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Abstract

Custom-Made Sorbent-Based Sensors for Subsurface Microseepage of Volatile Organic Markers of Oil and Gas Fields †

by
Vera Solovyeva
1,*,
Maxim Orlov
1,
Ibrahim Atwah
2 and
Mohammed Abu Alreesh
2
1
Aramco Innovations LLC, Bld. 1, 9 Varshavskoye Highway, 117105 Moscow, Russia
2
EXPEC ARC (Advanced Research Center), Dhahran P.O. Box 18328, Saudi Arabia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the 3rd International Electronic Conference on Processes—Green and Sustainable Process Engineering and Process Systems Engineering (ECP 2024), 29–31 May 2024; Available online: https://sciforum.net/event/ECP2024.
Proceedings 2024, 105(1), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2024105137
Published: 28 May 2024
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The 3rd International Electronic Conference on Processes—Green and Sustainable Process Engineering and Process Systems Engineering)
Versions Notes

The geochemical exploration of oil and gas fields offers a cost-efficient approach to reservoir prospecting through the remote and subsurface detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are markers of underlying fossil fuel deposits. Hydrocarbon indicators can manifest as surface seeps of visible oil and gas (macroseeps) or as traces detectable by sophisticated analytical methods (microseeps). An effective geochemical exploration method involves absorbing hydrocarbon molecules using specially developed materials buried up to a few meters deep, followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the accumulated VOCs. Given the variety of absorbents available, it is essential to identify the most effective material.
We developed a method to compare and test adsorbents for their affinity to mixed hydrocarbons and N,O,S-derivatives, evaluating them using natural oil samples in a laboratory microseepage setup. This approach enabled us to screen a library of commercial and custom-made sorbents to identify the best materials for absorbing oil markers. The adsorbate often consists of a complex mixture of components, making chemical analysis challenging. To address the difficulties of separating and identifying complex mixtures, we proposed using two-dimensional HR-GCxGC-TOF-MS. This technique involves first separating mixed analytes on a long polar column followed by a short non-polar one with consequent high-resolution TOF-MS analysis of resulted probes.
Thus, a variety of adsorbent types was screened for their affinity towards the accumulation of potential hydrocarbon markers. The most efficient sorbents were identified based on the maximum number and diversity of analytes detected through thermal desorption/HR-GCxGC-MS and Brunauer/Emmett/Teller (BET) surface area analysis. Two top-performing custom-made sorbents, composed of carbon nanomaterials, showed significantly higher adsorption capacity compared to a commercial reference sorbent, when exposed to model hydrocarbon mixtures, and were selected for further development.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, I.A., M.O. and V.S.; methodology, M.O. and V.S.; formal analysis, M.O. and V.S.; investigation, M.O. and V.S.; resources, I.A., M.A.A. and M.O.; writing—original draft preparation, V.S. and M.O.; writing—review and editing, I.A.; supervision, I.A.; project administration, V.S.; funding acquisition, V.S. and M.O. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this abstract.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors and Aramco Innovations LLC declare no conflicts of interest.
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Solovyeva, V.; Orlov, M.; Atwah, I.; Alreesh, M.A. Custom-Made Sorbent-Based Sensors for Subsurface Microseepage of Volatile Organic Markers of Oil and Gas Fields. Proceedings 2024, 105, 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2024105137

AMA Style

Solovyeva V, Orlov M, Atwah I, Alreesh MA. Custom-Made Sorbent-Based Sensors for Subsurface Microseepage of Volatile Organic Markers of Oil and Gas Fields. Proceedings. 2024; 105(1):137. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2024105137

Chicago/Turabian Style

Solovyeva, Vera, Maxim Orlov, Ibrahim Atwah, and Mohammed Abu Alreesh. 2024. "Custom-Made Sorbent-Based Sensors for Subsurface Microseepage of Volatile Organic Markers of Oil and Gas Fields" Proceedings 105, no. 1: 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2024105137

APA Style

Solovyeva, V., Orlov, M., Atwah, I., & Alreesh, M. A. (2024). Custom-Made Sorbent-Based Sensors for Subsurface Microseepage of Volatile Organic Markers of Oil and Gas Fields. Proceedings, 105(1), 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2024105137

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