Pioneering Integrative Solution for Enhancing Wellbore Quality Thru the Application of Multiple Real Time Monitoring Services in Deviated and Lateral Sections in Deep Gas Wells

In the Oil and Gas industry, there is a constant look for time and cost savings through performance enhancement and risk reduction. Not less important, wellbore quality becomes a crucial factor across target production intervals which enable safe and optimum completion operations in the well. While the techniques to drill wells constantly evolve, technology is advancing at faster pace every year. The application of new tools and digital technologies is the step change from progessive growth to exponential increase in performance. This paper contains a detailed description of a successful implementation of a combined integrated strategy, including the procedures established to maximize both; performance and wellbore quality in highly deviated and lateral horizontal sections in deep gas wells in a giant gas field in the Middle East. It describes the application of specific technologies that helped to improve wellbore quality and allowed corrections in Real Time.

Well Automation Based on Flaring

At a subsurface level, controlling uneven production and early gas breakthrough are big challenges. It is very difficult to achieve the target production while preventing unnecessary flaring from high gas to oil ratio (GOR) wells. To keep the associated gas within surface compression capacity, the High GOR wells are shut in or partially choked by production programmers through a manual work-process, which doesn't always give optimum results. PDO developed a control solution to ensure produced gas always remains within surface compression capacity while ensuring maximum production. The solution achieves this by continuously monitoring flaring and choking the high GOR wells whenever needed. It does this sequentially from highest to lowest GOR wells choking is done to an optimum level by controlling its flow line pressure above certain target. The concept revolves around automating production programmer's task and optimizing it via continuous monitoring and control in DCS, which allows wells to deliver the full potential up to the surface facility constraints with reduced operator intervention. This novel idea is to integrate subsurface and surface facility Optimization via well control. This was implemented in two of the assets in PDO where frequent flaring was identified. Both facilities have limited compression capacity and number of high GOR wells out of several Gas Oil Gravity Drainage (GOGD) producer wells. In order to achieve the goal of "Zero" flaring, the wells are choked in order from highest to lowest GOR, automatically, up to the optimum limit set by either their respective flow line pressures or to defined lower optimum limit, and optimize the production by opening the wells up to its optimum target, when there is no flare. The similar concept is now being replicated in other assets following a LEAN approach.

Investigation of a Possible Material-Saving Approach of Sputtering Techniques for Radiopharmaceutical Target Production

Magnetron sputtering (MS) is a relatively new deposition technique, which is being considered among the cyclotron solid target (CST) manufacturing options now available, aiming at the medical radioisotopes yield for radiopharmaceutical production. However, the intrinsic high material losses during the deposition process do not permit its use with extremely expensive target materials, such as isotopically enriched metals/oxides. In this study, R&D technology for a new recovering shield is instead proposed to assess the dissipation of target material during the sputtering processes and, thus, an estimate of the material recovery that may be feasible and the related amount. The weight-loss analysis method is used to assess the material losses level inside the chamber during processing. In all tests carried out, a high-purity copper (99.99%) was used as a target material. As a result of this study, the material distribution for both magnetron and diode sputtering depositions can be calculated. The feasibility of the ultra-thick coatings growing, devoted to CST production, is demonstrated.

A model-driven approach for engineering customizable MES with the application to the food and beverage industry

The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is a process-oriented IT solution collecting and managing information from the shop floor manufacturing processes. Because of the programming and customization effort required for specific production processes, the MES implementation is not widespread in the food and beverage industry, as most food and beverage manufacturers are small- and medium-sized enterprises with limited resources to invest in MES. For engineering the MES that should be customized according to the target production processes, a model-driven approach has been presented in this paper with six phases covering the entire lifecycle of the MES engineering process. By using this approach, MES can be automatically generated and sustainably improved, which has the potential to reduce the complexity of implementation as well as the resources required for the engineering of customizable MES. Based on two use cases in the processing and packaging areas in the food and beverage industry, the feasibility and practicality of the presented approach have been proven.

