When does a longer shut-in lead to a larger radius of investigation?

While the concept of radius of investigation is better understood for drawdown tests, its applicability to buildup tests is less certain. For example, a rule of thumb is that “one cannot see a particular feature in a buildup unless the radius of investigation during the preceding flow period has seen that feature”. In this paper, we clearly illustrate that the radius of investigation of a buildup can be larger than that of its previous flow period.Another common contention is that the radius of investigation of a buildup is limited by noise dominating the late-time pressure behavior. Oliver [Oliver, D.S., 1990. The averaging process in permeability estimation from well-test data. SPEFE. pp. 319–324.] and later Thompson and Reynolds [Thompson, L.G. and Reynolds, A.C, 1997. Well testing for radially heterogeneous reservoirs under single and multiphase flow conditions. SPEFE. pp. 57–64.] defined the radius of investigation based on the distance from the well to the region of the reservoir which has the greatest impact on the pressure derivative. We have used this approach to calculate the derivative and show that the ratio of noise to the signal from the reservoir does not necessarily increase. While many situations exist when radius of investigation of a build-up test is limited by the preceding flow period and noise, we show that when data is sampled appropriately, the radius of investigation of a buildup can easily go beyond that of the preceding flow period, and demonstrate when this may remain unaffected by noise.     

Huludao of Liaoning Province to Construct a 100kt/a TDI Project

China Weaponry Industry Corporation and Liaoning HuludaoMunicipal Government had clinched an agreement on Octo-ber 17, 2004 to cooperate in construction of a TDI project.Both sides intended to construct a 100 kt/a TDI project. Thesize of first phase project will be 50 kt/a TDI with a totalinvestment of 960 million RMB. The construction of thisproject will be commenced in April 2005 and startup of theunit is slated for the end of 2006. By that time Huludao citywill become a chemical…     

Jilin Petrochemical Company Implements Domestification Revamp of a Series of Ethylene Glycol Equipment

The Ethylene Glycol Plant of Jilin Petrochemical Company has successfully implemented domestification revamp of a series of equipment. The EO/EG unit has been operating for many years, and frequent replacement of equipment is expensive. This plant has applied domestic components to retrofit the sealant for recycle gas compressor of EO unit,     

CNPC Becomes a Partner of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games （BOCOG） signed an agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation （CNPC） at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in the afternoon of May 30, making CNPC an official partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. It means that CNPC, China＇s largest producer and supplier of oil and gas,     

China to Be a Big Producer of Natural Gas

China has gained fruitful results in scientific and technical research of natural gas. Up to the present, the proven reserves of natural gas in China reached 438,168 million cubic meters or more. 32 big gasfields have been discovered, of which 7 gasfields with the reserves over 100 billion cubic meters each have been determined and 6 gas provinces have been set up initially; in addition, and important breakthrough has also been made in Songliao Basin. According to the statistics, the annual output of natural gas is 40.77 billion cubic meters and it will break 50 billion cubic meters at the end of this year, reflecting China is striding toward to the big producer of natural gas in the world. The annual gas output in China is expected to reach 85 billion cubic meters by 2010 and exceed 100 billion cubic meters before 2015. The important progresses have been made in both natural gas geologic and exploration theories, and meanwhile big breakthroughs have been achieved in many aspects, such as the hydrocarbon derived from coal beds （natural gas is predominant associated with oil）, geochemistry, geologic feature of gas reservoir and reservoiring theory, and the distribution regularities and exploration direction of large gasfields.     

Construction of a 80 kt/a Styrene Unit at Blue Star Daqing Branch Company

The construction of a 80 kt/a styrene unit was kicked off in July 2007 at the Blue Star Daqing Branch Company. This project will adopt the third generation process for manufacture of ethyl benzene via catalytic alkylation of benzene with dry gas developed by the CAS Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics arid the process for manufacture of styrene via d hydrogenation of ethyl benzene jointly developed by the SINOPEC Shanghai Petrochemical Research Institute, the East China University of Science and Technology and the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Design Institute,     

Development of a Novel Type Catalyst SY-2 for Two-Stage Hydrogenation of Pyrolysis Gasoline

By using the group IIIB or groupVIIB metals and modulating the characteristics of electric charges on carrier surface, improving the catalyst preparation process and techniques for loading the active metal components, a novel type SY-2 catalyst earmarked for two-stage hydrogenation of pyrolysis gasoline has been developed. The catalyst evaluation results have indicated that the novel catalyst is characterized by a better hydrogenation reaction activity to give higher aromatic yield.     

