance, high adsorption affinity, enhanced catalytic activity, good mobility and dispersion ability, and intrinsic reactivity.

The terminology may not be understandable to the average person, but it all boils down to something everyone can appreciate: engineers are finding ways to put nanoparticles to work as nanoscrubbers to capture emissions from the air, nanoadsorbents to remove waste hydrocarbons and heavy metals from water, and nanofluids for inhibition of asphaltene damage and enhancing oil recovery. In the in situ energy labs, nanoparticles are even being used as catalysts to upgrade oil before it’s brought to the surface. All in all, nanoparticles have the potential to improve oil quality and reduce water recyclability so the industry uses less fresh water.

The next step is perfecting the science of synthetic nanoparticles and using catalyst supports to produce them on a massive scale.