Digital Commons Network^™

Application Of Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing For Pressure Predictions And Multiphase Flow Characterization, Gerald Kelechi Ekechukwu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the oil and gas industry, distributed fiber optics sensing (DFOS) has the potential to revolutionize well and reservoir surveillance applications. Using fiber optic sensors is becoming increasingly common because of its chemically passive and non-magnetic interference properties, the possibility of flexible installations that could be behind the casing, on the tubing, or run on wireline, as well as the potential for densely distributed measurements along the entire length of the fiber. The main objectives of my research are to develop and demonstrate novel signal processing and machine learning computational techniques and workflows on DFOS data for a variety of …

Bioremediation Of Petroleum-Based Contaminants By Alkane-Degrading Bacterium Alcanivorax Borkumensis, Amber Julaine Pete

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The world’s dependence on petroleum hydrocarbons has led to significant environmental implications. For example, oil spills cause lasting environmental damage, and the increase of plastics in the marine environment has been growing, specifically, microplastics that can be difficult to detect due to their small size. Petroleum hydrocarbons occur naturally in nearly all marine environments, which has allowed hundreds of microorganisms to evolve to utilize these hydrocarbons as their primary energy source. These microbes are classified as hydrocarbonoclastic and are utilized to remove spilled oil biodegradation. Over the last ten years, progress has been made in the biodegradation of oil spills …

A Drift-Flux Model For Upward Two-Phase In Pipes With High Velocity Flows, Woochan Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study proposes the evaluation and development of a drift-flux model for upward two-phase high-velocity flow in large diameter pipes. A case where the proposed model is applicable is WCD (Worst-Case-Discharge) calculations for offshore wells. WCD assumes relatively larger pipe diameters and higher flow rates than the flow experiments at laboratory conditions utilized to validate and develop most of the flow models available in the literature.

Most of the two-phase flow models describe flow regime transitions as discrete processes by assigning the required void fraction or velocity for each flow regime transition. Therefore, for each flow regime, flow-regime-dependent correlations or …

Assembly Of Nanostructures At Solid-Liquid And Liquid-Air Interfaces, Yingzhen Ma

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Molecular and nanoscale colloids such as surfactant, fatty acid and metallic nanoparticles are widely used in numerous applications such as detergents, biomedicine, and catalyst. The assemblies of these colloids show different morphological behavior in aqueous solution due to the wide range of intermolecular interactions such as hydrogen bonding, van der Waals, and electrostatics. The morphology of these assemblies can be changed by environmental factors including temperature, ionic strength, and salinity. However, the guidance to direct assembled state of colloidal assemblies at heterogenous interfaces under various external stimuli remains poorly understand. In this Ph.D. dissertation, we show the adsorption and reconfiguration …

Tuning Electrochemical Interactions And Polymer Electrolyte Interfaces For Enhanced Organic Acid Separations Using Electrodeionization, Matthew Leo Jordan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Chemical separations are critical processes for chemical and industrial plants to purify and isolate products however current separation technologies, such as distillation, rely on energy intensive processes. Electrochemical separation processes, such as electrodialysis and electrodeionization, are an energy efficient alternative that are emerging as an alternative for thermal-based separations. Organic acids are weakly ionizable species and susceptible for purification from process streams using electrochemical processes. Recently the fermentation route has garnered greater attention as a means for producing value-added chemicals, such as organic acids, from a renewable feedstock and aiding the circular economy. Some of the challenges electrodialysis faces for …

Computational Study Of The Reactions Of Heteroatomic Compounds On Ceo2, Suman Bhasker Ranganath

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The mechanisms of ambient-temperature reactions of heteroatomic compounds catalyzed by ceria (CeO₂), an archetypical reducible oxide, for enzyme mimetics, environmental protection, and chemical synthesis are investigated in this dissertation using theoretical methods. CeO₂ is modeled with thermodynamically stable low-index surfaces exposed by commonly studied ceria thin films and nano particles. To understand phosphatase-like dephosphorylation activity, stable adsorption states and surface reactions of model phosphates are examined. Binding of the central P-atom to surface lattice oxygen (O_latt) supplemented by phosphoryl O-Ce interaction is the only stable adsorption state for the un-dissociated molecule. Deprotonation of phosphate monoesters, …