Thermal death of bacterial pathogens in linguiça smoking

Linguiça, a smoked sausage originally from Portugal, is often made in small quantities in California, without inspection. Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica serotype Newport, and Yersinia enterocolitica were added individually to batter representing California linguiça. Batter (≤1 mm thick), heated at 50, 55, and 60 °C, showed decimal reduction times ranging from >10 min for most trials at 50 °C to <2 min at 60 °C. Pork casings, stuffed with the batters to a diameter ≤3 cm, length 10 cm, and weight 75–80 g, were hot smoked; sausage centers were at ≥60 °C for ≥90 min. Contaminant levels in the batters (three experiments/pathogen) ranged from 2.3 × 10⁶ to 3.0 × 10¹⁰ CFU/g in various runs; reductions were ≥5 log₁₀ in all cases. These experiments indicate a reasonable margin of safety for products processed in this way.     

Yangtze Petrochemical Developed a String of Novel PTA Production Techniques

SINOPEC Yangtze Petrochemical Branch Company has developed a string of novel techniques in an attempt to optimize the operation of its 600 kt/a PTA unit.     

Development and Evaluation of a New Nanometer Based Spacer NMS-I

In view of the inadequate cementing quality in the cementation for long isolation intervals of oil and gas wells, and considering the field practice in Tarim Oilfield,a nanometer material LC-212 was introduced as the base stock to experimentally develop a new spacer system NMS-I,in combination with other materials,including a chemical gel plugging agent,carboxymethyl cellulose and barite.Experimental results indicated that the system had a wide adjustable range of density,good rheological property,static stability and compatibility with cement slurry.It also showed no flocculating or thickening effect on the water-base drilling fluid and low-density cement system.Meanwhile,the capacity of lost circulation control and the influence of the spacer on the second interfacial cementing strength were evaluated by a self-made lost circulation simulator and shearing test facility.The results showed that the spacer had favorable plugging and flushing effect,and the second interfacial cementing strength can be greatly improved.Moreover,based on the experiments,the mechanisms of spacer function were analyzed.The results obtained from the investigation offer a novel approach to resolving some practical problems in cementing jobs.     

Is Capacity Oversupply Too Much of a Good Thing?

Capacity oversupply can inhibit the grid from embracing nimble, flexible, and customer-friendly technologies. Oversupply brings down energy prices for generators while imposing excess total costs on consumers.¹     

Kinetics of Metallic Cobalt Formation in the Synthesis of a Cobalt–Polyvinyl Alcohol Composite

The formation kinetics of an ultrafine Fischer–Tropsch catalyst based on a cobalt–polyvinyl alcohol (Co–PVA) composite has been studied using in situ magnetometry. The CoO to Co reduction process has been investigated. It has been established that the kinetic data on cobalt reduction at the step of thermolysis of the Co–PVA precursor are best approximated by the two-dimensional diffusion mechanism. The particle size of the metal phase of the composite has been measured by magnetic granulometry, and this method has been shown to be applicable to determination of size characteristics. It has been found that cobalt particles are partially encapsulated inside the pyrolyzed matrix; the proportion of encapsulated particles is about 54%.     

