Engineering Commons^™

Data Analysis Of Surfactant-Induced Wettability Alteration In Carbonate Reservoirs, Hao Sun

Masters Theses

"Most carbonate formations prove to be oil-wet due to oil aging effect. Therefore it is essential to employ wettability alteration methods for a more effective enhanced oil recovery process. It is confirmed by researchers that surfactant treatment has positive effects on wettability alteration of carbonate rock, from strong oil-wet to intermediate wet or to even weak water-wet. A number of experiments have the same conclusion and yet, a systematic screening guide development with the support of sufficient data analysis is lacking.

This study involves screening guide development for surfactant-induced wettability alteration method. 199 experiments collected from published literatures are analyzed …

Effect Of Reservoirs Heterogeneity On Injection Pressure And Placement Of Preformed Particle Gel For Conformance Control, Ze Wang

Masters Theses

"Preformed particle gels (PPG) have been successfully applied as a plugging agent for plugging fractures and then divert displacing fluid into poorly swept zones. However, PPG propagation and plugging mechanisms through open fractures have not been studied thoroughly.

This work investigated the influence of some factors (particle size, brine concentration, heterogeneity, and brine salinity) on gel injectivity, plugging performance for water flow through open fractures. Five-foot tubes were used to mimic open fractures. Three models were designed to conduct the work, including (1) single fracture with uniform fracture width, (2) single fracture with different widths, and (3) two parallel fractures …

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 …

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 …

Impact Of Repeated Cyclic Production Scheme On Eur In Low-Permeability Reservoirs, Samarth Gupte

Masters Theses

"Productivity in low-permeability reservoirs declines quickly compared to conventional reservoirs. These tight reservoirs have very high initial oil production rates but as soon as the oil near the fractured area is recovered, the production declines rapidly making economic oil and gas production a challenge for the industry. This study investigates the impact of repeated shut-in/production cycles on the ultimate recovery of oil in such environments.

A reservoir model with multiple fractured horizontal well having 30 transverse fractures is created using CMG. Reservoir permeability is varied over the range of 0.000001 md to 10 md and shut-in/production cycles of 2-weeks, 1-month, …

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 …

Correlation Anaylsis Of Magnesite Dissolution Rate And Magnesite Spatial Distribution, Yao Wang

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents a correlation analysis of the spatial distribution and permeability of magnesite dissolution and focuses on its overall rate and average porosity. Magnesite dissolution is affected by several aspects.

A reservoir's large spatial distribution can make capturing the magnesite dissolution difficult, so in this study, a variogram was built in Petrel using a percentage variation of magnesite and sand. The variogram also handles different major and minor directions in anisotropy. After building the magnesite model, simulation of magnesite dissolution was achieved in Cruch Flow to get the magnesite dissolution rate and average porosity.

For correlation analysis, a regression …

Hydrodynamic Of A Co-Current Gas Liquid Upflow In A Moving Packed Bed Reactor With Porous Catalysts, Ali Jabbar Toukan

Masters Theses

"In this study, the hydrodynamic, i.e. flow regime identification, line average liquid holdup, and the internal liquid holdup of a co-current moving packed bed reactor were studied. For the sake of hydrodynamics study, moving bed reactor is investigated as two-phase upflow packed bed reactor. Scaled down configuration was used to simulate of the moving bed reactors utilized in the industrial process. First, line average liquid holdup is measured with different geometrical configurations covering empty, dry, wet, and packed column under flowrates operation conditions. A new methodology has been developed to determine the line average liquid holdup for a porous catalyst. …

Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis In High Permeability Hydraulic Fractured Horizontal Gas Wells, Hrithu Vasudevan

Masters Theses

"Hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells in unconventional reservoirs has become the dominant type of well completion performed in the United States. In very low permeability reservoirs (~.00001-.0001 mD), the wellbore is aligned with the minimum horizontal stress, and the completion includes multiple transverse fractures. These fractures may be placed with either open hole sleeve type completion systems (OHMS), or cased hole plug and perf systems (P-n-P). In slightly higher permeability reservoirs (1 to 10 mD) multiple longitudinal fractures have been found to be preferred to completions with transverse fractures.

This study presents an evaluation of gas well productivity for both …

A Comprehensive Study Of Lost Circulation With Application In The South Rumaila Field, Iraq, Abo Taleb Tuama Al-Hameedi

Masters Theses

“Drilling mud losses and problems associated with lost circulation while drilling account for a major expense in drilling oil and gas wells. By industry estimates, more than 2 billion USD is spent annually to combat and mitigate this problem (Ali et al., 2015).

