Engineering Commons^™

The Effects Of Temperature On The Yields Of Aliphatic And Aromatic Products From The Supercritical Pyrolysis Of 1-Octene, Elizabeth Anne Hurst

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Prior to their combustion, fuels for future high-speed aircraft are expected to experience supercritical conditions, leading to the production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), precursors to solid carbonaceous deposits, via pyrolytic reactions. These solid deposits can clog fuel-transfer lines, causing unsafe aircraft operation. To prevent the formation of fuel-line deposits, it is critical to understand the reaction pathways that lead to PAH formation in the supercritical fuel pyrolysis environment.

To better understand the role of large 1-alkenes in PAH formation, supercritical pyrolysis experiments with model fuel 1-octene, a representative 1-alkene product from supercritical n-alkane pyrolysis, have been performed. The …

Effect Of Surfactant, Oil:Water Ratio And Temperature On The Rheology Of Emulsion-Suspension Complex Fluids: Implications For Oil-Based Drilling Fluids, Gilles Landry Numkam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Drilling fluids are non-Newtonian mixtures that play a critical role in the timely and successful completion of oil and gas wells. In the particular case of offshore operations, proper design of drilling fluids is of paramount importance in the constant quest to lower break-even prices. Most downhole problems are directly or in-directly related to the rheological and physical properties of drilling fluids, thereby calling for a better understanding of the underlying changes of these properties with respect to drilling fluid composition and external conditions.

The current stance in the design of drilling fluids involves the selection of components and their …

Multiphase Cfd Modeling In Particle-Laden Flows, Zhizhong Ding

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Multiphase modeling is prevalent and useful in solving problems involving multiphase interactions such as fluid and solid. Applications conclude but not limited to fluidized bed, hydraulic conveying, and many others. Modeling techniques with multiple scales can provide various states of details with diverse computational resources used. In this dissertation, two CFD multiphase models are used to disclose interaction details in the particulate system. Two-Fluid Model is used to solve pulsed fluidized bed problem and immersed boundary method based direct numerical method is used to solve particle’s behavior in shear flow. Getting a better understanding of these problems to help to …

Application Of Pressure And Rate Transient Analyses To Stress-Sensitive Multi-Fractured Composite Systems And Compartmentalized Reservoirs, Oscar Mauricio Molina

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Pressure transient analysis (PTA) is one of the most robust and commonly interpretation tools available for reservoir characterization. Common applications of PTA include estimation of near-wellbore and reservoir properties, detection of reservoir limits and identification of depletion mechanisms. In addition, PTA allows the identification of sealing and leaky faults and the characterization of its properties, such as permeability and transmissibility hence direction of leakage within the fault.

The purpose of this dissertation is to introduce the analytical solution for pressure-transient behavior for three novel reservoir models. First, we develop the analytical model of a multi-fracture horizontal well (MFHW) with pressure-dependent …

A Model-Based Framework For The Smart Manufacturing Of Polymers, Santiago D. Salas Ortiz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

It is hard to point a daily activity in which polymeric materials or plastics are not involved. The synthesis of polymers occurs by reacting small molecules together to form, under certain conditions, long molecules. In polymer synthesis, it is mandatory to assure uniformity between batches, high-quality of end-products, efficiency, minimum environmental impact, and safety. It remains as a major challenge the establishment of operational conditions capable of achieving all objectives together. In this dissertation, different model-centric strategies are combined, assessed, and tested for two polymerization systems.

The first system is the synthesis of polyacrylamide in aqueous solution using potassium persulfate …

Natural Gas Conversion Into Value Added Chemicals Using Solid Acid Catalysts, Swarom Ravindra Kanitkar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Direct, non-oxidative conversion of natural gas to value-added chemicals has been identified as one of the grand challenges of the 21^st century. Circumventing indirect and costly reforming steps is highly sought after and solid acids can play an important role in that.

The direct conversion of methane to higher hydrocarbons and hydrogen can be catalyzed using “superacids” at < 450 °C. Reported superacid catalysts in solid, liquid, and gas phase included sulfated zirconia (SZ), HF-SbF₅, FSO₃H-SbF₅, and HBr-AlBr₃. Liquid and gas phase superacids presented difficulties in separation while the solid ones provided low yields. Here, we report a new class of Br-based solid superacids, AlBr_x/H-ZSM-5 (“ABZ-5”, …

A Comprehensive Techno-Economic Framework For Shale Gas Exploitation And Distribution In The United States, Jorge Asis Charbel Chebeir

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past years, shale gas has turned into one of the most significant sources of energy in the United States. Technological advancements have provided the energy industry with the necessary tools to allow the economic exploitation of an enormous volume of natural gas trapped in shale formations. This has boosted the domestic gas production and generated a boom in other sectors of the economy in the country. However, major challenges are involved in the development of shale gas resources. A drastic decline of wells’ productivity, the costs involved in the gas production and distribution facets, and the volatile behavior …