Chemical Engineering Commons^™

A Characterization Of Different Alkali Chemical Agents For Alkaline Flooding Enhanced Oil Recovery Operations: An Experimental Investigation, Sherif Fakher, Hesham Abdelaal, Youssef Elgahawy, Abdulmohsin Imqam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Alkaline injection is a chemical enhanced oil recovery method that is used to increase oil recovery by reacting with the crude oil and creating an in situ surfactant. Many chemical agents can be used as an alkali during injection all of which have several advantages and disadvantages. This research focuses on the innate properties of three alkali agents and their ability to alter pH and temperature downhole. Alkali solutions were prepared with five different concentrations including 0.2, 1, 2, 3, and 4 wt%. The impact of varying the alkali concentration, monovalent cations manifested in sodium chloride, and divalent cations manifested …

Application Of Artificial Neural Networks In The Drilling Processes: Can Equivalent Circulation Density Be Estimated Prior To Drilling?, Husam Hasan Alkinani, Abo Taleb Al-Hameedi, Shari Dunn-Norman, David Lian

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

As the drilling environment became more challenging nowadays, managing equivalent circulating density (ECD) is a key factor to minimize non-productive time (NPT) due to many drilling obstacles such as stuck pipe, formation fracturing, and lost circulation. The goal of this work was to predict ECD prior to drilling by using artificial neural network (ANN). Once ECD is recognized, the crucial drilling variables impact ECD can be modified to control ECD within the acceptable ranges. Data from over 2000 wells collected worldwide were used in this study to create an ANN to predict ECD prior to drilling. Into training, validation, and …

Extraction And Visualization Of Orientation Data From Virtual Geologic Surfaces With Matlab®, Avery J. Welker, John Patrick Hogan, Andreas Eckert

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

High-resolution visualization of surfaces of geologic interest, at a multitude of scales, using 3D point cloud technologies provides an opportunity to analyze spatial relationships of surfaces using orientation data. We present a MATLAB® script that produces planar geologic attitude data (e.g., strike, dip, and dip-direction data) from 3D datasets (e.g., point clouds, 3D scanning). The method utilizes Cartesian coordinates of triangular planar surfaces and converts them into matrices of conventional geologic attitude data. Spatial relationships among data points can be investigated, using polar tangent diagrams, stereographic analysis, or geologic curvature analysis. We utilize this script to create "synthetic" graphical plots …

Bioremediation Of Refinery Desalter Effluent Using Debaryomyces Hansenii And Parachlorella Kessleri, Leila Azimian

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Crude oil desalting operations produce an effluent stream which is challenging to treat due to its salt, heavy metal and hydrocarbon content. Consequently, desalter effluent (DE) is usually diluted into other effluent streams and sent to conventional wastewater treatment plants which may lead to upsets the plant operation.

In this study, a novel microbial approach was applied which investigated DE treatment using halotolerant yeast Debaryomyces hansenii (LAF-3 10 U) or the environmentally robust micro-algae Parachlorella kessleri strain CPCC 266. The effect of these two different approaches on both synthetic and actual DE was investigated in both batch and/or continuous mode. …

Pre-Methylation Of Lignin To Improve Storage Stability Of Oil Produced By Solvent Liquefaction, Jae-Young Kim, Parinaz Hafezi-Sefat, Sarah D. Cady, Ryan G. Smith, Robert C. Brown

Sarah Cady

In this study, we methylated hydroxyl groups (phenolic hydroxyl: Phe-OH and aliphatic hydroxyl: Aliph-OH) in soda lignin (SL) prior to solvent liquefaction to improve storage stability of the resulting oil. We investigated two methylating reagents, dimethyl sulfate (DMS) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC), for selective Phe-OH and total hydroxyl group (Phe-OH and Aliph-OH) blocking. Samples of SL, DMS-SL, and DMC-SL were depolymerized into oils under supercritical ethanol (350 °C). Both methylated lignins produced higher amounts of oils and smaller amounts of char compared to untreated SL due to suppressed charring reactions. Oil produced from SL had relatively higher functional group contents …