Numerical Simulation of Particle Concentration in a Gas Cyclone Separator

The particle concentration inside a cyclone separator at different operation parameters was simulated with the FLUENT software. The Advanced Reynolds Stress Model (ARSM) was used in gas phase turbulence modeling. Stochastic Particle Tracking Model (SPTM) and the Particle-Source-In-Cell (PSIC) method were adopted for particles computing. The interaction between particles and the gas phase was also taken into account. The numerical simulation results were in agreement with the experimental data. The simulation revealed that an unsteady spiral dust strand appeared near the cyclone wall and a non-axi-symmetrical dust ring appeared in the annular space and under the cover plate of the cyclone. There were two regions in the radial particle concentration distribution, in which particle concentration was low in the inner region (r/R≤0.75) and increased greatly in the outer region (r/R>0.75). Large particles generally had higher concentration in the near-wall region and small particles had higher concentration in the inner swirling flow region. The axial distribution of particle concentration in the inner swirling flow (r/R≤0.3) region showed that there existed serious fine particle entrainment within the height of 0.5D above the dust discharge port and a short-cut flow at a distance of about 0.25D below the entrance of the vortex finder. The dimensionless concentration in the high-concentration region increased obviously in the upper part of the cyclone separation space when inlet particle loading was large. With increasing gas temperature, the particle separation ability of the cyclone was obviously weakened.     

Aerobic Oxidation of a Naphtene–Paraffin Concentrate in the Presence of Reduced Graphene Oxide

The aerobic oxidation of a naphthene–paraffin concentrate extracted from a mixture of Azerbaijan oils is studied. The reduced graphene oxide (powdered, pelletized) is used as the reaction catalyst. It is shown that reduced graphene oxide exhibits a fairly high catalytic activity in the liquid-phase oxidation of the naphthene–paraffin concentrate to petroleum acids. It is assumed that the catalytic activity of reduced graphene oxide can be attributed to the structural defects and specific electronic structure of this material. The liquid naphthene–paraffin concentrate with graphene as a catalyst is a dispersion with microparticles, the “hydrodynamic diameter” of which varies in the range of 1–3 µm and significantly changes after oxidation.     

Quantitative study of generated shale hydrocarbon—a case study of lacustrine shale,Yanchang Formation

Shale hydrocarbon has recently received widespread interest due to its emergence as a type of clean energy. However, calculating the quantity of lacustrine shale hydrocarbon is a challenging issue that the petroleum geologists are currently facing, which results in a poor understanding of shale-hydrocarbon distribution. Using mass conservation law, as well as geochemical and geological rules, this paper tries to establish mathematical models for calculating the quantities of lacustrine shale hydrocarbon. A simple method is also introduced to acquire the target values. The lacustrine shale of the Yanchang Formation in the Ordos Basin is selected to establish the mathematical models and the parameter systems. The method is tested to be computationally efficient and highly practical. The results show that the generated shale gas and shale oil per ton of lacustrine shale of the Yanchang Formation are 1.2 m³ and 0.75 kg, respectively. The lacustrine shale of the Yanchang Formation has a high hydrocarbon potential and is recommended as a favorable target for shale hydrocarbon exploration.     

Isolation and Characteristics of a Microbial Consortium for Effectively Degrading Phenanthrene

A microbial consortium (named W4) capable of aerobic biodegradation of solid phenanthrene as the sole source of carbon and energy was isolated by selective enrichment from petroleum-contaminated soil in the Henan oilfield, China. The strains of the consortium were identified as Sphingomonas cloacae, Rhizobium sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Achromobacter xylosoxidans respectively by means of genetic methods. The major metabolites of phenanthrene were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The biodegradation percentage of solid phenanthrene at 200 mg/L in liquid medium after 7 days of growth was greater than 99%. The degradation of phenanthrene was compared between individual predominant strains and the microbial consortium in different treatment processes. The microbial consortium showed a significant improvement of phenanthrene degradation rates in either static or shaking culture. The degradation percentage of phenanthrene by the consortium W4 decreased to some degree when C16 coexisted, however it was hardly affected by C30. Furthermore, the ability of consortium W4 to remediate oil sludge from the Dagang oil refinery was studied by composting; and it was found that the consortium W4 could obviously remove polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and paraffinic hydrocarbons. All the results indicated that the microbial consortium W4 had a promising application in bioremediation of oil-contaminated environments and could be potentially used in microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR).