Nanotechnology in Traditional Texas Industries

Examples in Texas demonstrate that nanotechnology isn’t restricted to new industries—nanomaterials and nanoproducts are also transforming traditional and economically dominant Texas industries such as beef, oil, and natural gas. Following are some examples of how these old-time Texas-branded industries are leveraging breakthroughs in nanotechnology as they look to the future.

Agromicron is testing a system that uses nanotechnology to detect a variety of pathogens such as salmonella and E. Coli bacteria in food and beverages. The system includes a Nano Bioluminescent Spray that reacts to pathogens by producing a visual glow that can be detected easily. The product can be applied the contents of refrigerated freight containers to detect bacteria quickly and economically. Another application for the spray might be to detect bioterrorism threats.

Nanotechnology is also being utilized to extract more petroleum from oil fields. Current oil extraction technologies are not efficient—up to two barrels of oil are left in the subsurface for every barrel of oil produced. The ability to preserve a greater percentage of oil from existing fields may help reduce the pressure to open up new fields. Researchers are also looking to nanotechnology to reduce the impact of oil spills and to even recover some of the spilled oil. Annually, there are about 3,000 major oil spills, and environmental disasters such as hurricanes increase the threat of mega-spills. Nanomaterials are being developed that can absorb an estimated 40 times their weight in oil.

Researchers are also applying nanotechnology to energy conservation applications to reduce oil and natural gas demands. Nanotechnology can be used to increase the recovery of natural gas from unconventional and stranded resources. Strong and lightweight nanomaterials can be used to support the equipment needs of the natural gas industry, such as drilling equipment, platforms, and pipelines. Nanosensors could be developed for applications in high-temperature and high-pressure environments where conventional sensors are not effective. Engineers at UT-Austin are developing a nanosand to purify natural gas more economically. Nanosand has improved filtering properties to quickly separate out the undesirable compounds in natural gas.

Researchers are using nanotechnology to replace petroleum-based components in adhesives, coating, and inks with nanostarches. Petroleum is a major source of materials for the packaged goods that people buy every day. For example, cardboard manufacturers use roughly four billion pounds of starchy adhesive a year. Nanostarches consist of nanoparticles with starches found in crops. The starch particles have a greater surface area and exhibit improved adhesive and coating properties at the nanoscale. The challenge for the researchers is to transform natural starch compounds, which are about 30 microns in length, down to the nanoscale of 50 to 150 nanometers.