Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Shale Instability Of Deviated Wellbores In Southern Iraqi Fields, Ahmed Ali Shanshool Alsubaih

Masters Theses

"Wellbore instability problems are the cause for the majority of nonproductive time in the southern Iraqi fields' developments. The most severe problem in terms of effort and disbursement which is referred to a pipe sticking in Tanuma shale formation. Examining the drilling data revealed that this phenomenon was mostly related to the shear failure of the wellbore. Thus, a geomechanical analysis and drilling parameters/ practice optimization analysis were performed on a field in southern Iraq based on data from 45 deviated wells. The geomechanics analysis predicted the suitable drilling fluid density to prevent onset shear failure by using the Mogi-Coulomb …

Mechanistic Understanding Of Water-Rock Interactions During High-Salinity Water-Flooding Of Carbonate Reservoirs, Pu Han

Masters Theses

"Chemically tuned water-flooding provides a relatively cheap method of enhanced oil recovery from carbonate and sandstone reservoirs. Several possible recovery mechanisms such as mineral dissolution, multi-component ion exchange, double-layer expansion, adsorption/desorption from rock surface, reduction in interfacial tension, and fines migration that have been proposed are widely debated. The combination of these processes may result in wettability alteration that increases sweep efficiency of water-flooding. Here, wettability alteration due to water-rock interactions will be examined numerically.

To evaluate the wettability alteration, separation between breakthrough curves of the non-reactive component and the cations based on the chromatographic separation will be used due …

Evaluating Completion Performance For Gas Wells In The Upper And The Lower Montney Formation, Canada, Omar Qasim Mohammed

Masters Theses

"Identifying the key drivers for success of multiple fractured horizontal wells is not straightforward, especially in unconventional reservoirs like the Montney. Al-Alwani et al. (2015) provided a statistical analysis of Montney completions based on publicly available data. They showed that for the entire well population, cumulative gas recovery per stage, declines as the number of completed stages increase. However, their statistical analysis did not differentiate between completions in the Upper/Middle/Lower Montney, and did not include perforation cluster data.

This work documents the statistical analysis of 296 cased-hole horizontal gas well completions reported in the Upper and the Lower Montney. The …

Characterization Of Fracture Initiation In Non-Cylindrical Buckle Folds Using 3d Finite Element Analysis, Eli Jacob Steinbeck

Masters Theses

"The spatial distribution of fracture sets associated with buckle folds has been well documented in field studies. There are difficulties, however, in placing accurate constraints on the timing of the initiation of individual fracture sets during the deformation history of the fold under in-situ conditions. This study investigates specific conditions that give rise to the initiation of various fracture sets in the hinge and limb of a pericline, based on an analysis of the effective stress evolution during the processes of buckling and erosional unloading. A 3D finite element modeling approach is used to simulate the effective stress evolution in …

Fluid Flow Through Deformation Band, Huining Zhang

Masters Theses

"Cataclastic deformation bands, which are common in porous sandstone, have the potential to restrict fluid flow. Geological studies have shown that permeability of deformation band shear zones can be one to five orders of magnitude less than for the sandstone host rock. However, recent studies based on simplified analytical estimates have shown that fluid flow in jointed deformation bands may not be retarded since joints play an important role in conducting fluids. In this study, 2 dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) is used to simulate the total discharge flow rate through jointed deformations. Variations of single planar and conjugate jointed …

Exploring Reservoir Connectivity With Production Data: Two New Methods And A New Technique, Ghazwan Faisal Jasim Al-Khmaysawee

Masters Theses

"This study presents two new, simple methods to explore reservoir connectivity, which has a significant impact on field development strategy. Identifying reservoir connectivity during primary depletion plays an important role in achieving the most cost-effective and highest production possible. It is also very important in future secondary and tertiary oil recovery, particularly when costs dictate a limited number of wells such as those in deepwater environments.

The presented methods are reciprocal-productivity index versus total field material-balance time trend lines and reciprocal-productivity index versus time trend lines. Those two methods are quick, simple, inexpensive, and only need rate and pressure data …

Bioresponsive Polymer Coating On Nanoparticles, Tunyaboon Laemthong

Masters Theses

"Nanotechnology incorporated with molecular biology became a promising way to treat cancer. The size of nanoparticles enables them to overcome the side effects noticed in cancer treatment like chemotherapy and surgery. Various types and shapes of nanoparticles have been synthesized and used in drug delivery to tumor sites. However, one of problems of using these nanoparticles is the aggregation after injecting them into human body due to flow rate of bloodstream. The coagulation and aggregation will result in clogging blood vessel and lower therapeutic efficacy.

