The Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), a legal entity governed by private law linked to Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), and Petrobras have concluded the first phase of a technological partnership that will enable advances in exploration and expand research possibilities in oil and gas. The project basis is to use one of the research stations at Sirius, the largest and most complex scientific infrastructure in Brazil, to make 3D images of pre-salt rocks in an automated way, which is capable of quickly generating large volumes of data.

Started in 2021, the project has two fronts: one of infrastructure, which consisted in implementing the Mogno beamline microstation, with instrumentation to automate measurements with industry standard rocks, and another in Research and Development activities, aiming to develop data post-processing methods.

Sirius in pre-salt research

Sirius has state-of-the-art electron accelerators at its core that produce a type of light capable of revealing the materials microstructure. These analyses are carried out on so-called beamlines that can be used simultaneously. One of them is the Mogno beamline, capable of generating 3D tomographic images with micro and nanometric resolution of rocks containing oil and gas, opening new research possibilities in the petrochemical area.

“One of the main scientific objectives for which the Mogno beamline was planned is precisely to carry out research related to oil’, highlights Nathaly Archilha, researcher at Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS/CNPEM), responsible for the Mogno beamline. The pre-salt oil reserves are a set of carbonate rocks formed more than 100 million years ago, situated at great depth, beneath a layer of salt rock on the seabed.

The Mogno beamline allows the investigation of internal structures from a diverse range of materials in a non-invasive way, at different scales, with continuous zoom and possibility of reaching a spatial resolution of 200 nanometers. Shortly, It will also be possible to subject materials to different mechanical, thermal or chemical conditions, and track changes in real time.

The scientific instrumentation that will make this possible is under development in yet another project in partnership with Petrobras. “These developments will allow detailed studies of complex phenomena such as, for example, the passage of fluids through rock pores, simulating the same conditions in which they are found in the pre-salt layer. This set of experimental possibilities doesn’t exist anywhere in the world”, highlights Nathaly.

According to Gabriel Moreno, LNLS/CNPEM engineer who coordinated the efforts to make Mogno’s technical infrastructure viable, upcoming developments “offer an even greater level of complexity, with exciting challenges in the dynamics, thermal-fluid and systems engineering areas”.

Digital Rock Bank

The partnership with Petrobras resulted in the installation of a microstation on the Mogno beamline that is capable of receiving up to 88 samples at once — such as pre-salt rocks, for example — automatically exchanging them while performing 3D microtomographies, at different resolutions. The beamline can also be operated remotely in low-complexity experiments.

Petrobras’ objective is to generate a digital rock database that increases the industry’s knowledge about oil reservoirs. The digital rock database will be associated with algorithms, with the use of artificial intelligence, to characterize the geological structures and carry out numerical simulations of the oil recovery process that is inside them. With this, it will be possible to perform simulations in order to predict the dynamics of oil reservoir exploration.

The project also involves the development of post-processing methods, that can be used by external researchers who come to Sirius to carry out their experiments. On this front, the LNLS scientific computing team developed data reconstruction algorithms, responsible for creating three-dimensional images.

Developments will benefit from the use of Tepui, Sirius’ high-performance computing hub, and also from a partnership with the Brazilian Network for Education and Research (RNP) to the transfer of Sirius data to the Santos Dumont supercomputer, at the National Laboratory of Scientific Computation (LNCC), in Petrópolis (RJ).

Recently, the first experiments on the Mogno beamline using the new experimental capabilities were carried out by a joint team from LNLS/CNPEM and Petrobras. The experimental phase at the beamline took place in November 2024 with samples from several pre-salt wells and, since then, these measurements are being post-processed to generate 3D images of the rocks.

Now, the microstation is also open to the scientific community in the “scientific commissioning” modality. Those interested in using the new microstation will be able to present their research projects in the next call for proposals for Sirius’ use, later this year. Approved proposals will carry out experiments in 2026.

About CNPEM

The Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) is home to a state-of-the-art, multi-user and multidisciplinary scientific environment and works on different fronts within the Brazilian National System for Science, Technology and Innovation. A social organization overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), CNPEM is driven by research that impacts the areas of health, energy, renewable materials, and sustainability. It is responsible for Sirius, the largest assembly of scientific equipment constructed in the country, and is currently constructing Project Orion, a laboratory complex for advanced pathogen research. Highly specialized science and engineering teams, sophisticated infrastructure open to the scientific community, strategic lines of investigation, innovative projects involving the productive sector, and training for researchers and students are the pillars of this institution that is unique in Brazil and able to serve as a bridge between knowledge and innovation. CNPEM’s research and development activities are carried out through its four National Laboratories: Synchrotron Light (LNLS), Biosciences (LNBio), Nanotechnology (LNNano), Biorenewables (LNBR), as well as its Technology Unit (DAT) and the Ilum School of Science — an undergraduate program in Science and Technology supported by the Ministry of Education (MEC).