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Will the next oil boom be nano-sized?

Posted at 11:56 AM on February 15, 2012 by Dan Gunderson (1 Comments)
Filed under: Research

ESM shale.jpg
Electron microscope image of oil shale (Photo courtesy of Kalpana Katti)


The United States has massive deposits of petroleum locked in shale. Government estimates are there are two trillion barrels of oil, and perhaps 800 billion barrels could be recovered. That's about three times the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

The problem is finding an efficient way to get that petroleum out of the rock. It's a challenge that's frustrated scientists for decades.

Two North Dakota State University researchers are taking a different approach to the problem, and they believe the key to extracting oil from shale is in understanding the material at the nano scale.

Nano is breaking materials down to the molecular level and manipulating those tiny building blocks. Many nano materials are being studied and developed, but nature also creates nano materials.

Oil shale isn't really oil or shale. The rock is made up of very hard minerals like quartz and it contains a waxy organic substance called kerogen. The kerogen will naturally turn into oil after millions of years of exposure to heat and pressure in the earth.

If the kerogen can be extracted from the rock it can be refined into crude oil. Most efforts to extract kerogen involve heating the rock until the kerogen vaporizes. The problem is that process uses more energy than is recovers.

shale core.jpg
Oil shale sample from 500 feet below the surface (Courtesy of Kalpana Katti)

The husband wife team of Kalpana and Dinesh Katti are taking a different approach.

Dinesh Katti is a civil engineering professor at NDSU who works with molecular computer modeling.

Kalpana Katti is a distinguished professor in the Civil Engineering Department who studies nano scale materials. She essentially takes things apart and rebuilds them at the molecular level. A couple of years ago she started looking at oil shale and discovered the kerogen in the rock is nano sized. At 10 to 20 nanometers it's a little smaller than a virus.

"Nanometer kerogen was a huge surprise, said Kalpana Katti. "That was not in the scientific literature, that was a very wow moment."

"That changes the whole thing," adds Dinesh Katti.

And here's why. Researchers are increasingly understanding that at the nano scale, materials have different properties.

In the case of oil shale, it means the nanoscale kerogen bonds with the minerals in the rock. That's why it's so difficult to remove.

The Kattis discovered different characteristics in different locations on the kerogen molecules. It's like a ball with velcro in one spot, a magnet in another. Different things will stick to each spot. So each Kerogen molecule could have attraction to nearly a dozen different minerals.

"If we can get a good understanding of the energy connection between the kerogen and the minerals, we might be able to get in between with some other molecules," said Dinesh Katti.

The Kattis plan to use computer modeling to find the best way to break the bonds between kerogen and minerals, freeing the petroleum from the rock.

They say the solution needs to be cost effective and environmentally friendly. It could be an enzyme, or a chemical, or a combination.

Dinesh Katti offers an over simplified analogy. "If you have a pan with food dried on it's very difficult to clean. But soak it in water and the dried food is easily removed."

The next big step is looking to pharmaceutical and biomedical research for molecules that might break the bonds between kerogen and minerals.

They'll run computer simulations to identify the best options, and test those in the lab.

Kalpana Katti said it won't be easy or quick because of the complex interactions happening at the nano scale.

Their research hasn't received much funding, just a $150,000 Department of Energy seed grant that helped buy some new lab equipment.

But Dinesh and Kalpana Katti both say they are very confident the nano scale is the right place to solve a problem that has stymied researchers for decades.

"Of course you never a guarantee a solution will happen, but based on what we have learned I have a high degree of optimism," Dinesh Katti said. "We might find the best way, or maybe somebody else will use our research to find the answer."

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Mayo loses whistleblower case, frac sand road repairs, income disparity

Posted at 7:49 AM on February 15, 2012 by Michael Olson
Filed under: Around MN

Dayton going for hopeful in State of the State address
Pioneer Press: "Gov. Mark Dayton will emphasize making Minnesota a better place to live by creating jobs, using education as a workforce development tool and making government more efficient in his second State of the State address today."
Follow the Big Story Blog today for coverage throughout the day and instant analysis as the speech begins at 7:00pm. MPR News will carry the address live on-air and online.
Today's Question: In your view, what's the state of the state?

Whistleblower wins case against Mayo Clinic
Rochester Post Bulletin: "The U.S. Department of Labor has found that Mayo Clinic discriminated against a Rochester employee who made legally protected safety complaints."

Who pays for road damage from frac sand trucks?
Winona Daily News: "Commissioners agreed that relying on the state's aggregate tax isn't viable -- county projections show it would not generate enough money to cover the significant repairs expected. Commissioners instead began to look at a road use agreement, which would require mining companies to pay to upgrade the roads their trucks use."

Minnesota GOP wants to phase out statewide business property tax
Forum of Fargo Moorhead: "A Minnesota Republican tax priority is lowering and eventually eliminating a statewide property tax on businesses, but Democrats say they are funding the tax cut with money from poor, disabled and elderly renters."

Data: Examining income trends around Minnesota
MinnPost: "It turns out that incomes across Minnesota vary greatly, but there are some definite patterns in the variation."

NCAA imposes sanctions on WSU basketball
Winona Daily News: "The NSIC plans to nullify the Winona State University men's basketball team's first 13 conference games of the season after discovering that Grant Johnson was ineligible to play. The ruling means WSU's hopes to host the regional playoff tournament are now in serious doubt, though the Warriors, currently ranked third in the country for Division II, will still likely make it to the postseason."

Tenacious local group wants new route for CapX 2020
Saint Cloud Times: "When Xcel Energy wouldn't take the landowners' proposed route change to the state Public Utilities Commission because it didn't have unanimous landowner support, the E-5 landowners took the rare action of taking it to the commission themselves."

Battle is on over 2.5 million acres of school trust land in northern Minnesota
Duluth News Tribune: "Natural vs. economic resources is at the center of the debate over control of Minnesota's 150-year-old school trust land."

Minnesota Vikings commit to staying for 2012 season
Pioneer Press: "The Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday cemented their intent to remain in Minnesota by announcing they will not file a league-required 'intent to relocate' by today's deadline."

Occupy movement plans Midwest regional gathering
AP: "Organizers of Occupy protests around the Midwest will gather next month in St. Louis, pledging to emerge from a "winter lull" as a bigger and stronger force. Occupy Midwest Regional Conference will start with a gathering at 7 p.m. March 15 beneath the Gateway Arch, organizer Chuck Witthaus said Tuesday. A mass occupation will continue through March 18, but not on the Arch grounds. Organizers aren't disclosing the location."

Decision time for researchers of deadly bird flu
Reuters: "Michael Osterholm, policy director at the Minnesota Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance and an NSABB member, has limited hope for what one meeting can achieve. 'Nothing will be solved in one meeting,' he said. 'This is a complicated issue that requires a great deal of international input. It is not a simple yes or no ... We have no margin for error here.'"

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