In this thesis, a solution to the aggregation problem was proposed, which is coating biopolymer …

Bioactive Poly(Beta-Amino Ester) Biomaterials For Treatment Of Infection And Oxidative Stress, Andrew L. Lakes

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Polymers have deep roots as drug delivery tools, and are widely used in clinical to private settings. Currently, however, numerous traditional therapies exist which may be improved through use of polymeric biomaterials. Through our work with infectious and oxidative stress disease prevention and treatment, we aimed to develop application driven, enhanced therapies utilizing new classes of polymers synthesized in-house. Applying biodegradable poly(β-amino ester) (PBAE) polymers, covalent-addition of bioactive substrates to these PBAEs avoided certain pitfalls of free-loaded and non-degradable drug delivery systems. Further, through variation of polymer ingredients and conditions, we were able to tune degradation rates, release profiles, cellular …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Antioxidant Conjugated Poly(Βeta-Amino Ester) Micro/Nanogels For The Suppression Of Oxidative Stress, Prachi Gupta

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Oxidative stress is a pathophysiological condition defined by an increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can result in the growth arrest of cells followed by cell disintegration or necrosis. A number of small molecule antioxidants (e.g. curcumin, quercetin and resveratrol) are capable of directly scavenging ROS, thereby short-circuiting the self-propagating oxidative stress state. However, poor solubility and rapid 1^st pass metabolism results in overall low bioavailability and acts as a barrier for its use as a drug to suppress oxidative stress efficiently.

To overcome this limitation, these small molecule antioxidants were covalently conjugated into poly(β-amino ester) (PβAE) …

Peptide-Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles For Cancer Therapy Applications, Anastasia K. Hauser

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the United States. Radiation and chemotherapy are conventional treatments, but they result in serious side effects and the probability of tumor recurrence remains high. Therefore, there is an increasing need to enhance the efficacy of conventional treatments. Magnetic nanoparticles have been previously studied for a variety of applications such as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, anemia treatment, magnetic cell sorting and magnetically mediated hyperthermia (MMH). In this work, dextran coated iron oxide nanoparticles were developed and functionalized with peptides to target the nanoparticles to either the extracellular matrix …

Design Of Highly Stable Low-Density Self-Assembled Monolayers Using Thiol-Yne Click Reaction For The Study Of Protein-Surface Interactions, Leila Safazadeh Haghighi

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Protein adsorption on solid surfaces is a common yet complicated phenomenon that is not fully understood. Self-assembled monolayers have been utilized in many studies, as well-defined model systems for studying protein-surface interactions in the atomic level. Various strategies, including the use of single component SAMs[1, 2], combinations of long and short alkanethiolates with methyl- and hydroxyl- terminal groups[3, 4], and using mixtures of alkanethiolates with similar chain length and varying terminal functional group [5] have been used to effectively control the surface wettability and determine the effect of surface composition and wettability on protein adsorption. In this dissertation we report …

Synthesis Of Titania Thin Films With Controlled Mesopore Orientation: Nanostructure For Energy Conversion And Storage, Suraj R. Nagpure

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

This dissertation addresses the synthesis mechanism of mesoporous titania thin films with 2D Hexagonal Close Packed (HCP) cylindrical nanopores by an evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method with Pluronic surfactants P123 and F127 as structure directing agents, and their applications in photovoltaics and lithium ion batteries. To provide orthogonal alignment of the pores, surface modification of substrates with crosslinked surfactant has been used to provide a chemically neutral surface. GISAXS studies show not only that aging at 4°C facilitates ordered mesostructure development, but also that aging at this temperature helps to provide orthogonal orientation of the cylindrical micelles which assemble into an …

Smart Fabrics For Colorimetric Detection, Breland Edwards

UROP Posters

Due to the prevalence of chemical warfare, soldiers often carry chemical sensing devices, to warn of oncoming nerve agents. However, these devices are cumbersome. A lightweight, wearable chemical sensing fabric that doubles as a protectant against toxins would be beneficial. This fabric can be created by incorporating (1) organophosphate hydrolase, an enzyme capable of degrading organophosphates and releasing an acidic by product, and (2) polyaniline, a color changing polymer that changes from purple to green in the presence of acid, into nylon or polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers. The first step is to produce fabrics containing polyaniline and demonstrate that the fabrics …