The South Rumaila field in Iraq is one of the largest oilfields in the world. Wells drilled in this field are highly susceptible to lost circulation problems when drilling through the Dammam, Hartha and Shuaiba formations. Lost circulation events range from seepage losses to complete loss of the borehole and are a critical issue in field development. …

Evaluation Of Highly Viscous Polymeric Fluids And Recrosslinked Degraded Gel, Danlu Zhang

Masters Theses

”This work presents the evaluations of two products. One can be used for hydraulic fracturing to achieve viscosity stable under high shear rate, and the other is potential to be applied to enhance oil recovery from mature oilfield.

The first experiment is to synthesize and evaluate a new polymeric fracturing fluid that can resist high shear rate of 511^-1 with favorable viscosity. Zirconium crosslinked fracturing fluids are lack of self-healing ability after shearing, and the difficulties still exist in maintaining viscous with lower polymer content exposed to high shearing conditions, therefore, the research is trying to develop a new …

Relating Ion Release And Ph To In Vitro Cell Viability For Gallium-Inclusive Bioactive Glasses, Timothy J. Keenan, L. M. Placek, T. L. Mcginnity, Mark R. Towler, M. M. Hall, A. W. Wren

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A bioactive glass (BG) in which Ga was substituted for Zn was formulated to investigate whether the ionic form of Ga can elicit effects similar to gallium nitrate. The ion release and pH of BG extracts were evaluated, as well as the in vitro cytocompatibility of extracts in contact with mouse fibroblasts and human osteoblasts. After incubation times of 1 year, the glass (TGa-1) containing the smaller Ga-addition (8 mol%) released the most sodium (Na) (1420 mg/L), silicon (Si) (221 mg/L), and Ga (1295 mg/L), while the glass (TGa-2) containing the larger Ga-addition (16 mol%), exhibited release levels between TGa-1, …

Process Monitoring And Data Mining With Chemical Process Historical Databases, Michael Carl Thomas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Modern chemical plants have distributed control systems (DCS) that handle normal operations and quality control. However, the DCS cannot compensate for fault events such as fouling or equipment failures. When faults occur, human operators must rapidly assess the situation, determine causes, and take corrective action, a challenging task further complicated by the sheer number of sensors. This information overload as well as measurement noise can hide information critical to diagnosing and fixing faults. Process monitoring algorithms can highlight key trends in data and detect faults faster, reducing or even preventing the damage that faults can cause. This research improves tools …

Growth Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons During The Supercritical Pyrolysis Of N-Decane, Subramanian Venkateswaran Kalpathy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In order to serve a dual role as a propellant and as a coolant, fuels in the pre-combustion environment of future high-speed aircraft will be exposed to temperatures and pressures of up to 700 °C and 130 atm—conditions that are supercritical for jet fuels. Under such conditions, fuel can undergo pyrolytic reactions leading to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are precursors to fuel-line solid deposits that can hinder safe operation of the aircraft. Therefore, to prevent solid deposit formation, it is extremely important to understand the PAH formation pathways in the supercritical fuel pyrolysis environment. To better …

Molecular Simulation Studies Of Hydrophobins Near Gas, Oil And Water Interfaces, Yuwu Chen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation contains fundamental, classical molecular simulation studies of the properties of hydrophobins (a unique family of surface-active proteins produced by filamentous fungi in soil) near interfaces involving gas, oil, water, organic solvents and polymers. These studies are relevant to possibly using hydrophobins as natural oil dispersants and in processing of polymers. Preliminary studies by the Russo group suggest that these small surface-active proteins can encapsulate oil, gases and polymers in cylindrical structures. We have performed classic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and potential of mean force (PMF) calculations of a class I hydrophobin EAS using both all-atom and coarse-grained representations. …

Development Of Single-Well Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage Process For Enhanced Oil Recovery, Bikash Deep Saikia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

EOR application in prolific deepwater Gulf of Mexico (DGOM) reservoirs has remained a challenge. Exorbitant well cost (>200M$) precludes having extensive injection patterns and very characteristics of the reservoirs themselves are partly to blame for negligible EOR activity in DGOM. We have been able to develop and demonstrate a novel design in the form of Single Well – Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (SW-GAGD) process, which is potentially cost effective, at the same time ensuring very high oil recoveries. In this design, a single well acts as an injector as well as a producer, thereby minimizing well cost. The efficacy …

Design And Analysis Of Geothermal Wellbore Energy Conversion System Working On Zero Mass Withdrawal Principle, Ildar Akhmadullin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project is sponsored by the Department of Energy of the United States and dedicated to development of electricity production from the low-enthalpy geothermal reservoirs. The prime interest are reservoirs that are characterized by low temperature of heat source located in deep saline aquifers with high permeable rock. Usually energy production from these resources are not economical by using a conventional binary power plant approach. The presented PhD work is a study of a new system that utilizes a single-well technology and working on supercritical power cycle (PC). The wellbore energy conversion system is operating with Zero Mass Withdrawal (ZMW) …