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 …

The Potential Of Using Micro-Sized Crosslinked Polymer Gel To Remediate Water Leakage In Cement Sheaths, Murad Abdulfarraj, Abdulmohsin Imqam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Cementing is a major step in the construction and sealing of hydrocarbon wells. During the life cycle of the well, cement is prone to cracking due to a change in downhole conditions. This research investigates the use of micro-sized crosslinked polymer gel as a sealant material to mitigate cracked cement sheaths. Two experimental setups were designed to investigate water leakage through cement. The impact of polymer gel strength on the gel's ability to seal cement cracks was investigated using four gel strengths, including 500 pa, 1200 pa, 1450 pa, and 2440 pa. The impact of the width of the cement …

Novel Coupling Smart Water-Co₂ Flooding For Sandstone Reservoirs, Hasan N. Al-Saedi, Ralph E. Flori

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

CO₂ flooding is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective EOR technique that can be used to unlock residual oil from oil reservoirs. Smart water is any water that is engineered by manipulating the ionic composition, regardless of the resulting salinity of the water. One CO2 flooding mechanism is wettability alteration, which meets with the main smart water flooding function. Injecting CO₂ alone increases the likelihood of an early breakthrough and gravity override problems, which have already been solved using water-alternating-gas (WAG) using regular water. WAG is an emerging enhanced oil recovery process designed to enhance sweep efficiency during gas …

Novel Coupling Smart Water-Co₂ Flooding For Sandstone Reservoirs; Smart Seawater-Alternating-Co₂ Flooding (Smsw-Agf), Hasan N. Al-Saedi, Ralph E. Flori

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

CO₂ flooding is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective EOR technique that can be used to unlock residual oil from oil reservoirs. Smart water is any water that is engineered by manipulating the ionic composition, regardless of the resulting salinity of the water. One CO₂ flooding mechanism is wettability alteration, which meets with the main smart water flooding function. Injecting CO₂ alone raise an early breakthrough and gravity override problems, which have already been solved using water alternating gas (WAG) using regular water. WAG is an emerging enhanced oil recovery process designed to enhance sweep efficiency during gas …

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 …

Field Drilling Data Cleaning And Preparation For Data Analytics Applications, Daniel Cardoso Braga

LSU Master's Theses

Throughout the history of oil well drilling, service providers have been continuously striving to improve performance and reduce total drilling costs to operating companies. Despite constant improvement in tools, products, and processes, data science has not played a large part in oil well drilling. With the implementation of data science in the energy sector, companies have come to see significant value in efficiently processing the massive amounts of data produced by the multitude of internet of thing (IOT) sensors at the rig. The scope of this project is to combine academia and industry experience to analyze data from 13 different …

Influence Of Frictional Or Rotational Kinetic Energy On Wellbore-Fluid/Temperature Profiles During Drilling Operations, Ahmed Q. Al Saedi, Ralph E. Flori, C. Shah Kabir

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Temperature-profile distributions in a wellbore during drilling operations might take different forms when applying the energy balance in the overall system. For steady-state conditions, wherein the wellbore is considered a closed system, adding any source of additional energy to this system can influence the predicted temperature profiles. This study presents a new analytical model to investigate the influence of rotational energy arising from the drillstring operation on the wellbore-temperature behavior.

A significant part of the drilling operation is rotation of the drillstring. Depending on the drilling rig, various equipment provides this kind of energy, such as the rotary table or …

Mud Loss Estimation Using Machine Learning Approach, Abo Taleb T. Al-Hameedi, Husam H. Alkinani, Shari Dunn-Norman, Ralph E. Flori, Steven Austin Hilgedick, Ahmed S. Amer, Mortadha Alsaba

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Lost circulation costs are a significant expense in drilling oil and gas wells. Drilling anywhere in the Rumaila field, one the world's largest oilfields, requires penetrating the Dammam formation, which is notorious for lost circulation issues and thus a great source of information on lost circulation events. This paper presents a new, more precise model to predict lost circulation volumes, equivalent circulation density (ECD), and rate of penetration (ROP) in the Dammam formation. A larger data set, more systematic statistical approach, and a machine-learning algorithm have produced statistical models that give a better prediction of the lost circulation volumes, ECD, …

Optimization Of Low Salinity Water Flooding In Low Permeability Oil Reservoir Yang Li, Yang Li

Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Theses

In recent decades, the demand of energy is growing sharply. Oil plays a very important role among all of the energy resources. Low permeability oil reservoirs classified as non conventional oil reservoirs and needs special techniques for oil recovery. The primary aim of this study is to select a proper technique for oil recovery of low permeability carbonate oil reservoir. Different carbonated and non-carbonated brines were employed in this project. Formation brine (17500 ppm), carbonate formation brine, sea water, low salinity water, carbonated sea water (50000 ppm), and carbonated low salinity brine (5000 ppm) were used in this work. Core …

A Review Of Field Oil-Production Response Of Injection-Well Gel Treatments, Munqith Aldhaheri, Mingzhen Wei, Na Zhang, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

As life-span extenders, bulk gels have been widely applied to rejuvenate oil production from uneconomic producers in mature oil fields by improving the sweep efficiency of improved-oil-recovery (IOR)/enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) floods. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the responses of injection-well gel treatments implemented between 1985 and 2014. The survey includes 61 field projects compiled from SPE papers and US Department of Energy reports. Seven parameters related to the oil-production response were evaluated according to the reservoir lithology, formation type, and recovery process, using univariate analysis and stacked histograms. The interquartile-range (IQR) method was used to detect the underperforming and …

Transformation Of Char Carbon During Bubbling Fluidized Bed Gasification Of Biomass, Kevin Timmer, Robert C. Brown

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

This study focuses on the fate of carbon in the char generated by devolatilization of biomass during fluidized bed gasification. A carbon balance model was developed to distinguish between char transformed to carbon-bearing gases and its comminution and elutriation as fine char during gasification. The model accurately predicts the transient accumulation of char carbon in the reactor. Experiments revealed steady state reactor char carbon loadings were achieved after multiple hours of gasification. The model formed the basis of an experimental methodology that assesses the transformation of char carbon based on collection of elutriated solids from the reactor and assessment of …

Revisiting The Butler-Mokrys Model For The Vapor-Extraction Process, Vijitha Mohan, Partho Neogi, Baojun Bai

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The dynamics of a process in which a solvent in the form of a vapor or gas is introduced in a heavy-oil reservoir is considered. The process is called the solvent vapor-extraction process (VAPEX). When the vapor dissolves in the oil, it reduces its viscosity, allowing oil to flow under gravity and be collected at the bottom producer well. The conservation-of-species equation is analyzed to obtain a more-appropriate equation that differentiates between the velocity within the oil and the velocity at the interface, which can be solved to obtain a concentration profile of the solvent in oil. We diverge from …

Nanoparticle Burst Timing Optimization, Simon Grigoryan

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Horizontal Flow Loop Design For The Study Of Drill String Rotation Effects On Cuttings Transport, David C. Rathgeber

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Exploration and Production companies are continually focusing more time, energy and resources into Extended Reach Drilling in order to maximize reservoir production while minimizing both environmental impact and development costs. These long laterals (2:1 Measured Depth: True Vertical Depth) are often more difficult to drill and can be severely impacted by inadequate drilling practices. Cuttings transport efficiency is a critical parameter of Extended Reach Drilling operations, and poor wellbore cleaning can lead to excessive torque, drag, and several other serious downhole problems.

Although many studies have been performed that identify the importance of drill string rotation on cuttings movement, there …

String Out And Compressibility Effect On Pressure Rise In A Shut-In Well, Nicholas Henry

LSU Master's Theses

Gas kick migration experiments were performed in a small-scale well prototype model of annular geometry to analyze the behavior of gas kicks in highly non-Newtonian fluids. The objective was to isolate and estimate the effects system compressibility and bubble string out have on the pressure build up in a situation in which a gas kick rises through a noncirculating drilling mud in a vertical well.

The experiments consisted of 2 tests. The first test measured the apparent compressibility of the liquid phase of the experiment – that phase which simulated the drilling mud in a gas kick situation. The second …

The Effect Of Scale On Spray Nozzle Performance, Aaron M. Joness

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In the petroleum industry, Fluid Coker^TM are used to upgrade the heaviest remains of heavy oil into useful lighter products such as fuel oil or petrochemical feed. The development of a better injection into a Fluid Coker^TM is a key parameter to obtain a more efficient and sustainable use of heavy crude oil. The main detrimental factor in Fluid Coking^TM is the formation of agglomerates between the injected oil and the coke particles. These agglomerates not only trap injected oil, not allowing free reaction, but also cause harm to the Coker^TM when they fall to the …

