Objective Objectives and problems to be solved:Tracers are chemical compounds used in tracer technology programmes aimed at hydrocarbon reservoir characterisation and efficient oil recovery. Currently used non-radioactive gas tracers, such as Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) are ozone depleting substances (CFCs) or have high Global Warming Potential (GWP) and extremely long lifetimes in the atmosphere (PFCs, SF6), constituting them very potent greenhouse gases (GHG). Regarding water tracers, Fluoro-Benzoic Acids (FBAs) bio-accumulate in the seawater posing a threat to the ocean environment. given(i) the current pressure of the environmental authorities on the oil industry to reduce and even ban the use of such chemicals and(ii) their proven usefulness in the oil exploration and production operations, the project aspires to enlarge the portfolio of environmentally acceptable gas and water tracers thus, ensuring the routine application of a cost-effective method like tracers in reservoir operations. This means that the project aims to identify chemical compounds satisfying both the requirements of being stable in the reservoir over a long time period and at the same time being degradable to avoid bioaccumulation or irreversible accumulation in the atmosphere. Therefore, ENVITRACER objectives include:- Develop and test new, non-radioactive, water and gas tracers that satisfy the current requirements of the oil industry while reducing substantially the aforementioned harmful environmental effects.- Assess the cost-effectiveness of the new tracers (production and field application) and propose recommendations and guidelines for the industrial practice on this issue.Description of the work :To ensure the smooth execution of the project the following main targets have to be achieved:- Identification of chemical compounds with a potential to qualify as gas or water tracers- Studying the behaviour of the compounds in the laboratory at reservoir conditions to ensure thermal, chemical and microbial stability- Evaluation of the environmental friendliness of the compounds- Reduction of the costs of tracer production and of the respective detection limits for field application- Development of an advanced tracer flow electronic laboratory- Evaluation of the flow behaviour of the tracers- Testing the selected compounds in the oil field- Evaluation of the results, cost effectiveness of the new tracers, integration into recommendations and guidelines for industrial practice- Effective exploitation and dissemination to selected target groups.Expected results and Exploitation Plans:- Establishment of new methodologies on the synthesis and detection of the new tracers.-Development of a numerical simulation tool that will take into account the dependency of the distribution of tracers in a reservoir on appropriate physico-chemical properties and process parameters and will assess the behaviour of tracers thus replacing effectively currently applied costly experiments- Development and testing of new, non-radioactive water and gas reservoir tracers that are friendly towards the environment- Recommendations for guidelines to the oil industry regarding the use of the newly developed water and gas tracer technology. Several aspects of the proposal take on an innovative character (developing and testing new, cost-effective tracers, proposing guidelines for the oil industry). While during the development of the previous generation of tracers their environmental impact was not given sufficient attention, the 'environmental inertness' becomes now on a prerequisite for the selection of the new generation of water and gas tracers. In addition, some of the expected results on the new tracers are generic in nature and have important applications in other sectors that use these compounds and should reduce their emissions soon (e.g. heat exchangers, pollution in rivers and ground water systems, mixing and homogenisation apparatuses). This aspect makes the project of multi-sectorial importance and shows how its results and the associated benefits may diffuse to other industrial sectors. Fields of science natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryhydrocarbonsnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollutionnatural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationssimulation software Programme(s) FP5-EESD - Programme for research, technological development and demonstration on "Energy, environment and sustainable development, 1998-2002" Topic(s) 1.1.4.-6. - Key action Economic and Efficient Energy for a Competitive Europe Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator NATIONAL CENTRE FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 'DEMOKRITOS' EU contribution No data Address Aghia Paraskevi, Attikis 15310 ATHENS Greece See on map Total cost No data Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all CENTRE FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY HELLAS Greece EU contribution No data Address Charilaou 6th KM - Thermi Road 57001 THERMI See on map Total cost No data COMPANÍA ESPANOLA DE PETROLEOS SA Spain EU contribution No data Address Picos de Europa 7, Poligono de San Fernando de Hen 28850 TORREJON DE ARDOZ See on map Total cost No data INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY Norway EU contribution No data Address 18,Instituttveien 18 2027 KJELLER See on map Total cost No data MOL HUNGARIAN OIL AND GAS PLC Hungary EU contribution No data Address Ady Endre u 26. 5000 SZOLNOK See on map Total cost No data STATE POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY Norway EU contribution No data Address 96,Strormveien 96 0032 OSLO See on map Total cost No data STATOIL ASA Norway EU contribution No data Address Artitekt Ebbells veg 10, Rotvoll 7005 TRONDHEIM See on map Total cost No data