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[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
Carbon Nanotube Sponges Can Absorb Oils and Solvents up to 180x Their Own Weight; Potential for Enhanced Oil Spill Cleanup
November 09, 2009
| The carbon nanotube sponge is hydrophobic, but can absorb up to 180x its own weight in organic matter. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers at Peking University and Tsinghua University have developed a carbon nanotube (CNT)-based sponge that can soak up organic pollutants—such as oils and solvents—from the surface of water. No water is absorbed and the sponge can then be wrung out and reused, like an ordinary household sponge. Absorbing up to 180 times its own weight in organic matter, the sponge is light and tough and has the potential to significantly enhance oil spill cleanup.
Professors Anyuan Cao (Peking University) and Dehai Wu (Tsinghua University), who are publishing their breakthrough in the journal Advanced Materials, say “the sponges have new properties that integrate the merits of fragile aerogels with their high surface area [the lowest density solid material known is an aerogel], and conventional soft materials with their robustness and flexibility.”
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Researchers Discover That Fullerenes Support Hydrogenation Without Noble Metal Catalysts Under Mild Conditions
November 02, 2009
| Fullerenes can drive hydrogenation under mild conditions. Credit: ACS, Li and Xu. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers at Nanjing University in China have shown that fullerenes (cage-like, all-carbon nanostructures) can function effectively as novel non-metal hydrogenation catalysts. Catalytic hydrogenation—used to refine crude oil, synthesize ammonia, and now in multiple processes to produce bio-hydrocarbon fuels from renewable fats and oils—conventionally relies on transition-metal catalysts.
Current catalysts and processes typically require high temperatures and pressures. The ability to replace these catalysts with carbon-based substitutes operating under milder conditions could reduce process costs—as well we environmental effects from metal pollution.
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Study Questions Lifecycle Emissions Benefits of Using CO2 for Enhanced Oil Recovery as a Method for Carbon Sequestration
October 04, 2009
| Net life cycle GHG emissions of five CO2-EOR projects used as case studies. Credit: ACS, Jaramillo et al. Click to enlarge. |
Using CO2 injection for enhanced oil recovery (EOR)—an established commercial practice that currently annually consumes some 50 million metric tons of CO2 (the majority from natural accumulations)—has also been identified as a method of sequestering CO2 captured from industrial sources, such as power plants. Of the $21.6 million the US Department of Energy recently awarded to carbon capture and storage research projects, $5.9 million was for EOR projects. (Earlier post.)
However, a new study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University assessing the overall life cycle emissions associated with CO2-EOR sequestration under a number of different scenarios has concluded that “without displacement of a carbon intensive energy source, CO2-EOR systems will result in net carbon emissions.” Their paper was published online 30 September in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.
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Researchers Produce Ethane and Other Heavier Hydrocarbons From Methane Under Deep Earth Conditions; Further Deep Carbon Research
July 27, 2009
There has been some scientific debate for years over whether oil and natural gas hydrocarbons could have been created deeper in the Earth and formed without organic matter (abiogenic petroleum), in addition to their formation from living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediment in the Earth’s crust. Now, a team of researchers has found that ethane and heavier hydrocarbons can be synthesized from methane under the pressure-temperature conditions of the upper mantle—the layer of Earth under the crust and on top of the core.
The research was conducted by scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory, with colleagues from Russia and Sweden, and was published in the 26 July advanced on-line issue of Nature Geoscience.
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Two Lifecycle Studies Find Greater Range in GHG Emissions from both Conventional and Oil Sands Derived Crude Than Previously Shown; Oils Sands Emissions Comparable to Conventional Oil Production in Some Cases
July 24, 2009
| A plot from the TIAX study of the ranges of well-to-wheel emissions for different types of crudes in different refinery areas in the US for gasoline production. The yellow bar is the range calculated for different conventional crudes. Click to enlarge. |
Two new lifecycle studies have found that direct greenhouse emissions from producing, transporting and refining oil-sands derived crude, while greater on average than those from conventional crudes, can also overlap the conventional crude range, depending upon a number of factors. In other words, the studies found that emissions from some oil-sands crudes were less than calculated by earlier studies, and that emissions from some conventional crudes were more than calculated by earlier studies.
