Developing hydropyrolysis and allied innovative high-pressure techniques for applications in oil exploration and detection of steroid abuse.

Completed

Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Other oil and gas)
Not Energy Related

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor C Snape
Chemical and Environmental Engineering
University of Nottingham

R&D

NERC

01 November 2004

30 April 2006

18 months

£51,068

Transport Systems and Vehicles

East Midlands

Follow on Fund

Professor C Snape, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham

Prof M Sephton, Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London

Objectives not supplied

Hydropyrolysis (hypy) is a special analytical pyrolysis technique that solves key problem areas in oil exploration where conventional analysis of biomarkers (hydrocarbons with known biological precursors) fails. In particular, the chemically bound biomarkers released via hypy provide extremely reliable molecular fingerprints for severely biodegraded oils, contaminated cores, oil-field solids (tarmats and pyrobitumens) and this new informationhas real value in enabling correlations between oils and source rocks that were simply not possible previously. In addition, allied high-pressure techniques are being established for predicting the timing of oil generation under the overpressured conditions often encountered in basins, again being of enormous benefit in oil exploration. We have established recently that hypy has other major potential applications, particularly in steroid drug detection. The overall aim of the follow-on project is to conduct further scientific and technical development of hypy and an allied high-pressure pyrolysis procedure where "proof of concept" is required to expand the commercial possibilities for a business venture based on hypy and thus bridgethe pre-seed funding gap between the completion of the NERC award and the lead-in time before new funding can be secured to further advance the R&D.

05/06/08