Study on Production Optimization Method of Fractured Reservoir Based on Connectivity Model

Due to the extensive development of fractures and serious heterogeneity in fractured reservoirs, it is difficult for the traditional numerical simulation method to invert its geology, which greatly limits the efficiency and accuracy of simulation and cannot realize the real-time optimization of production scheme. The connectivity model can only consider the two characteristic parameters of conductivity and connectivity volume, which does not involve complex and rigorous geological modeling. It can quickly and accurately reflect the state of the real reservoir, greatly reducing the simulation time, and is suitable for real-time production performance prediction of the reservoir. Due to the large difference in conductivity of fractured reservoirs, the difficulty of fitting increases. In this paper, the connectivity model is first applied to fractured reservoirs to realize the production dynamic simulation of fractured reservoirs. The optimization principle is used to optimize the injection-production scheme with the economic net present value as the objective function. In order to verify the method, the connectivity model is applied to Mu 30 of Changqing Oilfield in this paper. The results show that this method can effectively reflect the real production situation of the oilfield and the connectivity of the reservoir, and the simulation time is relatively fast. After optimization, the cumulative oil production of the reservoir increases by 8.1%, the cumulative water injection decreases by 2.3%, and the rising rate of water cut decreases by 58.8%, indicating that the connectivity model can realize the real-time production optimization of the reservoir.

Main Carotenoids Produced by Microorganisms

Carotenoids are the pigments present in plants, animals, and microorganisms which are responsible for a broad variety of colors found in nature. Their capacity as antioxidants mainly established their marketable success as health, food, and feed supplements, and cosmetics components. Currently, chemical synthesis dominates the worldwide market; however, due to the high biological value of natural carotenoids, the production scheme is moving towards microbial production as a profitable alternative.

Simulation of Subsea and Platform Production Schemes to Quantify Flow Assurance Risks under Transient and Steady State Conditions in Offshore Kuwait

In offshore production, the type of field development scheme is crucial aspect due to its associated flow assurance risks, which affect project economic, safety, and sustainability. The objective of this study is to simulate and evaluate two offshore field development schemes, namely subsea and platform in offshore Kuwait. Further objective is to carry out detailed transient simulation study on the subsea scheme to investigate flow assurance risks related to terrain slugging, and hydrates formation during shut-in and re-start transient events. The evaluation of the two schemes is based on the associated flow assurance risks, and project economics. Steady state simulations are used to identify the feasible production scheme, which is further simulated under transient shut-in/restart events to investigate flow assurance risks related to terrain slugging and hydrates formation. The steady state simulation results of this study showed that flow assurance risks such as hydrates and pipeline corrosion are significant in both production schemes. To mitigate these risks, sixteen different field development designs of both production schemes were simulated and economically evaluated. Results revealed that the subsea multiphase development scheme with 10-in. ID carbon steel multiphase flowline and 0.3-in. thick polypropylene thermal insulation is the optimum design. Consequently, the optimum design is further analyzed under transient conditions, resulting in appreciable risk of terrain slugging due to hilly-terrain pipeline configuration, especially for the low production rate cases. The transient shut-in/restart simulation results revealed a risk of hydrates formation due to cooling effect during shut-in, which is mitigated by MEG injection. In conclusion, the subsea multiphase flow scheme is selected over platform scheme due to manageable flow assurance risks, low capital investment cost, and minimum environmental impact. This study would enable Kuwait Oil Company to evaluate different offshore development schemes to ensure sustainable production with safe operation and protected environment.

Simulation Model of an Oil Refinery with a Complex Scheme of Equipment Interaction

The article presents the developed simulation model of an oil refinery. The feature of model is the use of agent-based and discrete-event modelling methods. Another feature is applying heuristic optimization technique to find the best values of key production and resource characteristics of oil refinery equipment interacting within the framework of a complex production scheme to build a refinery plant that provides a deep refining level. At the same time, the objective function of the system is the profit of refinery plant, which takes into account both the sale revenue of petroleum products and operating expenditure. The proposed model is implemented in the AnyLogic system and allows, in particular, maximising the profit of refinery plant at various restrictions, including the volumes of petroleum products supplies required to perform contractual obligations at specified times.

Management strategies for run-of-river hydropower plants: an optimal switching approach

The mathematical theory for optimal switching is by now relatively well developed, but the number of concrete applications of this theoretical framework remains few. In this paper, we bridge parts of this gap by applying optimal switching theory to a conceptual production planning problem related to hydropower. In particular, we study two examples of small run-of-river hydropower plants and provide an outline of how optimal switching can be used to create fully automatic production schemes for these. Along the way, we create a new model for random flow of water based on stochastic differential equations and fit this model to historical data. We benchmark the performance of our model using actual flow data from a small river in Sweden and find that our production scheme lies close to the optimal, within 2 and 5 %, respectively, in a long term investigation of the two plants considered.

Purification of Zinc Oxide from Chlorides Using Microwave Radiation

Waelz oxide is a secondary zinc raw material and a product of Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF) dust, copper smelters dust and zinc production residues. The use of Waelz oxide in the traditional RLE (Roasting-Leaching-Electrowinning) zinc production scheme requires the removal of halogens (fluorides and chlorides). Waelz oxide is mainly composed of zinc oxide, also contains zinc chloride. Zinc chloride is removed into the gas phase at heating. Microwave heating is one of the promising methods. Test experiments of microwave heating of a ZnO-ZnCl2 mixture were carried out. It was shown that zinc chloride absorbs microwave radiation; zinc oxide does not absorb microwave radiation. The degree of zinc chloride removal from ZnO-ZnCl2 mixture was 100%.

Solutions of the HACCP issues in live kvass production

Currently, one of the main tasks facing manufacturers is the development and implementation of the HACCP system in the production of high-quality food products. In Russia the conformity of HACCP systems is confirmed by certification. In February 2001, the Gosstandart of Russia registered the HACCP voluntary certification system. It’s purpose is to control all hazardous factors that are likely to threaten the safety of food products. The article discusses the issue associated with solving the problems of ensuring safety of live kvass production at all technological stages. In our research a block diagram of the technological process for the production of «Maykopsky Chestny» kvass at LLC «MPC» Maykop Brewery plant has been analyzed and compared with the standard kvass production scheme. Potentially dangerous factors (physical, chemical, biological) have been analyzed. Critical control points (CCP) have been determined at certain stages of the technological process on the basis of the list of significant hazardous factors. The «Decision tree» method has been (GOST R 51705.1-2001) to select critical control points. This method makes it possible to determine whether this stage of the technological process is critical. The CCP have been determined by analyzing each considered hazardous factor separately and considering all the operations included in the production process diagram sequentially. In the research the situations have been considered that might reveal exceedance of fixed critical limits in the CCP and for this purpose corrective actions have been developed. The research results on the development of the HACCP system at LLC «MPK» Maykop Brewery plant will make it possible to obtain high quality live kvass.

Creating the simulation model of an Assembly department using contemporary computer technologies

The article discusses the method of creating the simulation model of the assembly department of a double-reduction right-angle reduction gear unit using the program “Tecnomatix Plant Simulation”. Optimization of the technological process by identifying bottlenecks and their leveling is carried out. Methods for eliminating downtime in the existing production scheme are shown that increase in the productivity of the assembly department.