Production Cross-Section Measurements for Terbium Radionuclides of Medical Interest Produced in Tantalum Targets Irradiated by 0.3 to 1.7 GeV Protons and Corresponding Thick Target Yield Calculations

This work presents the production cross-sections of Ce, Tb and Dy radionuclides produced by 300 MeV to 1.7 GeV proton-induced spallation reactions in thin tantalum targets as well as the related Thick Target production Yield (TTY) values and ratios. The motivation is to optimise the production of terbium radionuclides for medical applications and to find out at which energy the purity of the collection by mass separation would be highest. For that purpose, activation experiments were performed using the COSY synchrotron at FZ Jülich utilising the stacked-foils technique and γ spectrometry with high-purity germanium detectors. The Al-27(p,x)Na-24 reaction has been used as monitor reaction. All experimental data have been systematically compared with the existing literature.

A cognitive investigation of ‘chunking’ and ‘reordering’ for coping with word-order asymmetry in English-to-Chinese sight translation

Word-order asymmetry between source language and target language has been recognized as a major obstacle in interpreting. Regarding whether the original word order is changed in target production, two strategies for asymmetrical structures are identified: chunking and reordering. This study primarily examined the cognitive mechanism involved in applying these two strategies during English to Chinese sight translation. The cognitive load associated with chunking and reordering was measured by eye movement and the resulting data were analysed. A group of interpreting trainees sight-translated asymmetrical sentences in two contexts: sentence and text. Their eye-movement measures, including total dwell time, fixation count and rereading rate, were recorded. The results demonstrate that chunking was the primary strategy used to render word-order asymmetry in both task conditions. A greater cognitive load was found in the reordered sentences. More contextual information did not contribute to an execution of the strategies that required less effort. This research is one of the first attempts to explore the cognitive process associated with interpreting strategies for word-order asymmetry. It provides a new perspective with which to deepen our understanding of the cognitive mechanism underlying the use of a strategy.

Automated, cassette-based isolation and formulation of high-purity [61Cu]CuCl2 from solid Ni targets

Background A need for improved, cassette-based automation of 61Cu separation from irradiated Ni targets was identified given the growing interest in theranostics, and generally lengthy separation chemistries for 64Cu/64Ni, upon which 61Cu chemistry is often based. Methods A method for separating 61Cu from irradiated natNi targets was therefore developed, with provision for target recycling. Following deuteron irradiation, electroplated natNi targets were remotely transferred from the cyclotron and dissolved in acid. The dissolved target solution was then transferred to an automated FASTlab chemistry module, where sequential TBP and TK201 (Triskem) resins isolated the [61Cu]CuCl2, removed Ni, Co, and Fe, and concentrated the product into a formulation suitable for anticipated radiolabelling reactions. Results 61Cu saturation yields of 190 ± 33 MBq/μA from energetically thick natNi targets were measured. The average, decay-corrected, activity-based dissolution efficiency was 97.5 ± 1.4% with an average radiochemical yield of 90.4 ± 3.2% (N = 5). The isolated activity was collected approximately 65 min post end of bombardment in ~ 2 mL of 0.06 M HCl (HCl concentration was verified by titration). Quality control of the isolated [61Cu]CuCl2 (N = 5) measured 58Co content of (8.3 ± 0.6) × 10− 5% vs. 61Cu by activity, Ni separation factors ≥ (2.2 ± 1.8) × 106, EoB molar activities 85 ± 23 GBq/μmol and NOTA-based EoB apparent molar activities of 31 ± 8 MBq/nmol and 201 MBq/nmol for the 30 min and 3.3 h (N = 1) irradiations, respectively. Conclusion High purity 61Cu was produced with the developed automated method using a single-use, cassette-based approach. It was also applicable for 64Cu, as demonstrated with a single proof-of-concept 64Ni target production run.

Large-Scale Production of Lentiviral Vectors: Current Perspectives and Challenges

Lentiviral vectors (LVs) have gained value over recent years as gene carriers in gene therapy. These viral vectors are safer than what was previously being used for gene transfer and are capable of infecting both dividing and nondividing cells with a long-term expression. This characteristic makes LVs ideal for clinical research, as has been demonstrated with the approval of lentivirus-based gene therapies from the Food and Drug Administration and the European Agency for Medicine. A large number of functional lentiviral particles are required for clinical trials, and large-scale production has been challenging. Therefore, efforts are focused on solving the drawbacks associated with the production and purification of LVsunder current good manufacturing practice. In recent years, we have witnessed the development and optimization of new protocols, packaging cell lines, and culture devices that are very close to reaching the target production level. Here, we review the most recent, efficient, and promising methods for the clinical-scale production ofLVs.