Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons^™

Photoelectrochemical Studies On Non-Noble Metal Based Catalysts Towards Tandem Solar Water Splitting, Arun Siddarth Sridhar

Dissertations

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting makes direct use of solar energy incident on semiconductor photoelectrodes, and it is a convenient, economic option to produce high purity hydrogen at low temperatures. The use of multiple light absorbers can increase overall solar energy utilization and provide a solution to the trade-off between overall band gap and band edge positioning of photoelectrodes specific to solar water oxidation and water reduction. The study of non-noble metal based catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reactions (OER) are essential for economic practical commercialization of photo-electrolyzers. This dissertation focuses on the use of a variety …

Characterization Of Bacteriorhodopsin And Halorhodopsin Reconstituted In Lipid Bilayer Membranes, Joel Domkam Kamwa

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Motivated to produce electricity with photon activated ion pumps, the main purpose of this work was to characterize the photosynthetic membrane proteins bacteriorhodopsin (proton pump) and halorhodopsin (chloride pump). The proteins were re-suspended in lipid bilayers. For this work, an experimental set-up was built which included: chambers for lipid bilayer formation and characterization, lasers for ion pump activation, and an AxoPatch electrophysiology system for small photocurrent measurement. Lipid bilayer membranes were formed using mostly folding method: folding two monolayers together. The membranes were characterized by their resistance, capacitance, and generated photocurrent. Photocurrent was generated upon illumination of lipid-protein membranes with …

Assessment Of Radioactivity Levels In Coal And Coal Ash In Kiwira Coal Mine Using Gamma-Ray Spectrometry, Ismael N Makundi, Mungubariki M Nyaki, Najat K Mohammed

Tanzania Journal of Science

This study aimed to assess the radioactivity levels and associated dose rates from the naturally occurring radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in coal and coal ashes at Kiwira coal mine. The radioactivity of 40 representative coal, fly ash samples were measured using gamma spectroscopy of the Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (TAEC) in Arusha, Tanzania. The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in coal and coal ashes from Kiwira were higher by several orders of magnitude than their worldwide average values. The calculated radium equivalent activity, the air absorbed dose rate, external hazard index and the average annual effective dose …

Algal Biofuel: The Future Of Green Jet Fuel In Air Transportation, Rajee Olaganathan

Publications

The aviation industry is one of the major contributors for the greenhouse gases. As air travel has become inevitable in this modern era, and fossil fuel usage is not sustainable, it is essential to produce renewable fuel and commercialize it to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. In order to produce an alternate aviation biofuel a lot of industrial and academic collaborations have been developed worldwide. The main concern of this collaborative research is to produce aviation biofuel from renewable resources with low environmental impacts, and which is sustainable at an economically viable price. This mini-review briefly discusses the biotechnological approaches …

Assessing Land Deformation And Sea Encroachment In The Nile Delta, Egypt, Esayas Gebremichael

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Persistent scatterer interferometric analyses were conducted on a stack of 84 Envisat ASAR scenes spanning 7 years (2004 to 2010) over the entire Nile Delta of Egypt and surroundings to monitor the ongoing spatial and temporal land deformation, identify the factors controlling the deformation, and model the interplay between sea level rise and land subsidence to identify areas and populations threatened by sea encroachment by the end of the 21st century. Findings include: (1) general patterns of subsidence in the northern delta, near-steady (none) subsidence in the southern delta, separated by a previously mapped flexure zone undergoing uplift; (2) high …

Renewable Energy: A Solution To Japan’S Energy Crisis, Sunny Kwan

Scholars Week

As world population increases steadily, fossil fuel deposits around the world continue to be consumed; estimates state that all current known deposits will run dry by 2088. Fossil fuel consumption not only causes environmental pollution, but its resulting greenhouse gases accelerate global warming, leading to destructive changes in climate patterns and rising sea levels. On one hand, fossil fuels are an indispensable part of daily life, but they also cause irreversible damage to the environment. On the other hand, renewable energy sources are more expensive and less convenient to develop compared to fossil fuels, but they are a great alternative …

Final Paper For Posc370: National Energy Strategy, Courtney Trott

Political Science Student Papers and Posters

This paper aims to analyze the energy sources and needs of Canada. I worked off of current data and policies to make predictions and suggestions for the next 20 years in the areas of energy production and policy for Canada. In studying Canada’s energy policies and programs, there is a lot to be gained when thinking international energy policy and production.

