Aramco, the Saudi Arabian energy titan, is now using state-of-the-art technology for oil recovery.
The creation of Irish start-up, AquaB Nanobubble Innovations Ltd, the Vulcan-500 system employs electrical fields instead of mechanics to create nanometre-sized gas bubbles.
Aramco is employing the nanobubble generator models at multiple facilities to improve the efficiency of its oil recovery activities. This usage of the nanobubble generators in Saudi Arabia is among many possible uses for the platform technology, which is the brainchild of Niall English, an inventor and chemical engineering professor based at University College Dublin. English is also chief technology officer (CTO) for AquaB.
The nanobubble generator models take a different approach to forming gas bubbles like cavitation and propelling gas or air at high pressures through membranes. The technology generates a static electric field over water where the bubbles are required. The electrical field’s presence aligns with water molecule dipoles, densifying the water as it packs them more tightly together than when molecules are oriented randomly when an electric field is absent.
As this density increases, the liquid’s volume decreases, producing vacuum conditions temporarily. The result is stable nanobubbles generating at a fraction of the energy required to produce gas bubbles mechanically.
As well as improving oil extraction, the patented technology can be used to add gas to fuel and separate water and oil.
Operating at the cutting-edge of the oil and gas industry, Aramco also owns the Valvoline brand, which produces lubricants like gear oil, grease, slideway oil, rust preventative and turbine oil.
