Carbon-based fluorescent tracers as oil reservoir nano-agents

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9528045-B2
Application number	US-201514627404-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 20, 2015
Priority date	May 13, 2011
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to carbon-based fluorescent nano-agent tracers for analysis of oil reservoirs. The carbon-based fluorescent nano-agents may be used in the analysis of the porosity of a formation. The nanoagents are suitable for injection into a petroleum reservoir and may be recovered from the reservoir for the determination of hydrocarbon flow rates and retention times.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A fluorescent nanoagent for use in a subsurface petroleum reservoir, the nanoagent comprising:
a carbon-based nanoparticle core, said nanoparticle core having an average diameter of less than 100 nm;
wherein said nanoparticle core includes a plurality of functional groups appended to the surface thereof, wherein the functional group comprises an organic functional group present in an amount of between about 50% and 90% by weight; and
wherein the fluorescent nanoagent is produced from a solution comprising a sugar, an amino alcohol and deionized water reacted under conditions capable of synthesizing the fluorescent nanoagent.

2. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the carbon-based nanoparticle core has an average diameter of less than 75 nm.

3. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the fluorescent nanoagent is detectable at a concentration of about 0.01 ppm.

4. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the functional groups appended the surface of the fluorescent nanoagent can be excited at a wavelength between about 400 nm and 500 nm.

5. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the functional group appended to the surface of the nanoparticle core is an amino alcohol.

6. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the functional group appended to the surface of the nanoparticle core is selected from methanolamine, ethanolamine, and propanolamine.

7. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the functional group appended to the surface of the nanoparticle core is ethanolamine.

8. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the functional group is appended to the surface of the nanoparticle core is appended with an amide linkage.

9. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the sugar is selected from the group consisting of glucose and fructose.

10. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the amino alcohol is selected from the group consisting of methanolamine, ethanolamine, and propanolamine.

11. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the fluorescent nanoagent is stable at a temperature of about 100° C. to about 200° C.

12. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the fluorescent nanoagent is stable at a salinity concentration of about 75,000 ppm to about 120,000 ppm.

13. The fluorescent nanoagent of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of functional groups appended to the surface of the nanoparticle core is ethanolamine, the sugar is glucose, and the amino alcohol is ethanolamine.

14. A fluorescent nanoagent for use in a subsurface petroleum reservoir, the nanoagent comprising:
a carbon-based nanoparticle core, said nanoparticle core having an average diameter of less than 100 nm;
wherein said nanoparticle core includes an ethanolamine functional group appended to the surface thereof, wherein the ethanolamine functional group is present in an amount of between about 50% and 90% by weight; and
wherein the fluorescent nanoagent is produced from a solution comprising glucose, ethanolamine and deionized water reacted under conditions capable of synthesizing the fluorescent nanoagent.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co
• Univ Cornell
• Univ Cornell

Inventors

• Kanj Mazen Y
• Rashid Mohammad Harunar
• Giannelis Emmanuel

Classifications

• E21B49/00

  Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells · CPC title

• C07H15/04

  attached to an oxygen atom of the saccharide radical · CPC title

• C07C215/08

  with only one hydroxy group and one amino group bound to the carbon skeleton · CPC title

• Y10S977/773

  Nanoparticle, i.e. structure having three dimensions of 100 nm or less · CPC title

• Y10S977/774

  Exhibiting three-dimensional carrier confinement, e.g. quantum dots · CPC title