Preformed Partial Gel Injection Chased By Low-Salinity Waterflooding In Fractured Carbonate Cores, Ali K. Alhuraishawy, Baojun Bai, Mingzhen Wei, Abdullah Almansour

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Fractures and oil-wet conditions significantly limit oil recovery in carbonate reservoirs. Gel treatment has been applied in injector wells to modify the prevailing reservoir streamlines and significantly reduce fracture permeability, whereas low-salinity waterflooding has been applied experimentally to modify rock wettability toward water-wet for improved oil recovery. However, both processes have limitations that cannot be resolved using a single method. The objective of this study was to test whether low-salinity water could enable gel particles to move deeply into fractures to efficiently increase oil recovery and control water production. A semitransparent fracture model of carbonate cores and acrylic plates was …

An Experimental Study Of Fractional Wettability Effects On Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (Gagd), Abdullah Abdulrahman A. Al-Tameemi

LSU Master's Theses

Utilizing the power of nature to solve engineering problems has been a time-honored tradition, for example, using the sunlight as a heat and light source. From this principle, the visionary idea of Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) came. The GAGD process utilizes the natural segregation phenomenon of fluids with different densities in order to produce oil efficiently and economically. Waterflooding processes typically do not recover more than 40% of the original oil in place (OOIP), leaving a vast amount of oil behind. A practical and well-planned enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method is needed. However, to plan a successful project, the …

Modeling Of Leakage Through Fault-Zone Structures In Co2 Geological Storage, Dayna Rodriguez Zambrano

LSU Master's Theses

Faults intersecting target geological CO₂ storage zones have important implications for storage integrity. Potential leakage pathways due to fluid over-pressurization are investigated in this project to ensure long-term containment of injected CO₂. Numerical flow simulations coupled with a geomechanical module are presented in this work with the purpose of determining the extent of CO₂ up-fault migration, the driving mechanisms of leakage and the corresponding response of quantified pore pressure and stress variations.

This study uses dual-continuum models performed by using CMG (2017) to correctly account of flow through fractures in a fault damage zone. Numerical simulations …

New Correlation For Calculating Acentric Factor Of Petroleum 2 Fractions, Samir Khaled

Petroleum Engineering and Gas

A proper description of the physical properties of the petroleum fractions in hydrocarbon mixtures is 12 essential in performing reliable phase behavior calculations and compositional modeling studies. This 13 paper presents a comparison study among five different correlations used to calculate the acentric 14 factor of undefined petroleum fractions. A new correlation was developed for calculating the acentric 15 factor of undefined petroleum fractions, a function of no carbon atoms with an average error of 0.099 16 and a correlation coefficient of 0.998.

Gas Hold-Up Measurements In 0.3 M Diameter Bubble Column: Effect Of Electrolytes, Heber Blanco De Brand

Dissertations and Theses

The present work reports the axial, radial and temporal gas hold-up profiles in a 0.3 m diameter batch bubble column using a pair of Wire Mesh Sensors and six pressure transducers.

Void Fraction Measurements In Large (0.3 M) Diameter Bubble Column Using Wire Mesh Sensor And Pressure Transducers- Effect Of Sparger, Afolabi Gabriel Ojo

Dissertations and Theses

The importance of the accurate temporal and spatial measurements of the two-phase flow parameters in bubble columns is very well known. The aim of this research work is to report the spatial measurements of the void fraction distribution in a 30 cm diameter cylindrical bubble column using Wire Mesh Sensor (WMS) tomography and Pressure Transducers. Pair of WMS sensors, with a 64×64 wire configuration of each sensor, were installed which are separated by a distance along the axis of the bubble column. Wire Mesh Sensors and PTs Data were collected for time-averaged and transient with a sampling frequency of 1000 …

Drilling Performance Monitoring And Optimization: A Data-Driven Approach, Shan E Zehra Lashari, Ali Takbiri-Borujeni, Ebrahim Fathi, Ting Sun, Reza Rahmani, Mehdi Khazaeli

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Abstract Drilling performance monitoring and optimization are crucial in increasing the overall NPV of an oil and gas project. Even after rigorous planning, drilling phase of any project can be hindered by unanticipated problems, such as bit balling. The objective of this paper is to implement artifcial intelligence technique to develop a smart model for more accurate and robust real-time drilling performance monitoring and optimization. For this purpose, the back propagation, feed forward neural network model was developed to predict rate of penetration (ROP) using diferent input parameters such as weight on bit, rotations per minute, mud fow (GPM) and …

