Geological Engineering Commons^™

Evidence Of Coal Conversion In The Majuba Underground Coal Gasification Pilot Plant, South Africa, L.S. Mokhahlane, N.J. Wagner, D. Vermeulen

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a coal conversion method that permits coal resources to be exploited in situ using high-temperature conversion reactions. An understanding of the chemical, mineralogical, and petrographic properties of the coal, and resultant unburned carbon, degasified coal, and ash (minerals) in the UCG gasification zone, is fundamental to determining conversion rates, gas composition, and environmental and groundwater risk assessments. This study aims to provide a mineralogical and petrographic characterization of UCG residues obtained from the Eskom Majuba UCG pilot plant site in South Africa. Samples were selected from a verification borehole (VH3) drilled at the site following …

Low-Density And High-Strength Fracking Proppant Made By High Alumina Fly Ash, Shuqiang Ding, Jinder Jow

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

High-alumina fly ash is defined to have alumina (Al2O3) content of no less than 40%, according to the Chinese power industry standard DL/T 2297. Specification for resource utilization categorization of fly ash from coal-fired power plant (Standard No. DL/T 2297-2021), and is considered a valuable raw material to replace bauxite for making aluminum, refractory materials, and fracking proppants, etc. A low-density and high-strength proppant, conventionally made with bauxite, has been successfully made by high-alumina fly ash and commercially used in the market. This new high-alumina f ly-ash–derived proppant has some advantages compared with the bauxite-derived proppant: (1) lower raw material …

Whitening Of Calcium Carbonate Tailings Using Attrition Process: A Case Study Of Khar Toum Deposit, Lopburi Province, Thailand, Bancha Wongkaewphothong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is one of the industrial minerals that usually use in various applications in many industries (e.g., plastic, rubber, paint, paper). However, salable CaCO3 products need to meet the requirement for each application. Whiteness is one of property that really important especially the application that concern about the color like paint and paper industries. In this study, to recover and utilize out of spec ores, the effects of attrition scrubbing process (i.e., retention time and solid in pulp) on the whiteness of the CaCO3 tailings were investigated. The CaCO3 samples were screened to obtain –300, +300–600, +600–1000, +1000–2360, …

Numerical Simulation Study For Carbon Dioxide Sequestration In A Depleted Oil Reservoir, Romal Ramadhan

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Due to the rise in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, one of the most concerning issues at the moment is the climate change. One of the techniques to reduce CO2 emissions, particularly geological storage, is carbon capture and storage (CCS). This study provides the statement of how pressure build-up and CO2 injection rates impact several aspects of CO2 storage, including storage capacity, plume migration, and shut-in time. This study aims to assess the storage capacity of geological formations with different maximum pressure varying from 70% - 90% of fracture pressure to evaluate the formation response to various maximum pressure …

Simulating Groundwater Pollutant Transport For Remediation Design, Antrim County, Michigan, Abilynn Raetz

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Located in Antrim County, Michigan between the coasts of Torch Lake and Lake Michigan is a hydrocarbon plume that has impacted surrounding residential wells. The plume is comprised of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) and primarily resides in the shallowest groundwater aquifer. The plume is suspected of having originated from an underground storage container that was removed in 1979. A conceptual model was developed for the site, comprising of a simplified hydrogeological model. Groundwater modeling was performed using Aquaveo's groundwater modeling software (GMS). PEST parameter calibration was performed on the hydraulic conductivity and recharge values using data from surrounding …

Investigating The Mechanical Properties Of Frozen Soil Using Non-Destructive Seismic Wave Measurements, Sean Mach

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This proposed project will be dealing with investigating the mechanical properties of soil under frozen conditions. This will be done by an innovative non-destructive technology measuring the propagation of seismic waves through the frozen soils from multiple piezoelectric sensors. For the duration of this research, a freezing cell must be constructed to carry out the experimental testing. Multiple levels of saturation will be tested under the given freezing conditions. This should highlight the effect that the level of saturation will have on the propagation of seismic waves throughout the soil. Piezo-electric sensors will be placed in each layer of soil …

Evaluation Of Production-Well Performance In Response To Formation Clogging And Rehabilitation For The Keweenaw Bay Tribal Fish Hatchery, Brock O. Howell

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Temporally, the KBIC (Keweenaw Bay Indian Community) Hatchery wells have manifested general trends of declining specific capacity and higher energy consumption due to mineral precipitation in and around the production wells. Monitoring data, laboratory water analyses, and downhole video logging have confirmed that naturally occurring minerals are precipitating and clogging the screens and, likely, the surrounding formations. The reduction in fluid pressures in and around the well-screens from active pumping wells is typical but, ultimately alters the geochemical and physical conditions such that dissolved minerals precipitate on and around the well-screens, therefore, effectively clogging the well. The clogging from mineral …

