In recent years, Egypt’s energy production has been decreasing while its consumption and domestic demands are rapidly increasing. The country is in real need of innovative ideas to address the energy shortage. And now, Egyptian scientist Adel Salem Ragab believes he has the solution to Egypt’s heavily debated energy problem: Nanotechnology.
Salem, who co-authored a paper in 2013 on the applications of nanotechnology in the oil and gas industry worldwide and its future challenges in Egypt, is now working at the Future University in Cairo on "enhanced oil recovery" (EOR) using nanoparticles.
Salem’s 2013 paper defines nanotechnology as “the use of very small pieces of material, at dimensions between approximately 1 and 100 nanometers, by themselves or their manipulation to create new large scale materials, where unique phenomena enable novel applications.”
According to Wamda, Salem believes his research on applying nanotechnology in the oil industry could boost Egypt's current production by 10-20 percent, which would translate to between 70,000 and 140,000 extra barrels of oil per day. He also believes the technology could revitalize Egypt's large number of brownfields, which are oil fields that have been shut down after extracting their easy resources.
Nanotechnology has been part of the oil and gas industry globally for decades. But, as global companies have been investing more in the technology in the last 15 years, there have been many recent advancements.
Salem is now hoping that his promising research can attract oil businesses and entrepreneurs in the country who believe in innovation and want to invest in nanotechnology to solve Egypt’s energy problem as it allows more oil to be extracted in a shorter period of time.
Salem, who is currently testing a sandstone core sample from an oil reservoir near the Bahariya formation in central Egypt, understands the difficulties of accessing oil reservoirs and samples. He says oil companies in Egypt are hesitant to give samples in an effort to protect their sites, in addition to the fact that many of the oil extraction sites are restricted.
Salem believes the biggest challenge facing the adoption of nanotechnology in Egypt’s energy production industry is convincing the oil companies to believe in the technology’s innovative ways, as he told Wamda that most companies rely on the natural pressure of the reservoir and water flooding, without considering more effective methods such as those proposed by nanotechnology.