Japan National Energy Strategy: Energy Politics - Posc 370, Peter Wong

Political Science Student Papers and Posters

In this paper is my energy strategy for Japan, with the purpose to: provide broad strategic objectives, identify and explain the policies chosen, mobilization of political support as well as consideration of Japan’s energy resources. Additionally the paper considers economic and political feasibility, and theaters of conflict that may arise. The paper uses the knowledge and skills of looking at national energy politics and strategies learned in class.

When The Wind Blows: An Evaluation Of Key Factors That Enabled The Proliferation Of Wind Energy Generation In The United States Through 2016, Mary Sodini Bell

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Increasing CO₂ emissions have led to extreme weather phenomena labeled as climate change. Energy consumption and the burning of fossil fuels are primary contributors to climate change, which necessitates finding ways to decrease fossil fuel consumption critical to preserving the planet while helping nations reduce dependence on costly fossil fuels. Renewable energy is one part of the solution to reducing CO₂ emissions. Wind energy is the fastest growing form of renewable energy across the world and within the U.S., but the key factors that enabled the U.S. wind industry to grow from zero installed capacity at the beginning …

In Situ Extrinsic Doping Of Cdte Thin Films For Photovoltaic Applications, Imran Suhrid Khan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Cadmium Telluride thin film solar cell is one of the leading photovoltaic technologies. Efficiency improvements in the past decade made it a very attractive and practical source of renewable energy. Considering the theoretical limit, there is still room for improvement, especially the cell’s open circuit voltage (VOC). To improve VOC, the p-type carrier concentration and minority carrier lifetime of the CdTe absorber needs to be improved. Both these parameters are directly related to the point defect distribution of the semiconductor, which is a function of deposition stoichiometry, dopant incorporation and post-deposition treatments.

CdTe films were deposited by the Elemental …

A Method To Determine The Viability Of Photovoltaic Systems In Various Climate Regions, Joseph A. Applebee

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to manufacture and disseminate 37 photovoltaic test systems which will be located at various United States Air Force installations worldwide. The Air Force's goals in renewable energy are to determine the potential for systems to aid in promoting resiliency for an installation's energy demands. The test systems are designed to collect climate and power production data from each test site and associated photovoltaic cells. The overall goal of the test system data collection is to determine the correlation between power output of photovoltaic panels and the associated geographic region climate classification. This study does …

Detection And Characterization Of The Tin Dihydride (Snh2 And Snd2) Molecule In The Gas Phase, Tony C. Smith, Dennis J. Clouthier

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The SnH₂ and SnD₂ molecules have been detected for the first time in the gas phase by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and emission spectroscopic techniques through the ùB₁–X̃¹A₁ electronic transition. These reactive species were prepared in a pulsed electric discharge jet using (CH₃)₄Sn or SnH₄/SnD₄ precursors diluted in high pressure argon. Transitions to the electronic excited state of the jet-cooled molecules were probed with LIF, and the ground state energy levels were measured from single rovibronic level emission spectra. The LIF spectrum of SnD_{2 …}

Estimating The Creation And Removal Date Of Fracking Ponds Using Trend Analysis Of Landsat Imagery, Rutherford V. Platt, David Manthos, John Amos

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process of introducing liquid at high pressure to create fractures in shale rock formations, thus releasing natural gas. Flowback and produced water from fracking operations is typically stored in temporary open-air earthen impoundments, or frack ponds. Unfortunately, in the United States there is no public record of the location of impoundments, or the dates that impoundments are created or removed. In this study we use a dataset of drilling-related impoundments in Pennsylvania identified through the FrackFinder project led by SkyTruth, an environmental non-profit. For each impoundment location, we compiled all low cloud Landsat imagery …

Regulation Of Radioactive Fracking Waste, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman, Nichole Leclair

Publications and Research

Natural gas extracted form shale reached record production totals in 2015 in the United States and the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts natural gas production will continue to increase. Wastes from shale gas extraction can contain the radioactive isotopes radium-226 (Ra-226) and radium-228 (Ra-228), which decay further into radon (Rn). Exposure to radon, a form of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), is the leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, after smoking. This article explores how states handle the disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) and/or NORM waste from oil and gas operations to …

Asymmetric Price Volatility Transmission Between U.S. Biofuel, Corn, And Oil Markets, Sayed Saghaian, Mehdi Nemati, Cory Walters, Bo Chen

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Linkages between agricultural commodity and energy prices have become more complex with increased ethanol production. The concern is whether the new corn–ethanol links lead to volatility-spillover transmission between food and energy prices. We investigate asymmetric volatility spillovers between oil, corn, and ethanol prices using a BEKK-multivariate-GARCH approach. Additionally, we use daily, weekly, and monthly futures prices to examine whether the use of different-frequency data leads to inconsistent results. The results support the existence of asymmetric volatility transmission between corn and ethanol prices. Furthermore, the volatility-spillover effects are different for the different-frequency prices, and positive and negative price changes generate inconsistent …