Optimization Of Blast Design For Better Fragmentation & Reduction Of Ground Vibration At Khao Mai Nuan Pyrophyllite Mine, Saraburi Province, Thailand, Arif Khan

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Control blasting with better fragmentation is very important to decrease the environmental impacts of blasting and the cost of downstream mining operations such as loading, transportation, crushing, and milling. Proper blasting designs with optimized parameters such as burden, spacing, stemming, sub-drilling, and amount of explosive ensure the required fragmentation with ground vibration within the standards set by different monitoring agencies. This study dealt with the blasting design parameters, fragmentation, and ground vibration at the Khao Mai Nuan Pyrophyllite quarry Saraburi province, Thailand. First, grab samples were collected from the quarry's active benches and tested in a lab for strength, compositions …

Effect Of Salinity Contrast Between Formation Water And Injected Low Salinity Water On Low Salinty Water Flooding In Dolostone Formation, Nuttapol Junput

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Low Salinity Waterflooding (LSWF) has gained substantial prominence in current scientific method for oil recovery improvement, owing to its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and environmental friendliness as an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technique. Various studies have highlighted the crucial role of injected brine salinity and the concentration of Potential Determining Ions (PDI) in stimulate oil recovery mechanisms. However, the majority of these studies have predominantly concentrated on sandstone reservoirs. In light of the fact that over 50% of hydrocarbon reserves are situated in carbonate reservoirs, this research focuses specifically on dolomite reservoirs to examine the applicability and feasibility of implementing LSWF in …

Simulation Study On Co2 Enhanced Oil Recovery For Offshore Area In Thailand, Pariwat Wongsriraksa

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Fossil fuels are widely used all over the world. It generates carbon dioxide (CO2) which is one of the main causes for climate change and global warming. One practical technology to reduce CO2 emission is carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) which includes the use of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (CO2EOR) and storage in the geological reservoir. In Thailand, there are some potential geological reservoirs for CO2EOR due to crude properties, depth of the reservoir and oil saturation, especially in the Gulf of Thailand. However, the high temperatures gradient in the Gulf of Thailand can lead to higher minimum …

Physical Property Measurement Of Surfactant Coupled With Nanoparticles For Enhanced Oil Recovery, Phoo Pwint Nandar

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The residual oil remained in the reservoir after the primary recovery and water flooding can either be produced by increasing the mobility of the oil or by altering the reservoir rock wetting behavior and diminishing the oil water interfacial tension. The surfactant flooding is one of the chemical enhanced oil recovery methods. At the optimal concentration, the surfactant flooding can provide the low interfacial tension favoring to the enhanced oil recovery. In contrast, the loss of the surfactant at the solid-liquid interface due to an adsorption lessens the amount of the surfactant required for oil displacement during the flooding. Therefore, …

Effect Of Salinity Contrast Between Formation Water And Injected Low Salinity Water On Low Salinity Waterflooding In Shaly-Sandstone Formation, Sarun Phuenghansaporn

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Low salinity waterflooding is an improving oil recovery technique that is highly mentioned nowadays as it is cost-efficient and environmentally friendly. The technique involves injecting water with lower salinity compared to formation salinity to shift the surface equilibrium toward the liberation of oil from the rock surface. Nevertheless, successful of this technique depends on many parameters especially the presence of clays. Several types of clays can be found in oil reservoirs, and they may react to different cations in inject low salinity in different ways, resulting in different magnitudes of oil recovery. Moreover, the contrast of salinity between formation water …

Pore Pressure Prediction Using Combination Drilling Efficiency And Hydro-Mechanical Specific Energy Methods, Munawir Arge Pratama Otolomo

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Several methods of pore pressure prediction using drilling parameters were introduced and improved to meet the challenges of accurate prediction at a relatively low cost. Knowledge of pore pressure is essential for safe well planning, cost-effective drilling, and operational decision-making. Conventional methods in pore pressure prediction using drilling parameters have limitations on its application of making the normal compaction trendline that is only applicable in clean shale intervals. In this work, the concept of drilling efficiency (DE) and hydro-mechanical specific energy (HMSE) for predicting formation pore pressure is proposed. This method, termed DE-HMSE, is based on the theory that the …

Groundwater Withdrawal Estimation Using Integrated Remote Sensing Products And Machine Learning, Sayantan Majumdar

Doctoral Dissertations

"The rising demands for water, food, and energy primarily driven by the increasing global population constitute a pressing issue worldwide. Therefore, the water-food-energy nexus plays a substantial role in developing globally applicable sustainable solutions. Recent technological advancements, including the earth observation programs using spaceborne remote sensing platforms, have enabled us to monitor various critical components affecting the globe. Groundwater, which comprises the world's 30% freshwater, is one such key component of the global water resources and supplies nearly half of the global drinking water.

