Events

Dr. Jenn-Tai Liang will give a talk entitled "Drug Delivery Technologies for Delayed Release of Oilfield Chemicals" as part of the Claude R. Hocott Graduate Seminar Series.

Bio: Dr. Jenn-Tai Liang is a professor in Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Department at the University of Kansas. He is also the director of Tertiary Oil Recovery Program, a research center funded by the government/industry to develop advanced technologies for improved oil and gas recovery applications. Dr. Liang graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Ph.D. degree in Petroleum Engineering. After graduation, he joined the Petroleum Recovery Research Center in New Mexico and was actively involved in developing new technologies for water shutoff and conformance control. Prior to joining KU, Dr. Liang was a program manager at the US Department of Energy Idaho National Laboratory in charge of research activities in the upstream E&P and environmental areas. His current research activities include CO₂ sequestration, CO₂ injection for improved oil recovery, chemical injection for enhanced oil recovery, flow assurance, and nano technology for oil and gas applications.

Abstract: In oilfield applications, we inject all kinds of expensive chemicals into the underground reservoirs. Due to the often hostile down-hole environments, there is a strong incentive to develop improved techniques to protect and control/delay the release of oil and gas field chemicals so that they can be successfully transported to the target locations underground. Based on the drug delivery technologies from the pharmaceutical industry, a nano scale chemical delivery system was developed using polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) nanoparticles to entrap and protect such chemicals from the hostile underground environments. Nanoparticle colloids have emerged in pharmaceutical products and in some aspects, the pharmaceutical industry has led the way in nanotechnology. The seemingly unlimited price for small quantities of pharmaceuticals stands in stark contrast to the large volumes of commodity chemicals needed for oil and gas well treatments; however, the same basic formulation concepts apply.  Nanoparticles must effectively stabilize, deliver, target, and/or sustain the effects of the active ingredient.  In this talk, the basic concepts behind the development of the nano scale chemical delivery system will be discussed. In addition, example oilfield applications will be highlighted.