Environmental Forensics Study Of Crude Oil And Petroleum Product Spills In Coastal And Oilfield Settings: Combined Insights From Conventional Gc-Ms, Thermodesorption-Gc-Ms And Pyrolysis-Gc-Ms, Michael A. Kruge, José Luis Gallego, Azucena Lara-Gonzalo, Noemi Esquinas

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A representative set of five oil spill samples from four different regions displayed different product characteristics and different levels of weathering. Three of them were taken along shorelines affected by marine oil spill events, viz., Aboño and Prestige (Spain) and Deepwater Horizon (USA) and the other two were taken at inland oil spill sites (Angola and Kuwait). A multi-faceted environmental forensics approach revealed key molecular features. In addition to the conventional GC/MS analysis of saturated and aromatic fractions, the polar fractions also were analyzed, revealing a complex series of linear alkanones in those oil samples particularly enriched in aliphatics. Thermodesorption-GC-MS …

Grenvillian Tectonomagmatic Evolution Of Southwestern Laurentia; Virtual Tour Of Multidimensional Orders Of Scale; Two Methods To Describe The Vastness Of Time; Math Concepts Utilizing Google Earth; Systematic Approach To Motion Analyses; Mathematics And Earth Science-Based Knowledge And Learning, Anthony M. Alvarez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation is the product of several individual multi-disciplinary investigations that cover a variety of topics in mathematics, physics, geology, and geoscience education. The first chapter formulates a better understanding of the timings, magma source, and relationships between dikes and associated magmatic bodies of the Red Bluff Granitic Complex to provide a clearer picture of the evolution of post-Grenville magmatism and tectonism of southwestern USA. The second chapter provides an improved method for representing spatial information in the form of a multidimensional virtual tour where the background map is used as a central object. The third chapter describes two methods …

Processing Different Mixtures Of Regionally Available Resources To Create Pellets That Meet A Minimum Standard, Jacob Hixson

Masters Theses

There are several ways to produce energy today, one of the oldest is the gasification of biomass. This process uses a fire to heat the material until it starts to produce gasses that are used as fuel. There are several types of biomass that can be used, many of which have large pieces with low bulk densities. By pelletizing the biomass bulk density increases and allows the opportunity to add in other biomass materials.

There are standards for condensing large pieces of biomass to smaller pelletized materials. Pellet Fuels Institute has set minimum standards for pellets used in the different …

Automated Cfd Optimization To Maximize Wind Farms Performance And Land Use, Rafael Valotta Rodrigues

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research, a computational system was designed to analyze and optimize the layout of wind farms under variable operational conditions. At first, a wind turbine computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed covering the near wake. The near wake flow field was validated against near wake velocity data from the MEXICO experiment. The CFD simulation demonstrated that the tip speed ratio and the pitch angle greatly influence the near wake behavior, affecting the velocity deficit and the turbulence intensity profile in this region. The CFD model was extended to cover the far wake, aiming to become a computational tool …

Application Of Machine Learning On Fracture Interference, Dennis Wayne Chamberlain Jr.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A method has been developed that locates and determines well-to-well hydraulic fracture interference (frac-hit) in shale plays using hard data. This method uses Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) with designated parameters and target outputs in conjunction with graphs of gas flowrate, tubing pressure, and cumulative gas prediction. The method was created to address the significant increase in frac-hit occurrences due to the infill wells being completed in shale plays. The production data of the well is first cleaned to eliminate outliers in the initial timeframe of the well and periods of no production so that the ANN model can be accurately …

Integrated Study On The Applicability Of Co₂-Eor In Unconventional Liquids Rich Reservoirs, Dheiaa Khafief Khashan Alfarge

Doctoral Dissertations

"Unconventional Liquids Rich Reservoirs (ULR) such as Bakken, Niobrara, and Eagle Ford have become the main target for oil and gas investors as conventional formations started to deplete and diminish in number. These unconventional plays have a huge oil reserve; however, the predicted primary oil recovery is still low as an average of 7.5 %. Unconventional Improved Oil Recovery (UIOR) techniques are still a new concept in the oil industry because there is no commercial project for any IOR technique so far. Injecting carbon dioxide (CO₂) might be the most potential strategy to improve oil recovery in such complex plays. …

