Design of an Economical Polymer Flood Pilot Addressing Field Development Uncertainties in the Sabriyah Upper Burgan Reservoir of North Kuwait

The Sabriyah Upper Burgan is a major oil reservoir in North Kuwait with high oil saturation and is currently considered for mobility control via polymer flooding. Although there is high confidence in the selected technology, there are technological and geologic challenges that must be understood to transition towards phased commercial field development. Engineering and geologic screening suggested that chemical flood technologies were superior to either miscible gas or waterflood technologies. Of the chemical flood technologies, mobility control flooding was considered the best choice due to available water ion composition and total dissolved solids (TDS). Evaluation of operational and economic considerations were instrumental in recommending mobility control polymer flooding for pilot testing. Laboratory selected acceptable polymer for use with coreflood incremental oil recovery being up to 9% OOIP. Numerical simulation recommended two commercial size pilots, a 3-pattern and a 5-pattern of irregular five spots, with forecast incremental oil recovery factors of 5.6% OOIP over waterflood. Geologic uncertainty is the greatest challenge in the oil and gas industry, which is exacerbated with any EOR project. Screening of the Upper Burgan reservoirs indicates that UB4 channel sands are the best candidates for EOR technologies. Reservoir quality is excellent and there is sufficient reservoir volume in the northwest quadrant of the field to justify not only a pilot but also future expansion. There is a limited edge water drive of unknown strength that will need to be assessed. The channel facies sandstones have porosities of +25%, permeabilities in the Darcy range, and initial oil saturations of +90%. Pore volume (PV) of the two recommended pilot varies from 29 to 45 million barrels. A total of 0.7 PV of polymer is expected to be injected in 5.6 and 7.9 years for the 3-pattern pilot and the 5-pattern pilot, respectively, with a water drive flush to follow for an additional 5 to 7 years. Incremental cost per incremental barrel of oil of a mobility control polymer flood which includes OPEX and CAPEX costs is $20 (USD). This paper evaluates the (commercial size) pilot design and addresses field development uncertainties.

Benefits in the Tilapia Growth, by Vetiver Grass in an Aquaponics System

Tilapia aquaculture has growing vertiginously in the world, reaching 7.02 million tons in 2020. In Mexico, the same year reached 72.6 thousand tons. This production values have increased environmental impact and production costs. In Mexico there is a pre-Hispanic aquaponics system, where people culture corn, bean fishes and other organisms. Taken this system as basis, the aim this work was demonstrate the benefits in tilapia aquaculture, by Vetiver grass. Three mini-ponds make up by tilapia juveniles and Vetiver in aquaponics system, and one mini-pond without Vetiver, were cultured during ten weeks. The ammonia, nitrates, dissolved O2, pH etc., and also tilapia weights were recorded along experiment. Results indicated that, ammonia decreased, nitrate increased and tilapia weight increased significantly in mini-ponds with Vetiver than without Vetiver. A von Bertalanffy simplified model was used to calculate time required for tilapias reached 500 g (commercial size) with Vetiver and without Vetiver; it was 48.6 and 54.4 weeks respectively. An extrapolation to commercial tilapia aquaculture, will decreased production cost, due to lower amount of feed and water in tilapia hatcheries; also, a lower environmental impact by wastes discharged to coastal ecosystems, e.g., the amount of ammonia produced in mini-ponds with Vetiver was 4.56 times less than mini-pond without Vitier at week ten. Moreover, tilapia culture with Vetiver, have an aggregated value, because Vetiver is used in perfumes production, reaching 45.2 billons US dollars in 2020.