การขจัดพอลิไซคลิกแอโรแมติกไฮโดรคาร์บอนในน้ำมันไพโรไลซิสจากยางรถยนต์เหลือทิ้ง, สุรีกาญจน์ กิ่งพุทธพงษ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

น้ำมันที่ได้จากการไพโรไลซิสยางรถยนต์เหลือทิ้ง (waste tire pyrolysis oil, WTPO) ประกอบไปด้วยสารประกอบพอลิไซคลิกแอโรมาติกส์ไฮโดรคาร์บอน (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, PAHs) ประมาณ 10% โดยน้ำหนักเมื่อเทียบกับปริมาณ WTPO โดย PAHs ที่พบมากที่สุด คือ แนฟทาลีน ซึ่งมีความเป็นพิษต่อมนุษย์และสิ่งแวดล้อม นี่จึงเป็นข้อจำกัดที่ทำให้ไม่สามารถนำ WTPO ไปใช้ในเครื่องยนต์ได้ ในงานวิจัยนี้จึงศึกษาการกำจัดแนฟทาลีนซึ่งเป็นแบบจำลองของ PAHs ผ่านกระบวนการไฮโดรจิเนชัน โดยใช้ตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยานิกเกิลบนตัวรองรับแกมมาอะลูมินา (Ni/γ-Al2O3) ที่มีและไม่มีตัวสนับสนุนโมลิบดินัม (Mo) ทังเสตน (W) หรือ แพลตินัม (Pt) สำหรับภาวะที่ศึกษาในการไฮโดรจิเนชัน ได้แก่ ความดันแก๊สไฮโดรเจนเริ่มต้น (10-40 บาร์) อุณหภูมิ (250-400 องศาเซลเซียส) และระยะเวลาในการทำปฏิกิริยา (2-8 ชม.) ก่อนทำปฏิกิริยาตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาถูกรีดักชัน (reduction) แบบอิน-ซิทู (in-situ) ที่ความดันแก๊สไฮโดรเจนเริ่มต้น 30 บาร์ อุณหภูมิ 400 องศาเซลเซียส เป็นเวลา 2 ชม. ในกรณีที่ไม่มีตัวสนับสนุน Ni ปริมาณ 1-30% โดยน้ำหนักเมื่อเทียบกับตัวรองรับถูกเตรียมลงบน γ-Al2O3 ที่ถูกเตรียมด้วยวิธีไฮโดรเทอร์มัล และค่าการเปลี่ยนแปลงแนฟทาลีนถูกวิเคราะห์ด้วยแก๊สโครมาโทกราฟี ตัวตรวจวัดชนิดเฟลมไอออไนเซชัน (GC-FID) พบว่าเมื่อใช้ตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาที่มีปริมาณ Ni 20% โดยน้ำหนักเมื่อเทียบกับตัวรองรับให้ค่าการเปลี่ยนแปลงแนฟทาลีนสูงสุดที่ 29.5% โดยภาวะที่ใช้ คือความดันไฮโดรเจนเริ่มต้น 30 บาร์ อุณหภูมิ 350 องศาเซลเซียส นาน 4 ชั่วโมง ในกรณีมีตัวสนับสนุน ตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยา NiMo NiW และ NiPt ให้ค่าการเปลี่ยนแปลงแนฟทาลีนสูงสุดที่ 44.7 46.4 และ 55.8% เมื่ออัตราส่วนเชิงอะตอมของตัวสนับสนุนเป็น 0.27 0.05 และ …

Degradation And Hydrate Phase Equilibria Measurement Methods Of Monoethylene Glycol, Khalid Alef, Stefan Iglauer, Ahmed Barifcani

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Monoethylene glycol (MEG), a common chemical used for the inhibition of gas hydrate formation may undergo degradation in the regeneration/reclamation process. Limited research exists on the effect of degradation of MEG on hydrate formation, production facilities and equipment especially in the presence of other chemical additives. The proposed method allows for streamlining the process of preparing, degrading and analysis of MEG solutions for hydrate testing and degradation products.

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Procedure to prepare accurate MEG solutions avoiding oxidative degradation of MEG (i.e., controlling oxygen ingress).

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Two methods are suggested to mimic field-like degradation of MEG solutions (i.e., degradation by reclamation …