Sharif Digital Repository

Effect of several auxiliary carbon sources such as crude oil, different precultures, and quality of adding crude oil in treatment of petroleum wax deposits by an isolated bacterial strain, BBRC9012, was investigated. First and second experiments which compered effect of molasses, glucose and crude oil, indicated that glucose and molasses causes more microbial growth, biosurfactant production and bioemolsification than crude oil. Both optometry and Surface tension measurements showed that using molasses-BHB preculture for wax treatment is not suitable and when crude oil is used as auxiliary carbon source a one day lag phase is unavoidable. It was also shown that when crude oil is added to... 

Energy resources in Iran consist of the fourth largest oil reserves and the second largest natural gas reserves in the world. At present, due to political reasons, the investment trend does not go over well. Based on the Fifth Development Strategy, Iran needs $200 billion of investment in the country's first industry (i.e. oil), and given the objectives of the perspective document, the country needs more than $500 billion investment during the next 15 years. This paper examined Iran's energy status. Afterwards, oil future scenarios which developed by Research center of Iranian parliament, have been analyzed. Then four scenarios that express different modes of production and consumption are... 

MEG regeneration and injection unit regenerates aqueous MEG. The main goal of this unit is approaching desired MEG concentration whereas MEG loss via removed water is a big issue. Circulating glycol is polluted with Ca++ and Mg++ which forms carbonate scale and causes plugging of pipe lines, filters, lean/rich exchanger, still column packings and reboiler tube bundle and decreases their efficiency, consequently increases MEG loss via top product. Different alternatives exist according to similar experiences around the world. Using specific criteria and AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method priority of these alternatives has been found. Results are as following: 1. Increasing number of... 

There are different thermodynamic models that have been applied for modelling of asphaltene precipitation caused by various reasons, such as solvent/CO2 injection and pressure depletion. In this work, two computer codes based on two different asphaltene precipitation thermodynamic models-the first being the thermodynamic micellization model with a different characterization approach and the second being the solid model-have been developed and used for predicting asphaltene precipitation data reported in the literature as well as in the obtained data for Sarvak reservoir crude, which is one of the most potentially problematic Iranian heavy oil reserves under gas injection conditions. For the... 

In this work, a thermodynamic approach is used for modeling the phase behavior of asphaltene precipitation. The precipitated asphaltene phase is represented by an improved solid model, and the oil and gas phases are modeled with an equation of state. The Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR-EOS) was used to perform flash calculations. Then, the onset point and the amount of precipitated asphaltene were predicted. A computer code based on the solid model was developed and used for predicting asphaltene precipitation data reported in the literature as well as the experimental data obtained from high-pressure, high-temperature asphaltene precipitation experiments performed on Sarvak reservoir... 

The immiscible process appears to be one of the first feasible methods for the extraction of oil reserves. However, there is a lack of fundamental understanding of how fracture geometrical characteristics control the efficiency of oil recovery in this type of enhanced oil recovery technique. In this article, a series of experiments were conducted whereby the distilled water displaced n-decane in strongly oil wet glass micro-models having different fracture geometries. Breakthrough time, as a function of injected pore volume of distilled water, was measured using image analysis of the provided pictures. It has been observed that when the fractures' length is increased, the breakthrough time... 

There are different thermodynamic models that have been applied for modelling of asphaltene precipitation caused by various reasons, such as solvent/CO2 injection and pressure depletion. In this work, two computer codes based on two different asphaltene precipitation thermodynamic models-the first being the thermodynamic micellization model with a different characterization approach and the second being the solid model-have been developed and used for predicting asphaltene precipitation data reported in the literature as well as in the obtained data for Sarvak reservoir crude, which is one of the most potentially problematic Iranian heavy oil reserves under gas injection conditions. For the... 

Buried pipe lines are an efficient way of transporting of water, sewage, oil, and gas resources in all over the world. Since the buried pipe lines are exposed to many unexpected conditions, such as landslides, corrosion, fatigue, earthquakes, material flaws or even intentional damaging, so the inspection requirements lead to adoption of new method of maintenance, protection and conserving. This report aims to improve the trustworthiness, reliability, yet economical technologies for monitoring of behavior and manner of buried pipe lines during operation and assessing the risk of pipe lines failure. Distributed sensors (piezoelectric) are surface designed and embedded to investigate the... 

In this work, a thermodynamic approach is used for modeling the phase behavior of asphaltene precipitation. The precipitated asphaltene phase is represented by an improved solid model, and the oil and gas phases are modeled with an equation of state. The Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR-EOS) was used to perform flash calculations. Then, the onset point and the amount of precipitated asphaltene were predicted. A computer code based on the solid model was developed and used for predicting asphaltene precipitation data reported in the literature as well as the experimental data obtained from high-pressure, high-temperature asphaltene precipitation experiments performed on Sarvak reservoir... 

The solvent-based process appears to be an increasingly feasible technology for the extraction of heavy oil reserves. However, there is a lack of fundamental understanding of how fracture geometrical characteristics control the oil recovery efficiency in this type of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique. In this work, a series of experiments were performed whereby the pure and mixed hydrocarbon solvents (HCS) displaced heavy oil in fractured five-spot glass micro-models. Successive images of the solvent injection process were recorded. The oil recovery factor, as a function of injected pore volume of solvents, was measured using image analysis of the provided pictures. It has been observed... 

