Advance Manufacturing & High Value Materials
High Temperature High Pressure Water Shutoff Chemical System Based on Nanocomposite
The use of polymer gels provides for a facile and cost –effective technology for water shutoff. However, these gels are unstable and face degradation issues at high temperatures and high salinity reservoirs. To overcome these challenges, nanomaterials, in particular metal oxide nanoparticles and 2D materials like graphene, provide a simple method to reinforce the current polymer gels for wide range of operating conditions.
Saudi Sand Coating System Based on Surface Polymerization and Nanocomposites
Mass production of the sand proppants coated with graphene-based polymer and epoxy nanocomposites. Momentarily, we have showed the successful scale-up preparation of the coated sand proppant of 5 Kg. The work includes, the purchase and purification of the required chemicals in large amounts, careful design for the reactors for the mass production and subsequent characterization of the scaled-up product. In addition, the coated sand proppants have been tested for fine production and which is compared with that of the lab-scale produced sand proppants (300g). The prepared proppants via the scaled-up process have been sent out to Aramco for the evaluation and comparison.
Soft Fluidics
Explorative study of agar with built in fluidics to study plants
Agar have long been used as a growth media for plants.This research explores methods and processes to develop monolithic agar with built in fluidic channels to study plants.
Fluidic channels formed are used for controlled and precise delivery of nutrients to plants as their root system develop in the agar medium.
Black Eye bean (Vigna Unguiculata) and Mung bean (Vigna Radiata) were studied as their roots grow rapidly. In the absence and presence of nutrients, plants grow longer and shorter tap roots, respectively.
Agar with fluidics can be used to study response of plants to environmental changes.
Also, technology can potentially be scaled for precision agriculture.
Phase Change Material enhancement using nanomaterial for thermal storage
Applications in Saudi buildings
The aim of this project is to develop an enhanced phase change material (PCM) for thermal storage application. Paraffin wax was used as a PCM based on some preferred characteristics Different nano fillers were evaluated to enhance the thermal conductivity of the wax. A unique preparation method utilizing ball milling and sonication to combine the paraffin and graphene nano tube was found. This technique improved the thermal conductivity 4.3 and 6 times more than the pure wax at 10% and 15 % of filler loading, respectively. The developed PCM composite is currently under testing for integration with building materials. A building model is built resembling the building construction in the kingdom filled with PCM sheet within the concrete blocks inside the walls. A data acquisition system is utilized to collect temperature data continuously acquiring data days and nights during the hot weather condition. The data is analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of PCM integration to shift the electricity demand for the high usage of air-conditioning from day to night in the summer.
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