Preparation And Evaluation Of Aripiprazole-Loaded Ph-Modulated Solid Dispersion Via Hot-Melt Extrusion Technology, Haley Mcfall

Honors Theses

The objective of this study was to prepare aripiprazole (ARI)-loaded solid dispersions (SDs) to enhance solubility and dissolution via hot-melt extrusion (HME) technology. ARI was chosen due to its poorly water-soluble properties. Solubility screenings of various polymers and acidifiers were performed to select appropriate excipients for the SD. Succinic acid (SA) and Kollidon 12 PF (PVP) were selected as the acidifier and the polymer, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis were used to determine the miscibility, interactions, and thermal stability of the drug and selected excipients. MODDE 8.0 is a design of experiment software that was implemented to produce …

Biological Activity Of Garcinia Kola On Hepatitis C, Madeline Dwyer

Honors Theses

Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). According to the World Health Organization, hepatitis C infections affect between 130-150 million people worldwide. It is a major cause of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, and approximately 500,000 people die from hepatitis C infections or related complications each year. Although new treatments are 90% effective at curing chronic hepatitis C infections, they cost tens of thousands of dollars. Available treatments are incredibly cost prohibitive, especially considering that the regions most affected by hepatitis C are Africa and central and eastern Asia (Hepatitis C). This creates a …

G-Quadruplex Mediated Splicing Of P53 Mrna, Melissa Holy

Honors Theses

The protein p53 is a master regulator of the cell cycle and its mutation/inactivation is associated with over 50% of cancer cases. Mutations in p53 are associated with worse survival rates, resistance to therapies, and other risk factors in breast cancer specifically. p53 is encoded by the TP53 gene and is expressed as several transcripts. In the G-rich portion of intron 3, secondary DNA structures known as G-quadruplexes are able to form. The stabilization of these G-quadruplexes leads to correct splicing of intron 2, thus making a functional p53 protein. A known quadruplex-stabilizing compound (TMPyP4) was tested to determine its …

The Effects Of Genistein, Thymoquinone, Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate,5-Fluorouracil, And Low Level Laser Therapy On Fadu Hypopharyngeal And Laryngeal Carcinoma Cells, Osasu Adah

Honors Theses

Laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma are two types of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. The location of the tumor makes it hard to detect without complex tests. Overall, these types of cancer are not common, and there are no simple screening tests for such cancers. Due to this issue, laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma are usually diagnosed when signs and symptoms occur, such as sore throat, trouble swallowing, and constant coughing. With the use of FaDu, a head and neck cancer cell line of the hypopharyngeal origin, experimentation can be performed in order to initiate possible treatments. The standard treatments for …

Design And Synthesis Of Dual Opioids/Npff Ligands As Novel Analgesics With Reduced Tolerance Potential, John N. Yi

Honors Theses

Opioid use has become prevalent in today's culture. As a treatment for acute and chronic pain, opioids permeate in the public sphere as a seemingly easy solution. However, problems that come from the increased use of opiates, especially in the last fifteen years, have shown detrimental effects in society. Not only are all opioid-based analgesics considered addictive, but the nature of such painkillers also enables a phenomenon known as tolerance, where the body adapts to the use of exogenous opioids. This creates a situation where a more potent dose of painkiller is required for the same analgesic effect. The focus …

Eliminating Magnetic Forces From The Surface Tension Measurement Of Magnetic Surfactants, Emily Koehler

Honors Theses

Surfactants have many applications due to their ability to reduce the surface tension between two phases. Magnetic surfactants, a relatively new form of surfactants, offer the possibility of further controlling a surfactant system by using an external magnetic field to induce alignment on the molecular level. One method of studying a magnetic field's effect on the magnetic surfactant system involves analyzing the change in surface tension at varied solution concentrations both in and outside a magnetic field. The pendent drop method uses the downward gravitational force on a droplet suspended from a needle to find the surface tension based on …

Protein Sequence-Structure-Function Relationship: Testing Ke-50 Modification On Recombinant Green Fluorescent Protein (Acgfp), Anna E. Burkey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Protein modification shows promise for improving the effectiveness of protein therapy, including the use of Interferon-beta-1b for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. The addition of a chain of 50 lysine and glutamic acid residues (also called a KE50 modification) was tested on green fluorescent protein (AcGFP) to determine its effect on the bioactivity of the protein. Standard transformation protocol was used to grow the normal and modified proteins in E.Coli, and the bioactivity of the protein was measured using quantum yield and extinction coefficients to determine the reduction in brightness from the native form to the modified form. The …