Delivery of nanodispersions below ground
US8342241B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 18, 2009 |
| Grant date | Jan 1, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 10, 2031 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC C)Chemistry; Metallurgy
- CPC primaryC09K2208/10
- WIPO fieldCivil engineering
- WIPO sectorOther fields
Abstract
Delivery of a substance to a subterranean location is achieved by suspending the substance as nanoparticles in a carrier fluid in which the substance is insoluble. First a dispersible powder composition, is formed by dissolving the substance in a solvent, emulsifying the resulting solution as the dispersed phase of an emulsion, and freeze-drying the emulsion to a powder. On mixing the powder with a fluid in which the substance is insoluble, the insoluble substance becomes a dispersion of nanoparticles which is pumped to the subterranean location. At the subterranean location a tracer dispersed as nanoparticles may migrate from injected water into hydrocarbon in a hydrocarbon reservoir. Another possibility is that the carrier fluid contains polymer and the dispersed nanoparticles comprise an agent which participates in cross-linking and consequent viscosification of the polymer at the subterranean location.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.