Wetting Properties Of Structured Interfaces Composed Of Surface-Attached Spherical Nanoparticles, Bishal Bhattarai

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the effects of the external pressure and surface energy on stability and wetting transition at nanotextured interfaces are studied using molecular dynamics and continuum simulations. The surface roughness of the composite interface is modeled via an array of spherical nanoparticles with controlled wettability. It was found that in the absence of external pressure, the liquid interface is flat and its location relative to the solid substrate is determined by the radius of the particle and the local contact angle. With increasing pressure on the liquid film, its interface becomes more curved and the three-phase contact line is …

Offshore Wind Energy: Simulating Local Offshore Wind Turbine, Ian P. Aquino

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Dominion Virginia Energy is looking at the possible creation of an offshore wind plant as a renewable source of electricity to be located off the coast of Virginia Beach. This thesis reports on a computer simulation based on local wind conditions and possible single wind turbine installation.

The National Buoy Data Center keeps records of the local wind conditions gathered in real time and available to the public. These data give a general overview of the wind conditions in Virginia Beach which is used to simulate atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow conditions and is subsequently used as input data for …

Multiscale Approaches Toward Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery: From Nano To Meso Scale, Susmita Sarkar

Masters Theses

“Battery performance and its degradation are determined by various aspects such as the transport of ions and electrons through heterogeneous internal structures composed of constituent particles, kinetic reactions at the interfaces, and a corresponding interplay between mechanical, chemical, and thermal responses. Further, modern battery materials require a variety of engineering processes such as coating, doping and mixing. As a result, in order to fully understand the behavior of the battery material and improve battery performance, it is necessary to understand and control the individual particle behavior and then connect it to the electrode. This study elucidated the physical phenomena associated …

Research Of Sustainable Jet Fuel Production Using Microbes, Rajee Olaganathan

Publications

Global climate change, coupled with rapidly increasing oil prices and energy demand around the world, has paved a way for intense research in the biofuel sector. Stakeholders in the aviation industry have started to focus on bio-jet fuel. Bio-jet fuel is regarded as a sustainable solution to greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand. This paper provides a brief review of the biofuel production technologies, the role of bacteria in producing hydrocarbons and the recent advancements in microbial engineering to enhance the biofuel production. Finally, this paper concludes by highlighting the challenges and future research implications in bio-jet fuel production.

Alternative Energy: An Examination Of Costs, Safety, And Potential, Evan Searles

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Production And Economic Analyses Of Woody Biomass Utilization For Energy, John Edward Vance

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A mechanized harvest system combined with whole-tree chipper producing mixed hardwood chips was investigated on two harvesting sites in the central Appalachian region, USA. Production and machine rate data of the operations were collected through time-motion study, with chipping time elements categorized into feeding, chipping, and loading. Chipping cycles averaged 21.5 minutes to produce 23.54 green tons per truckload, providing an hourly rate of 65.82 green tons/PMH (41.1 dry tons) by the whole-tree chipper. Total cycle time including truck delivery averaged 183 minutes, giving an hourly rate of 7.7 green tons/PMH (4.8 dry tons/PMH). The hourly cost of the harvesting …

Strategies For Improving Energy Conservation On A Military Installation, Samuel Francis Richardson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Energy is an essential component required to execute missions throughout military organizations. Failing to sustain energy efficiency in military units could cause mission failures throughout the Department of Defense. As a result, efficient energy management has become a major priority for Air National Guard units as well as other military organizations around the globe. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to gain an understanding of strategies used by front-line military supervisors to reduce energy consumption through behavioral change on a military installation located in Maryland. The central question explored strategies that front-line military supervisors use to change …

Small Business Sustainability Strategies, Wayne A. Fillingim

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses provide 48% of private-sector jobs in the United States and play a vital role in the country's economic growth and development. Only half of U.S. small businesses survive for longer than 5 years. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore sustainability strategies managers of small oilfield service companies used to sustain their business for longer than 5 years. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 10 managers--one manager from each of 10 different oilfield service companies located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States and from review of publicly available documents and archived …

Transportation Electrification And Hospital Emergency Planning, Nathaniel Winfield Skinner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Because transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area is increasingly dependent on electricity, factors such as limited electricity storage capacity and nontransferability of batteries between vehicles need to be considered by emergency response planners (ERPs). The purpose of this study was to investigate planning for providing the power to provide emergency transportation for hospital staff/administration and those injured after earthquakes. The research questions of transportation need of emergency staff and patients after an earthquake and differences between Bay Area cities and counties in considering transportation needs were addressed in this qualitative study utilizing a collective case study to assess electric …