Phase Transformation And Deformation Behavior Of Niti-Nb Eutectic Joined Niti Wires, Liqiang Wang, Cong Wang, Laichang Zhang, Liangyu Chen, Weijie Lu, Di Zhang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

NiTi wires were brazed together via eutectic reaction between NiTi and Nb powder deposited at the wire contact region. Phase transformation and deformation behavior of the NiTi-Nb eutectic microstructure were investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cyclic loading-unloading tests. Results show that R phase and B19′ martensite transformation are induced by plastic deformation. R phase transformation, which significantly contributes to superelasticity, preferentially occurs at the interfaces between NiTi and eutectic region. Round-shaped Nb-rich phase with rod-like and lamellar-type eutectics are observed in eutectic regions. These phases appear to affect the deformation behavior of the brazed NiTi-Nb region via five …

A New Insight Into High-Strength Ti62nb12.2fe13.6co6.4al5.8 Alloys With Bimodal Microstructure Fabricated By Semi-Solid Sintering, Lehua Liu, Chao Yang, L.M Kang, Shengguan Qu, Xiaoquiang Li, Weiwen Zhang, Weiping Chen, Yuanyuan Li, Peijie Li, Laichang Zhang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

It is well known that semi-solid forming could only obtain coarse-grained microstructure in a few alloy systems with a low melting point, such as aluminum and magnesium alloys. This work presents that semi-solid forming could also produce novel bimodal microstructure composed of nanostructured matrix and micro-sized (CoFe)Ti₂ twins in a titanium alloy, Ti₆₂Nb₁₂.2Fe_13.6Co_6.4Al_5.8. The semi-solid sintering induced by eutectic transformation to form a bimodal microstructure in Ti₆₂Nb_12.2Fe_13.6Co_6.4Al_5.8 alloy is a fundamentally different approach from other known methods. The fabricated alloy …

Synthesis Of Porous Carbon Nanosheets And Its Application In Sodium-Ion Battery, Jing-Fei Zhang, Jing Lu, Xiao-Yu Yang, Yun-Di Huang, Lin Xu, Dong-Mei Sun, Ya-Wen Tang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Owning to sodium’s high abundance, relatively low cost, similar chemical properties to Li and very suitable redox potential of E₀(Na⁺/Na) = -2.71 V versus SHE which is only 0.3 V above that of lithium, rechargeable sodium ion battery hold much promise as potential alternatives to current lithium ion batteries for energy storage applications. Carbon material is regarded as the most promising anode candidate for sodium ion battery. Particularly, carbon nanosheet with porous structure and high conductivity is expected to have improved sodium ion storage properties. In this paper, we present a two-step pyrolysis-based method for facile …

Methods For Coating Quartz Crystals, William Patrick

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The goal of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness a procedure that can be used to coat quartz crystal microbalance crystals with titanium dioxide. A successful suspension was created by suspending titanium dioxide powder in poly(acrlic) acid and mixed in an ultra-sonication bath. By utilizing a spin-coater, the TiO₂ suspension was successfully dispensed onto a QCM crystal and verified using a surface profiler and microscope. However, after QCM testing, there was no evidence that supports the TiO₂ precursor aiding in photocatalytic reactions.

Applying Bayesian Machine Learning Methods To Theoretical Surface Science, Shane Carr

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Machine learning is a rapidly evolving field in computer science with increasingly many applications to other domains. In this thesis, I present a Bayesian machine learning approach to solving a problem in theoretical surface science: calculating the preferred active site on a catalyst surface for a given adsorbate molecule. I formulate the problem as a low-dimensional objective function. I show how the objective function can be approximated into a certain confidence interval using just one iteration of the self-consistent field (SCF) loop in density functional theory (DFT). I then use Bayesian optimization to perform a global search for the solution. …

In Situ Ir Spectroscopic Investigation Of Noble Metal Catalysts Related To The Reduction Of Automotive Exhaust Emissions, Zhiyong Wang

Theses and Dissertations

The reduction of automotive exhaust emissions has been one of the hottest topics in catalysis community since 1970s. Thanks to the development of three-way catalysts, main auto-exhaust pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons, can be removed simultaneously. Nowadays, diesel engines and lean-engines become more and more popular due to their high fuel-efficiency and low CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, conventional three-way catalysts are not effective at reducing the NOx emissions from these engines due to the excess oxygen in the exhaust stream. Platinum catalysts were found to be highly active for selective NO reduction with hydrocarbons in excess …

