The Laboratory of Microhydrodynamics and Flow in Porous Media of PUC-Rio was the winner of the ANP Award for Technological Innovation 2018 in Category V – Project developed by an accredited institution and/or Brazilian company, in collaboration with an oil company, in the specific thematic area “Oil and gas recovery factor increase”. The project “Development of microcapsules with controllable rigidity and its use in the control of mobility and increase of the oil recovery factor” was developed in partnership with Shell and presents a methodology for the manufacture of microcapsules with controlled properties and proves the concept of the use of suspensions of these microcapsules as a method of increasing the oil recovery factor. The microcapsules can be used as pore block agents already swept by the aqueous phase, diverting the flow and consequently mobilizing oil ganglia, and as a vehicle for carrying chemical agents for controlled release.
Project is summarized in the short video below:
https://youtu.be/qhXLDMhAWE8