Despite groundwater overdraft in many parts of the world, including the United States (US), there are …

Pressure Relief Wells: Analysis Of Subsurface Heterogeneity To Evaluate Relief Well Locations For Mississippi River Levees, Emma Marie Young

Masters Theses

“When designing pressure relief well systems, it is imperative to understand what major geomorphology and heterogenies features are present, such as buried oxbow lakes, especially when the feature is parallel to the source, such as the Mississippi River. When present, there is a notable greater increase in head pressures, especially on the landward tow of the levee. This can cause erosional features that originally thought of to have been protected from by installing pressure relief wells. When comparing the effective hydraulic conductivities of horizontal clay layers and vertical clay layers spanning the length of the model, little to no noticeable …

Integrating Remote Sensing And Model-Based Datasets In A Machine Learning Model To Map Global Subsidence Associated With Groundwater Withdrawal, Md Fahim Hasan

Masters Theses

"Quantifying groundwater storage loss is becoming increasingly essential globally due limited availability of this major hydrologic component and its long recharge time. Groundwater overdraft gives rises to multiple adverse impacts including land subsidence and permanent groundwater storage loss. In absence of spatially dense monitoring network, publicly available in-situ data, and uniform monitoring strategies, it is challenging to assess the sustained losses from overexploitation of this resource. Remote sensing based techniques have the capacity to fill this gap to increase our groundwater monitoring capacities. Exploring the interrelation between groundwater pumping and land subsidence using remote sensing datasets can be a very …

Experimental Investigation Of Asphaltene Deposition And Its Impact On Oil Recovery In Eagle Ford Shale During Miscible And Immiscible Co2huff-N-Puff Gas Injection, Mukhtar Elturki, Abdulmohsin Imqam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

One of the challenges in extracting oil from unconventional resources using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques is the low primary recovery rate, which is caused by the ultra-small permeability of these resources. Consequently, it is essential to investigate gas injection methods to produce the trapped oil in shale formations. However, the injection process can cause asphaltene depositions inside the reservoir, leading to plugging of pores and oil recovery (OR) reduction. There has been limited research on using gas injection techniques to improve oil production in tight/unconventional resources, although carbon dioxide (CO2) and gas-enhanced oil recovery methods have been used …

Predictions Of Produced Water Quality And Recycled Water Optimization For Spatially-Distributed Wells In Point Pleasant Formation, Armel Quentin Mbakop

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The treatment of produced water as a fracturing fluid is becoming an increasingly important aspect of water management surrounding the booming of the unconventional oil and gas industry. Two main problems facing the oil and gas industry are the availability of water for well drilling and completion and disposal of the produced water. Unconventional well drilling and completion in the Utica shale requires large amounts of water. The wastewater that results after production—containing high levels of organic and inorganic matter— is usually disposed of through deep well injection. A new approach reuses this produced water as part of subsequent fracturing …

Study Of Contamination Resulting From Historical Mining Within The Old Lead Belt: Mineral Fork Watershed, 2021-2022, Tessa Nicole Mortensen

Masters Theses

“The Old Lead Belt in Missouri has been mined extensively over the past two hundred years, and with historical mining practices often not meeting modern environmental protection standards many areas have significant soil and water contamination as a result. This study focuses on the Mineral Fork River’s watershed in Washington County, Missouri, which includes portions of four separate Superfund sites. In this study, we exam the impact of historical mining on the health of alluvial systems, as evaluated by lead, zinc, and barium (barite) concentrations in the suspended and sediments within tributaries of the Mineral Fork River system. To relate …

A Workflow For Unconventional Reservoirs Optimization Using Supervised Machine Learning In Conjunction With Orthorhombic Elasticity Modeling, Aymen Ab Ali Alhemdi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Due to the anisotropy and heterogeneous nature of unconventional reservoirs like shale, a comprehensive parametric study to optimize hydraulic fracture treatment for such reservoirs is a tough challenge, especially when natural fractures are present. Most of the current frac simulators do not consider the anisotropy of rock elasticity in the shales. Besides, using the fracture simulation linked with reservoir simulation for the parametric study to understand the impact of multiple different design parameters on fracture propagation and production is time expensive and low efficient. The study proposes a workflow including a new orthorhombic (OB) rock algorithm to interpret geomechanical properties …

Resistivity Imaging Of Prominent Seepage Pathways In Karst Terrain, Abdullah Hadi Zaid Alhaj

Doctoral Dissertations

"An integrated research approach was conducted to evaluate subsurface karstic conditions in Greene County, southwestern Missouri. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) was employed to image anomalously low resistivity zones associated with the presence of seepage pathways that were anthropogenic and/or natural in origin. Techniques including visual inspection (VI), multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW), borehole control (BC), and aerial imagery (AI) were supplementally used to constrain the ERT data interpretations.

This research addressed six objectives. First, the ERT data interpretations were verified in terms of depth to the top of bedrock, fractures/voids, and moisture changes using the MASW, borehole control, and …