Kamal Banjara
Rodrigo Benedetti
Bob DeBorde
John DeLeonardis
Overview
• Oil and Gas Industry
•Nanotechnology in the
Industry
http://kiaostherealitytraveler.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-do-youlike-this-reailty.html
• Applications
Applications
•Geothermal Energy
•Fuel Energy
stockwatch.in
•Better Equipment
•Smart fluids
webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca
•Sensors
JIKANG YUAN, XIAOGANG LIU, OZGE AKBULUT, JUNQING HU, STEVEN L. SUIB, JING
KONG AND FRANCESCO STELLACCI.
Introduction
•Oil spills and
wastewater
•Conventional
Techniques
Julio Cortez / Houston Chronicle
Oil Spills Clean Up
Booms -- Floating barriers placed around the oil
or around whatever is leaking the oil. Booms
contain the oil so skimmers can collect it.
erez-therm.com
Skimmers -- Boats, vacuum machines, and oilabsorbent plastic ropes that skim spilled oil
from the water's surface after booms have
corralled it. The skimmer collects oil into a
container so it can be removed.
In-situ burning -- Igniting freshly spilled oil while
it's still floating on the water.
Chemical dispersants
industrysearch.com.au
Bioremediation
Nanowire membranes
Chemical composition




Potassium sulphate
Potassium persulphate
Manganese sulphate monohydrate
Solution ratio 1:2:1 in deionized water
K2SO4
K2S2O8
MnSO4 . H2O
@ 2500C for 4 days in OVEN
Transferred
Teflon-vessel
Final product: Superhydrophilic Manganese oxide nanowire membranes
Use of Polydimethysiloxane
(PDMS)
Provides silicon
 Silicon is hydrophobic

PDMS
nanomembrane
@ 2340 C and for 30 mins
Final product; Silicon coated superhydrophobic membranes
What they have accomplished


MIT engineers have developed self-assembled
nanowire membranes with superwetting properties
(0.05 s).
By coating the membrane with hydrophobic
molecules, the wetting characteristics are reversed
http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/dn16340/0-nanotechnologysbiggest-stories-of-2008.html
The nanomembrane was assembled
underwater and dried.
SEM high magnification few of nanowire bundle under various magnification
Later the wool-like bundle was stretched out and
pressed in a similar way that paper is made.
Optical image of the
cryptomelane membrane
Scanning electron microscope
image of cross section area of the
membrane
What they found:

Very robust

Reusable

Hydrophobicity doesn’t
decrease with use



Nanowire membranes act as nano-capillary
sponges
the pore size distribution centered about 10nm
Surface area of 44 m2g-1


Membrane absorbs on average of 14 t m-3 of motor oil making it an
ideal oil absorbent
Experimental results shows the membrane can soak up organic
substance 20 times of its weight
Oil uptake studies of the silicone-coated nanowire membrane ; absorption
capabilities of the membrane for a selection of organic solvents and oil in terms
of its weight gain
SELECTIVE ABSORPTION BETWEEN DIFFERENT
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
NOTE: THE SEPARATION PROCEDURE IS SIMILAR
THAT WE DO USING TLC PLATES IN OUR
LABROTORIES
Comparison to porous Polypropylene and
silicon-coated glass fabric membranes
Manganese oxide Nanowires
Polypropylene and silicon coated
glass fibers
Water contact angle ( Ѳ>170 )
Water contact angle 142 and 128 resp.
In mixture of toluene and water, these
nanowires absorb only toluene
Absorbs both water and toluene
selective absorption of different sizes
toluene
Doesn’t show any notable selectivity
Thermal stability up to 380 0 C
Not so stable
Conclusions

Nanowire membranes can be controlled
to be either hydrophilic or hydrophobic
 Addition/subtraction of coating
 Thermodynamically stable

Selective solubility
 Polar v. non-polar
 Non-polar v. non-polar
Applications

Oil Spills
 Absorbs only organics
 Regeneration

Separation Process
sanfrancisco.ismyhome.com
Assessment
Useful technology
 Wide variety of applications
 Manganese Oxide is Toxic