Survival and Physiological Recovery after Capture by Hookline: The Case Study of the Blackspot Seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo)

Evaluating the survival of discarded species is gaining momentum after the new European Common Fisheries Policy (Article 15 of the European Regulation No. 1380/2013). This regulation introduced a discard ban, with an exemption for those species with demonstrated high survival rates after their capture and release. Candidate species should be evaluated for each fishing gear and geographical area. In this study, we assessed not only survival, but also physiological recovery rates of blackspot seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo) below commercial size captured with a hookline called “voracera” in the Strait of Gibraltar (SW Atlantic waters of Europe). Experiments onboard a commercial fishing vessel were paralleled with studies in controlled ground-based facilities, where the capture process was mimicked, and physiological recovery markers were described. Our results confirmed that hookline capture induced acute stress responses in the target species, such as changes in plasma cortisol, lactate, glucose, and osmolality. However, 90.6% of the blackspot seabreams below commercial size captured with this fishing gear managed to survive, and evidenced physiological recovery responses 5 h after capture, with complete homeostatic recovery occurring within the first 24 h. Based on this study, the European Commission approved an exemption from the discard (EU Commission Delegated Regulation 6794/2018). Thus, the robust methodology described herein can be an important tool to mitigate the problem of discards in Europe.

Growth and survival of the hatchery juveniles of pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793) in Peter the Great Bay

Growth and survival rates of juveniles of pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas are estimated for the first time in conditions of Peter the Great Bay (Japan Sea). The data were collected at artificial hatchery in the Aquaculture Center located on Popov Island in 2019. The juveniles were settled and reared on two types of substrate: 1) perforated plastic plates with the diameter of 30 cm (area 7.1 dm2), and 2) scallop shells with the height about 10 cm (average area 0.8 dm2) mounted in the western Peter the Great Bay (Voevoda Bay) in September 2019. Before placing in this site, the average height of the juveniles’ shells did not exceed 7 mm. In July 2020, after the 9-month exposure of the collectors with spat in the Voevoda Bay, the height increased in 12–18 times and reached 55–90 mm on the substrate 1 and 25–65 mm on the substrate 2. Then the oysters reared on the substrate 1 were replaced from the plastic plates to the cage shelves and the cages were moved to the Stark Strait. Difference in the growth rate became more apparent in September 2020, when the height of shells settled on the plastic plates reached 67 mm, on average (73 % in the range 50–85 mm) and for the shells settled on the scallops — 32 mm, on average (72 % in the range 20–45 mm). The shell height increased to 76.6 and 52.4 mm, respectively, to the end of October 2020. Finally, about 59 % of the oysters reared on the substrate 1 and cage shelves and 9 % of the oysters reared on the substrate 2 reached the commercial size (80–100 mm). Their survival in the period from mid-October 2019 to July 2020 is estimated as 46.9 % (28.8–98.2 %) for the substrate 1 and 33.5 % (4.0–78.3 %) for the substrate 2. On the substrate 1, survival of the mollusks attached to lower surface of the plates was twice higher. The survival had a tendency to decrease with increasing of the juveniles density. The experiment showed good viability for artificially hatched juveniles of pacific oyster in conditions of Peter the Great Bay. Their growth in the Voevoda Bay and the Stark Strait, with necessary technological measures, as replacing, thinning, and substrate cleaning from fouling, allows to produce oysters with the commercial size.

Integrated rearing system proposal for Cantareus aspersus in experimental orchards: Growth models

An integrated rearing system for Cantareus aspersus under environmental conditions in an experimental orchard is proposed. In this study, the natural behaviour, circadian rhythms and suitable rearing conditions of the edible snail were optimised to produce homogeneous growth and low variability. The growth was standardised, and growth pattern fit was assessed with various models. One thousand fry were cultured in the orchard, and a random sample of 100 snails were measured weekly for 23 weeks. The rearing system had the following characteristics: snails and earthworms were included in the experimental rearing orchard; a homogeneous group of juvenile snails of the same age and size and high rearing density (500 snails/m2) was used; snails were fed with layers mash ad libitum; and mixed and fringes vegetation was planted in the orchard. A commercial size of 60% of snails was achieved in 21 weeks and 95% in 23 weeks. The different models showed a good fit, and the quadratic model obtained the best fit. This experimental snail orchard proposal can be extended to other areas, although it must be corrected according to different environmental conditions and fit to other species of interest. This experimental model could constitute a viable alternative to traditional models of animal experimentation with mammals, and given its high adaptability, it could be applied in different fields of science.

