Membranes for the Gas/Liquid Phase Separation at Elevated Temperatures: Characterization of the Liquid Entry Pressure

Hydrophobic membranes were characterized at elevated temperatures. Pressure was applied at the feed and permeate side to ensure liquid phase conditions. Within this scope, the applicability of different polymeric and ceramic membranes in terms of liquid entry pressure was studied using water. The Visual Method and the Pressure Step Method were applied for the experimental investigation. The results show the Pressure Step Method to be an early detection method. The tests at higher pressure and temperature conditions using the Pressure Step Method revealed the temperature as being the main factor affecting the liquid entry pressure. Novel LEP data up to 120 °C and 2.5 bar were obtained, which broadens the application range of hydrophobic membranes.

Stratigraphy and petrophysical characteristics of Lower Paleocene cool-water carbonates, Faxe quarry, Denmark

The Faxe limestone quarry in eastern Denmark exposes Danian (Lower Paleocene) cool-water carbonate deposits. They constitute remnants of an apparent build-up that covers about 12 km2 today. The Danian deposits at Faxe are conspicuous due to their pronounced thickness of coral limestone relative to the regional carbonate system. In the Faxe quarry, scleractinian corals are uniquely exposed in up to 30 m high mounds. The rapid accumulation of scleractinians combined with induration of the mounds may locally have protected the limestone from Quaternary glacial erosion and created a Danian thickness anomaly at Faxe. The position of Faxe above a local fault-bounded basement high and the extent of coral limestone has been better defined by new mapping. A mapped lithostratigraphic surface in the quarry reveals the large-scale organisation of nested bryozoan mounds on three elongated ridges striking NW–SE. The main scleractinian coral mounds are located above this horizon. Data for reservoir characterisation, mainly of the bryozoan mounds, were collected as photographs of the outcrop, petrophysical and petrographical data from cored boreholes, and as ground-penetrating radar sections. Old boreholes and measured sections were used to reconstruct the build-up, and new nannofossil data allow a discussion of stratigraphy and accumulation rate. The petrophysical data show that common mound-building bryozoan packstone has higher permeability and lower capillary entry pressure than chalk, whereas less commonly occurring grain-dominated packstone and grainstone deposits from local higher-energy sites of the mound complex were found to have reduced amounts of coccolith mud, significantly higher permeability and a higher degree of lithification. Based on biostratigraphic age constraints, correlation of flint – limestone couplets and recog-nised hierarchical patterns, we develop a cyclostratigraphy for the middle Danian and suggest that cyclicity in lithology and petrophysical characteristics of bryozoan limestone are controlled by precession and eccentricity of the orbit of the Earth.

Investigation of a novel solar powered trigeneration system for simultaneous production of electricity, heating, and refrigeration below freezing

A solar powered trigeneration system consisting of tower solar collector, Kalina cycle with the heat exchanger, and EARC is proposed to produce refrigeration below freezing, electricity, and process heat, simultaneously. Simulation through CFD using ANSYS-FLUENT package is conducted to examine the effect of coil diameter and inlet oil temperature on the pressure and temperature of SHTF. It is found that, for inlet temperature of 92oC and DNI 850 W/m2, the SHTF outlet temperature increases by 9% when the coil diameter increased from 150 to 400 mm. Trigeneration performance is analyzed after altering; hot oil outlet temperature, turbine entry pressure, and the concentration of ammonia-water basic solution to study their effect on power produced by turbine, refrigeration load, exergy of refrigeration, and efficiencies of trigeneration system. Increase in concentration of ammonia-water basic solution is leading towards the significant increase in the turbine power and the elevation of trigeneration system’s energy and exergy efficiencies. Bottoming of Kalina cycle with EARC shows the distribution of solar energy as; energetic output 72.31% and energy lost to environment 27.69%. The solar exergy supplied to the trigeneration system is distributed as; 16.23% exergy is produced, 1.62% is the exergy loss, and 82.15% is the exergy destroyed.