Development Of Highly Active And Stable Hybrid Cathode Catalyst For Pemfcs, Won Suk Jung

Theses and Dissertations

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are attractive power sources of the future for a variety of applications including portable electronics, stationary power, and automobile application. However, sluggish cathode kinetics, high Pt cost, and durability issues inhibit the commercialization of PEMFCs. To overcome these drawbacks, research has been focused on alloying Pt with transition metals since alloy catalysts show significantly improved catalytic properties like high activity, selectivity, and durability. However, Pt-alloy catalysts synthesized using the conventional impregnation method exhibit uneven particle size and poor particle distribution resulting in poor performance and/or durability in PEMFCs. In this dissertation, a novel catalyst …

Development Of Ultra-Low Loading Of Compressive Pt Lattice Cathode Catalyst On Highly Stable Support For Pemfc Automotive Applications, Tianyuan Xie

Theses and Dissertations

The major barriers in the commercialization of the fuel cell technology for automotive applications are the cost and durability of the Pt catalyst and the support stability at high potentials. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) targets direct hydrogen fuel cell systems for transportation to meet 65% peak-efficiency, 5,000 hour durability with a mass production cost of $40/kW by 2020. Currently in 2015, the system can be operated at peak energy efficiency of 60% for 3,900 hours with cost of $55/kW. To meet these targets, precious metal loadings must be greatly reduced without altering the catalyst stability. The primary objective …

Supported Group Ib-Pd Bimetallic Catalysts Prepared By Electroless Deposition And Galvanic Displacement For Selective Hydrogenation Of Acetylene, Yunya Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Ethylene is the building block for many chemical intermediates in the petrochemical industry. The current worldwide ethylene production is over 150 million tons per year and demand increases by 3-5% annually. However, ethylene produced from steam cracking of light naptha contains up to 2% acetylene which acts as a poison for the downstream ethylene polymerization catalysts. Selective hydrogenation of acetylene in the ethylene stream using supported Pd catalysts is the industrially preferred method of lowering acetylene to acceptable ppm levels (< 5 ppm). Due to inferior selectivity at high acetylene conversion and the formation of “green oil”, or ethylene/acetylene oligomers, during reaction, small amounts of Group IB metals have been added to improve the performance of current generation catalysts. However, the bimetallic effects of the above additives have not been experimentally confirmed, possibly because the conventional methods of catalyst preparation result in both monometallic and bimetallic particles with varying compositions. This in turn makes it difficult to determine the position of the two metallic components, and bimetallic interactions typically occur only when the two metals form proximal contact instead of separate particles. In this study, a series of Ag- and Au-Pd/SiO2 bimetallic catalysts were prepared by electroless deposition (ED) with incremental and controlled coverages of Ag and Au on Pd. The selectivity of acetylene to ethylene and turnover frequencies of acetylene conversion were enhanced at high coverages of Ag and Au on Pd surfaces due to the transition of acetylene adsorption modes, which was further confirmed by the kinetics of acetylene hydrogenation. The similar performance trends for Ag- and Au-Pd/SiO2 suggest that the bimetallic effect for these catalysts was likely geometric and not electronic in nature. For comparison, a series of reverse Pd-Ag/SiO2 bimetallic catalysts where variable coverages of Pd were deposited onto Ag surfaces was prepared using galvanic displacement (GD) of Ago by Pd2+ to further explore the nature of bimetallic effects for selective acetylene hydrogenation. Unlike for the earlier case for Ag on Pd surfaces using ED, for samples prepared by GD there was considerably diffusion of Pd into the Ag lattice to give greater electronic interactions between these two metals, which limited selectivity of acetylene hydrogenation to form ethylene.

Preparation And Characterization Of Pt-Ru Bimetallic Catalysts Using Electroless Deposition Methods And Mechanistic Study Of Re And Cs Promoters For Ag-Based, High Selectivity Ethylene Oxide Catalysts, Weijian Diao

Theses and Dissertations

Pt-Ru bimetallic catalysts are widely used for direct methanol fuel cells, biomass upgrading and hydrocarbon refining and offer unique properties compared to Pt or Ru monometallic catalysts due to ensemble effects, electronic effects, and/or bifunctional effects. To achieve better performance, strong metal-metal interactions and true bimetallic surface are needed. Electroless deposition (ED) methods are used in our laboratory to synthesize such bimetallic catalysts. In this study, two series of Ru@Pt/C (Pt deposited on Ru surfaces) and Pt@Ru/C (Ru deposited on Pt surfaces) catalysts have been synthesized. Characterization data from temperature programmed reduction (TPR), selective chemisorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and …