Evaluation of the Esfr End of Equilibrium Cycle State: Spatial Distributions of Reactivity Coefficients

The Horizon 2020 ESFR-SMART project investigates the behaviour of the commercial-size European Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (ESFR) throughout its lifetime. This paper reports work focused on the End of Equilibrium Cycle (EOEC) loading of the ESFR, including neutronic analysis, core- and zone-wise reactivity coefficients, and more detailed local mapping of important safety-relevant parameters. Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis on these parameters have also been performed and a detailed investigation into decay heat mapping carried out. Due to the scope of this work the results have been split into three papers. The nominal operating conditions and both zone-wise and local mapping of reactivity coefficients are considered in this paper; the sensitivity and uncertainty analysis are detailed in Margulis et al. [1]; and the decay heat mapping calculations are reported in Jimenez-Carrascosa et al. [2]. The work was performed across four institutions using both continuous-energy Monte Carlo and deterministic reactor physics codes. A good agreement is observed between the methods, verifying the suitability of these codes for simulation of large, complicated reactor configurations; and giving confidence in the results for the most limiting ESFR EOEC core state for safety analysis. The results from this work will serve as basis for the transient calculations planned for the next stage of work on the ESFR, allowing for more in-depth studies to be performed on the multiphysics behaviour of the reactor.

Decay Heat Characterization for the European Sodium Fast Reactor

In this work a detailed assessment of the decay heat power for the commercial-size European Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (ESFR) at the end of its equilibrium cycle has been performed. The summation method has been used to compute very accurate spatial- and time-dependent decay heat by employing state-of-the-art coupled transport-depletion computational codes and nuclear data. This detailed map provides basic information for subsequent transient calculations of the ESFR. A comprehensive analysis of the decay heat has been carried out and interdependencies among decay heat and different parameters characterizing the core state prior to shutdown, such as discharge burnup or type of fuel material, have been identified. That analysis has served as a basis to develop analytic functions to reconstruct the spatial-dependent decay heat power for the ESFR for cooling times within the first day after shutdown.

Potential impact of harvesting on Tanner crab (Chionoecetes bairdi) on state of its commercial stock off the coast of Kamchatka

Potential impact of landing on the stock and biological state of Tanner crab is analyzed for two fishery districts at Kamchatka in 2013-2020. In the Kamchatka-Kuril fishery subzone, the number of commercial males without limbs and with old shell increased in catches that may be associated with active operations of alive-crab vessels in 2015-2017. In the Petropavlovsk-Commander fishery subzone, cases of injured Tanner crabs catch became frequent after resumption of the crab harvesting in 2017, as well as the cases of commercial crabs with old shell, that also could be explained by operations of alive-crab vessels. The operations of such vessels are distinguished by strict sorting of caught crabs with removing the individuals of lower quality. As the result, the crabs without limbs and commercial males at late stages before molting were accumulated in the areas of sorting. The problem can be solved by measures for total registration (weighting) of catch before the start of sorting, concerning to all crabs with commercial size landed aboard. To avoid degradation of the Tanner crab population, development of catch processing aboard fishing vessels is recommended, with transportation of frozen products instead of live crabs.

EVALUATION OF THE ESFR END OF CYCLE STATE AND DETAILED ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONS OF REACTIVITY COEFFICIENTS

The ESFR-SMART project is the latest iteration of research into the behaviour of a commercial-size SFR core throughout its lifetime. As part of this project the ESFR core has been modelled by a range of different reactor physics simulation codes at its end of cycle state, and the important safety relevant parameters evaluated. These parameters are found to agree well between the different codes, giving good confidence in the results. A detailed mapping of the local sodium void worth is also performed due to the problems associated with the positive void coefficient seen in large SFR designs. The local void worth maps show that the use of zone-wise coefficients replicates the important reactivity feedbacks to a high degree, indicating their suitability for use in SFR simulations.