A large amount of the discovered oil reserves are reserved in carbonate formations, which are mostly naturally fractured oil-wet. Wettability alteration towards more water-wet state reduces the capillary barrier, hence improving the oil recovery efficiency in such reservoirs. In this study, wettability alteration towards favorable wetting state was investigated by combining modified low salinity brine with surfactant during water flooding. The diluted brine was modified by increasing the concentration of Mg2+ and SO4 2−, individually as well as both ions in combination. Different brine formulations were tested experimentally through the observations of contact angle measurements and... 

Combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) play an important role in electricity production throughout the world. Their energy efficiency is relatively high and their production rates of greenhouse gases are considerably low. In a country like Iran with huge oil and gas resources, most CCPP's use natural gas as primary fuel and diesel as secondary fuel. In this study, effect of using diesel instead of natural gas for a selected power plant will be investigated in terms of exergy, economic and environmental impacts. The environmental evaluation is performed using life cycle assessment (LCA). In the second step, the operation of the plant will be optimized using exergy and economic objective... 

The application of the renewable energy sources, especially solar energy, for thermal enhanced oil recovery methods as an economical and environmental valuable technique has received many attractions recently. Concentrated Solar Power systems are capable of producing substantial quantities of steam by means of focused sunlight as the heat source for steam generation. This paper aims to investigate viability of using this innovative technology in fractured reservoirs to generate steam instead of using conventional steam generators. A synthetic fractured reservoir with properties similar to those of giant carbonate oil reserves in the Middle East was designed by using commercial thermal... 

There are several types of drilling methods to increase the productivity of a well, such as horizontal drilling, extended reach horizontal drilling and Multilateral (ML) drilling. It is thought that ML wells could be more economic with higher productivities than horizontal or extended reach horizontal wells. Advances in ML drilling promise reduced costs, greater flexibility and increased profit potential. In the last 20 years, thousands of ML wells have been drilled worldwide, but only a small percentage of the total number of wells is multilateral. The probable reason may be lack of concise information and misconceptions surrounding the costs and perceived risks. However, recent advances in... 

There is a global tendency towards using Distributed Generation (DG) and renewable energy resources. Considering low utilization cost and low undesirable environmental effects, wind farms have become a considerable resource for producing electrical energy in many countries. Since Wind farms are not programmable and their power output which depends on weather and wind speed is uncertain, they create problems for utilizing electricity system. There are different methods for preserving system stability against the uncertainty of wind power plants. Optimal utilization of pumped storage and gas resources is one of the approaches for reducing production risk of wind farms. In this paper, it is... 

Nowadays "as everywhere in the world", so much attention is drawn to performing safety and HSE management rules in Iran. Considering the long life of oil and it's relevant industries in Iran (since 1908, first oil well in Middle East, Masjid Soleyman), many units with more than 50 years old are still in operation. This situation posed special problems in performing safety and HSE regulations that some of them are communal among these units. This paper reveals the result of industrial projects, collecting numerous technical checklists in such units and author's experiences in recent years in Iran, which is aimed to announce some of these major problems and also present solutions for them.... 

During transient tests, both pressure and temperature are changed depending on downhole flow rate. In gas producing wells, Joule-Thomson cooling and frictional heating effects are the main dynamic factors causing flowing bottomhole temperature to differ from the static formation temperature at that depth. When a gas well is shut in, JT cooling effect is vanished and this causes a sharp increase in sandface temperature. As effect of wellbore storage ends, wellbore temperature gradually cools down due to heat conduction with near wellbore region. This paper demonstrates a new technique for using temperature transient data in gas wells in order to determine end of wellbore storage. Also, effect... 

The bioconversion of abundant and renewable cellulosic biomass into ethanol as an alternative to petroleum is gaining importance due to the realization of diminishing natural oil and gas resources. Agricultural and foresty plant residues are an abundant and renewable source of sugar substrates that could be fermented to ethanol. A thermochemical treatment of biomass in which both cellulose and hemicellulose are hydrolyzed to soluble sugar is necessary before yeast fermentation. After thermochemical treatment, cellulase enzymes must be introduced in the system to hydrolyze any remaining cellulose. The simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), is a method which converts... 

Over 60% of the world's discovered oil reserves are held in carbonate reservoirs, which are mostly naturally fractured. Conventional water flooding results in low oil recovery efficiency in these reservoirs as most of them are oil-wet. On account of negative capillary forces, injected brine cannot penetrate simply into an oil-wet matrix of fractured formations to force the oil out. Wettability alteration of the rock surface to preferentially more water-wet state has been extensively studied using both smart water and surfactants separately. This study aims to study the effects of Mg2+ as one of the most important wettability influencing ions on the wetting properties of oil-wet carbonate... 

Iran, with a record of over one century of oil production, is currently one of the major oil producing countries of the world. Several of the old fields have been depleted to an uneconomical level of production which requires significant amount of natural gas for re-injection so that currently over 100 million cubic meters of natural gas is reinjected daily to maintain or enhance oil production to an economical level. It is estimated that in order to maintain oil production, over 200 million cubic meters of natural gas will be needed daily by 2015. However, due to the increased level of domestic and export demands for natural gas, EOR with natural gas is prohibitive and therefore portions of...