A new application has been considered by the Argonne National Laboratory where lasers drill the wells to get to oil and natural gas. Here's how this works: A fiber optic cable sends high powered laser pulses (nearly as powerful as the Navy laser) down a shaft to blast away rock, and then the rock is carried to the surface (by using drilling fluids or another method). As you can imagine, this takes a ton of energy, but it can actually be less expensive than current drilling methods. Current methods already require a lot of energy, and drill bits need replacing every so often. That isn't true for laser drills.
Benito, I really enjoy reading your posts! You have such an expansive knowledge base on lasers! I'm impressed. Did you hear about this through the professor at Mines? Keep up the great posts!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your interest in my posts and the compliments! I appreciate your interest.
ReplyDeleteI actually didn't hear about this through Dr. Graves. I looked online and found the oil drilling application for lasers, and as I read an article on the topic, I saw that CSM was mentioned! I did some digging and found that the Argonne National Laboratory was working with CSM. I also discovered that a large outside donation was given to CSM for Dr. Graves' research.
I researched laser applications, and the results led me right back around to my own college. Small world, huh?
Wow, that is awesome. It's always good to hear that Mines is involved in something cool in terms of research. Maybe you could try doing a short interview with Dr. Graves.
ReplyDeleteYeah. I thought about that. I haven't met Dr. Graves, but I think it would be neat to have a sit down with her. I will see if she would be willing.
ReplyDelete