Manganese Oxide
Optionoxides.tradeindia.com
ouhsc.edu
Further Research Possibilities
Membranes that are specific to one
species
 Techniques for large-scale production
 Use compounds that are non-toxic
 Full properties of material

filebox.vt.edu
Questions?
Rebuttal from U1
We agree that we all need to work on our speaking
skills, such as eye contact and overall verbal delivery.
We should also avoid filler words.
Some people thought our introduction was either
too long or too short, and many people felt that it
was vague and off-topic.
http://www.ivan-ong.com/wp-admin/images/public.jpg
Our intention with the introduction was to
familiarize the audience with the problems of
current oil spill cleanup and how nanotechnology
can help out. We should have made it a little more
clear and possibly improved our organization.
More in-depth research could have been done by us
on the hazards of such materials and similar
research being done by other groups.
http://www.freewebs.com/matthewstolte/Oil_Spill!_by_Be
rger.jpg
Review of Group U1’s Presentation-
By Group U2:
industrysearch.com.au
-Kyle Demel
-Keaton Hamm
-Bryan Holekamp
-Rachael Houk
The presenters could have discussed the
following more in depth:
• Further applications of oilsoaking nanomembranes:
– Small-scale water clean-ups
– Self-cleaning fabrics/carpets
– Super absorbent rags
– Hydrocarbon storage
– Filter membranes
• Introduction
– Needed to be longer
Review from Group U3
Super wetting Nanomembranes
for Selective Absorption
Group 3:
Krista Melish
Phillip Keller
James Kancewick
Mike Jones
Presentation Review: Ugrad #1
Presentation Review
Material Review
 Good Volume and Tone
 Article chosen appropriate and
 Need to reduce use of verbal
distractors (umm, like, etc.) and pauses
 Slight tendency to present to the slide
versus the audience
 Good slide design
 Consistent format
 Use of graphics enhanced presentation
 Well thought out and easy to follow
 Overall Grade: 90
Interesting
 Selective absorbance characteristics of
non-polar liquids holds future value
 Speed and selectivity of absorbtion are
astounding
 Holds promise for oil spill clean up
 Laboratory separations
 Industrial absorption bed material
 Questions for further research:
 What are the hazards of regeneration?
 Can the technology be applied to other
areas such as solute adsorption (seawater)
or gas adsorption (fuel storage)?
Review from Group 4
Group U4
Main Points
 Possible uses rely on the





hydrophobicity of the membrane.
Tested on a laboratory scaled and
proved to absorb oil and not
water.
Reusable.
When scaled up, could be used to
clean up oil spills.
Chemical properties could be
modified to absorb other
substances, thus broadening the
range of applications.
Debate over its hazardousness.
Group U4
Nanotechnology Applications: Oil
and gas industry
 Review of Team U1 by
Team U5 – Jaynesh
Shah, Greg Pudewell,
Edwin L. Youmsi Pete
and John Pack.
Oral and Quality of Slides
Review
 The speakers did a great job
of speaking in a clear
manner.
 They were confident and
sounded knowledgeable on
the subject.
 The slides were visually
appealing and consistent
 Graphics helped gave visuals
about and helped
understand the subject
Technical Review
 The presentation was
technically sound
 Good use of technical
jargon
 Paper selection was
relevant and recent
 Perhaps research other
new methods of
cleaning up oil spills
Review from U6 to U1
Presented by Undergraduates 1 (U1)
Critiqued by Undergraduates 6 (U6) – Pavitra Timbalia, Michael Trevathan, & Jared Walker
 The presentation was well laid out and there were illustrations to
support their points.
 The paper presented was very innovative and possessed many
potential future uses.
 Further research needs to be performed to determine the feasibility of
large scale production.
 They could have spoken more clearly and made more eye contact with
audience.
Group U6
Review from U6 to U1
What We Learned
Nanowire/nanomesh is:
• Highly hydrophobic
• Extremely durable
• Has a strong affinity toward hydrocarbons
• Capable of significant hydrocarbon separation –
based on polarity
• Only been produced on small scale
• The cost of production is unknown
• Potential toxicity issues while manufacturing
• In the future it will be capable of efficiently
cleaning up spilled oil in the field.
Group U6
Review from G6 to U1c
Mass Production
• It seems that the nano-capiliary sponges can be
used to selectively absorb or set boundaries for
and contain leaked oil. In order to make this
possible, a large amount of sponges are needed.
• What efforts have researchers made to improve
the techniques to mass-produce this nanomaterial?
• Have they been successful?
• How far has the research been done to
commercially produce the material for use?
Jung Hwan Woo
Review from G6 to U1c
Socioeconomic Issues
• Is the production toxin-free? (especially for
large-production)
• Is this material more cost-effective than the
current methods discussed in the
introduction?
Jung Hwan Woo