The two studies represent the first detailed and more granular comparison of domestic, imported and oil sands crude processes in US refineries. The research, conducted over the past year by US-based consulting companies Jacobs Consultancy and TIAX LLC, was funded by the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI).
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USGS CARA Concludes 13% of World’s Undiscovered Oil, 30% of Undiscovered Gas in the Arctic
May 29, 2009
| Map of the assessment units (AUs) of the CARA is color-coded for mean estimated undiscovered oil. Only areas north of the Arctic Circle are included in the estimates. Black lines indicate AU boundaries. Source: USGS CARA. Click to enlarge. |
The US Geological Survey (USGS) has completed a geologically-based assessment of the oil and gas resource potential of the Arctic, the Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal (CARA). (Earlier post.) The researchers in the effort concluded that about 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30% of the world’s undiscovered gas may be found there, mostly offshore under less than 500 meters of water. A paper on the work was published in the 29 May issue of the journal Science.
Undiscovered natural gas is three times more abundant than oil in the Arctic and is largely concentrated in Russia, the researchers concluded. Oil resources, although important to the interests of Arctic countries, are probably not sufficient to substantially shift the current geographic pattern of world oil production, they said.
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Study Finds That CO2 Standards for Vehicles Can Reduce Price of Oil
April 10, 2009
| Car fleet composition in the EU under the different scenarios. Click to enlarge. |
A new study by the French institute Enerdata, commissioned by the European Federation for Transport & Environment (T&E), suggests that the European CO2 standards for new vehicles due to come into effect in 2012 will lead not only to a European savings on oil (mainly via lower oil import volumes) but also to slightly lower global oil prices. Enerdata concluded that a 0.9% reduction in global oil consumption results in a drop in global oil prices of 1.2%.
Most analyses of the economic assessments of energy efficiency measures normally use fixed oil prices when accounting for economic benefits. By working out that the price of oil will fall when the EU’s regulations fully take effect, the study suggests that the European economic benefits of fuel efficiency have been underestimated, in general by up to 17%, according to T&E.
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Energy Biosciences Institute Adds Microbially Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery Project
April 01, 2009
A combined effort of all three academic partners in the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) will seek to increase the amount of oil that can be extracted from existing wells by using microbes within their geological habitat to help recover residual oil and enhance production. They will also research methods of in situ biorefining to improve oil field life cycle costs and reduce environmental impacts.
The process is called “Microbially Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery,” (MEHR) and the program to investigate it is the 51st research effort in the EBI, which is funded by BP, the global energy company. More than two dozen scientists from the University of California at Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will participate in the investigations.
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Alaska Senators Introduce Legislation Permitting Advanced Directional Drilling for ANWR
March 01, 2009
US Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced legislation that would allow the use of advanced directional drilling to tap the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) coastal plain. The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, would allow access to the coastal plain’s oil and natural gas resources through the use of underground directional drilling from state-owned lands to the west of the refuge and state waters from the north.
The legislation seeks to find a compromise with those concerned with preserving the 1.5 million acre coastal plain while still tapping into ANWR to increase domestic production of oil and gas.
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LLNL and Chevron Sign Fuel Production Catalysts Research Agreement
January 14, 2009
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has signed a research agreement with Chevron to develop the next generation of catalysts for production of cleaner, more efficient fuels from crude oil.
The research will focus on how catalytically active surfaces form and change on contact with feed molecules and, in particular, over time, how they are influenced by promoters and impurities.
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IEA Calls for “Global Energy Revolution” Despite Economic Crisis
November 12, 2008
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| World primary energy demand in WEO 2008 Reference Scenario. Click to enlarge. |
In his release of the IEA’s World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2008—the latest edition of the International Energy Agency’s annual publication—IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said that the report highlights that current trends in energy supply and consumption are “patently unsustainable, environmentally, economically and socially. They can and must be altered.”
In the WEO-2008 Reference Scenario, which assumes no new government policies, world primary energy demand grows by 1.6% per year on average between 2006 and 2030—an increase of 45%. This is slower than projected last year, mainly due to the impact of the economic slowdown, prospects for higher energy prices and some new policy initiatives.
