Changing oil-wet surfaces toward higher water wettability is of key importance in subsurface engineering applications. This includes petroleum recovery from fractured limestone reservoirs, which are typically mixed or oil-wet, resulting in poor productivity as conventional waterflooding techniques are inefficient. A wettability change toward more water-wet would significantly improve oil displacement efficiency, and thus productivity. Another area where such a wettability shift would be highly beneficial is carbon geo-sequestration, where compressed CO2 is pumped underground for storage. It has recently been identified that more water-wet formations can store more CO2. We thus examined how silica based nanofluids can induce such a wettability shift on oil-wet and mixed-wet calcite substrates. We found that silica nanoparticles have an ability to alter the wettability of such calcite surfaces. Nanoparticle concentration and brine salinity had a significant effect on the wettability alteration efficiency, and an optimum salinity was identified, analogous to that one found for surfactant formulations. Mechanistically, most nanoparticles irreversibly adhered to the oil-wet calcite surface (as substantiated by SEM–EDS and AFM measurements). We conclude that such nanofluid formulations can be very effective as enhanced hydrocarbon recovery agents and can potentially be used for improving the efficiency of CO2 geo-storage.
The special core analysis tests were accomplished on a set of core plugs for Mishrif Formation (mA, mB1, and mB2cde/mC units) in West Qurna/1 oilfield, southern Iraq. Oil relative permeability (Kro) data and the Corey-type fit of the data as functions of the brine saturation at the core outlet face for individual samples in the water-oil imbibition process to estimate relative permeability measurements by the centrifuge method were utilized. Identical correlations for oil and water relative permeabilities were extracted by steady-state and unsteady-state methods. For the mA samples, the gas-water capillary pressure curves were within a narrow range (almost identical) indicating that mA is a homogeneous unit. Kro curves for three mB2
... Show MoreAn experimental study was performed to estimate the forced convection heat transfer performance and the pressure drop of a single layer graphene (GNPs) based DI-water nanofluid in a circular tube under a laminar flow and a uniform heat flux boundary conditions. The viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanofluid at weight concentrations of (0.1 to 1 wt%) were measured. The effects of the velocity of flow, heat flux and nanoparticle weight concentrations on the enhancement of the heat transfer are examined. The Nusselt number of the GNPs nanofluid was enhanced as the heat flux and the velocity of flow rate increased, and the maximum Nusselt number ratio (Nu nanofluid/ Nu base fluid) and thermal performance factor
... Show MoreThis study was conducted according to contract with the North Refineries Company-Baiji and deals with the hydrodesulphurization of vacuum gas oil of Kirkuk crude oil, boiling range 611-833 K. A trickle bed reactor packed with a commercial cobalt-molybdenum on alumina catalyst was used. The operating conditions were: temperature range 583-643 K, liquid hourly space velocity range 1.50-3.75 1/h, hydrogen to oil ratio about 250 l/l and pressure kept constant at 3.5MPa.
The results showed that the aromatic content decreased and sulfur removal increased with increasing temperature and decreasing space velocity. The properties (viscosity, density, flash point and carbon residue) of the products decrease with temperature increasing, but the
As the major role of oil sector in financing and development of Iraqi economy this study tried to research on the factors which influencing the future of oil production in Iraq and for that study addressed the hypothesis (the production and export of crude oil in Iraq , influenced by many factors divided into internal and external factors this factors shared the effect varies in the size of their participation and runs from different sectors economic , political and social , in order to test the study hypothesis study addressed the subject of three axes(an overview of the history and facts of crude oil production in Iraq and factors internal Affecting the future of oil production in Iraq and external factors affecting the future
... Show MoreIrrigation has significant role in endodontic treatment, many types of antimicrobial irrigation solutions have been used, but due to the ineffectiveness, safety concerns and side effects of this irrigation, the herbal alternatives for endodontic irrigants might be beneficial. Objectives This study compared the in vitro effectiveness of tea tree oil and clove oil as possible irrigants in endodontics against Enterococcus faecalis in comparison with 3% Sodium hypochlorite. Materials and Methods E. faecalis was isolated from patients in need for endodontic treatment; VITEK was employed for E. faecalis isolate conformation. Muller Hinton agar was prepared with 100μl of freshly prepared suspension of E.faecalis. Wells of 6mm diameter and 4mm dep
... Show MoreIrrigation has significant role in endodontic treatment, many types of antimicrobial irrigation solutions have been used, but due to the ineffectiveness, safety concerns and side effects of this irrigation, the herbal alternatives for endodontic irrigants might be beneficial. Objectives This study compared the in vitro effectiveness of tea tree oil and clove oil as possible irrigants in endodontics against Enterococcus faecalis in comparison with 3% Sodium hypochlorite. Materials and Methods E. faecalis was isolated from patients in need for endodontic treatment; VITEK was employed for E. faecalis isolate conformation. Muller Hinton agar was prepared with 100μl of freshly prepared suspension of E.faecalis. Wells of 6mm diameter and 4mm dep
... Show MoreThis research was aimed to study the efficiency of microfiltration membranes for the treatment of oily wastewater and the factors affecting the performance of the microfiltration membranes experimental work were includes operating the microfiltration process using polypropylene membrane (1 micron) and ceramic membrane (0.5 micron) constructed as candle; two methods of operation were examined: dead end and cross flow. The oil emulsion was prepared using two types of oils: vegetable oil and motor oil (classic oil 20W-50). The operating parameters studied are: feed oil concentration 50 – 800 mg/l, feed flow rate 10 – 40 l/h, and temperature 30 – 50 oC, for dead end and cross flow microfiltration.
It was found that water flux decrea
This paper addresses the factors responsible for changes in crude oil prices, in real market and financial sector. In order to prepare the analytical background for further investigation, it highlights the patterns of correlations of the real oil price and the most related prices of assets, exchange rate and government bond yield. The paper reviews the statistical behavior of oil price, quantities and the global macroeconomic environment. Topics discussed include the theory of differential rent and scarcity effect ,the role of future market and speculation, strategies of energy of the major economies to investigate the prospects of oil market and the potential demand for OPEC's oil. The paper explores the
... Show MoreSmart water flooding (low salinity water flooding) was mainly invested in a sandstone reservoir. The main reasons for using low salinity water flooding are; to improve oil recovery and to give a support for the reservoir pressure.
In this study, two core plugs of sandstone were used with different permeability from south of Iraq to explain the effect of water injection with different ions concentration on the oil recovery. Water types that have been used are formation water, seawater, modified low salinity water, and deionized water.
The effects of water salinity, the flow rate of water injected, and the permeability of core plugs have been studied in order to summarize the best conditions of low salinity
... Show MoreMany oil and gas processes, including oil recovery, oil transportation, and petroleum processing, are negatively impacted by the precipitation and deposition of asphaltene. Screening methods for determining the stability of asphaltenes in crude oil have been developed due to the high cost of remediating asphaltene deposition in crude oil production and processing. The colloidal instability index, the Asphaltene-resin ratio, the De Boer plot, and the modified colloidal instability index were used to predict the stability of asphaltene in crude oil in this study. The screening approaches were investigated in detail, as done for the experimental results obtained from them. The factors regulating the asphaltene precipitation are different fr
... Show More