Practical Design Considerations for Stage Length, Perforation Clusters and Limited Entry Pressure Intensities

This paper presents design considerations and field trial applications for determining practical dimensions and limits for interdependencies associated with stage length, perforation clusters and limited entry pressures. Recent applications by multiple authors and companies have begun to reverse the decade-long trend of reducing stage length and perforation spacing, in favor of extending stage lengths, to capture free cash flow value for unconventional resource development. Aggressive limited entry has been an enabler for successful extended stage length applications. Multiple authors have advocated "eXtreme Limited Entry" (XLE) applications. We present diagnostics data and applications that challenges the need for XLE and better constrains the necessary amount of limited entry pressures for effective stimulation distribution for resource development across multiple North American Basins.Data is presented from integrated application of field trials, stimulation distribution diagnostics, and well performance analysis. Field trials and well performance analysis are from the Permian Delaware Basin Wolfcamp. The field trials include both: greater perforation cluster intensities for base design stage lengths; and extended stage lengths of 50% greater than the base designs. Diagnostics are from multiple North American Basins and include discrete treatment pressure diagnostics and optic fiber distributed sensing. Data is presented to quantify the magnitude and variability for components necessary for maintaining active fracture extension for multiple perforation clusters. Components include: fracture breakdown pressures; in-situ stress, net fracture extension pressure, and near wellbore complexity pressure drop.Data and examples are presented from multiple wells, and resource development areas, to show the variability in measured treatment pressures for different length scale dimensions. This variability is used to determine the amount of limited entry pressure required to maintain fracture extension, dependent on the stage length dimension. Although Aggressive Limited Entry (ALE) is generally required to enable effective stimulation distribution and extended stage lengths in multiple cluster stages, examples are presented that demonstrate XLE is generally not required. We also discuss some of the considerations and observations that limit perforation cluster spacing intensities. Well performance data from the field trials is presented to validate the applications.This work demonstrates the value of integrated application of field trials, stimulation distribution diagnostics, and well performance analysis to capture free cash flow value from improved completions and stimulation designs. The discussion will include an assessment of future opportunities for further extension of stage length dimensions.

HYDROPHOBIZATION OF PET TRACK-ETCHED MEMBRANES FOR DIRECT CONTACT MEMBRANE DISTILLATION OF LIQUID RADIOACTIVE WASTES

This article provides the results of liquid low-level radioactive wastes treatment by direct contact membrane distillation using polyethylene terephthalate hydrophobic track-etched membranes. The hydrophobization of track-etched membranes was carried out by UV-induced graft polymerization of triethoxyvinylsilane with styrene and coating with fluorine-containing silanes. Hydrophobic membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscope, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, contact anglemeasurements, and liquid entry pressure analysis. Prepared membranes were tested in treatment of liquid low-level radioactive wastes by membrane distillation. The influence of pore sizes on water flux and rejection degree was studied. Rejection degree was evaluated by conductometry and atomic emission method. Decontamination factors evaluated by gamma-ray spectroscopy for 60Co, 137Cs, and 241Am are 85.4, 1900 and 5.4 for membranes modified with polystyrene and triethoxyvinylsilanewith pore diameters of 142 nm; 85.0, 1462 and 4 for membranes modified with perfluorododecyltrichlorosilanewith pore diameters of 150 nm respectively.

Phenol solutions treatment by using hydrophobized track-etched membranes

Phenols are one of the most common surface water pollution. The discharge of phenolic waters into water bodies and streams sharply degrade their general sanitary condition, since these compounds have a toxic effect, and phenols can intensively absorb oxygen dissolved in water, which negatively affects the life of organisms in water bodies. Therefore, water treatment of phenols is an important environmental problem. In this study, the hydrophobic polyethylene terephthalate track-etched membranes (PET TeMs) were tested in water treatment from phenol by direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). Hydrophobic PET TeMs were obtained by UV-graft polymerization of styrene, triethoxyvinylsilane with the addition of vinylimidazole (VIM), as well as by coating with fluorine-containing silanes. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and liquid entry pressure (LEP) analysis were used for membrane characterization. The contact angle after modification of PET TeMs was reached more than 130°. The efficiency of water purification from phenol was evaluated by water-flux measurements and fluorimetric method. The phenols solution was used at a concentration of 0.5, 1 and 2 g/l. The largest permeate flux of hydrophobized membranes was 1.1 kg/ m2•h.

Unsaturated Stream-Aquifer Connection When the Riverbed Itself Desaturates

In a previous series of 3 articles in this Journal we have looked at the situation when the aquifer desaturates while the riverbed (clogging layer) remained saturated. However it is quite possible that the riverbed itself will desaturate, particularly if the river stage is low and especially when the river goes dry. In this article we look at the situation when indeed the riverbed desaturates as the capillary pressure at the interface between the bottom of the riverbed and the top of the unsaturated zone in the aquifer exceeds the riverbed entry pressure, while the river itself does not go dry. Utilizing different soil textures for a riverbed we found that the seepage rate, following a slight increase in value, tends rapidly to an asymptotic limit which is not much higher than the seepage value at incipient desaturation of the riverbed. Thus the assumption that the riverbed does not desaturate may lead to grossly exaggerated values of the seepage rate.