Basin Modelling Using GIS

The aim of this projet is to locate potential hydrocarbons area by overlaying the elements of hydrocarbons accumulation simultaneously in GIS software. It is not reliable to locate a potential hydrocarbon reserves based on a single data of an clement only in a single tim

Exploration of Reaction Pathways and Chemical Transformation Networks

For the investigation of chemical reaction networks, the identification of all relevant intermediates and elementary reactions is mandatory. Many algorithmic approaches exist that perform explorations efficiently and automatedly. These approaches differ in their application range, the level of completeness of the exploration, as well as the amount of heuristics and human intervention required. Here, we describe and compare the different approaches based on these criteria. Future directions leveraging the strengths of chemical heuristics, human interaction, and physical rigor are discussed.Comment: 48 pages, 4 figure

Philosophical foundations of the Death and Anti-Death discussion

Perhaps there has been no greater opportunity than in this “VOLUME FIFTEEN of our Death And Anti-Death set of anthologies” to write about how might think about life and how to avoid death. There are two reasons to discuss “life”, the first being enhancing our understanding of who we are and why we may be here in the Universe. The second is more practical: how humans meet the physical challenges brought about by the way they have interacted with their environment. Many persons discussing “life” beg the question about what “life” is. Surely, when one discusses how to overcome its opposite, death, they are not referring to another “living” thing such as a plant. There seems to be a commonality, though, and it is this commonality is one needing elaboration. It ostensibly seems to be the boundary condition separating what is completely passive (inert) from what attempts to maintain its integrity, as well as fulfilling other conditions we think “life” has. In our present discussion, there will be a reminder that it by no means has been unequivocally established what life really is by placing quotes around the word, namely, “life”. Consider it a tag representing a bundle of philosophical ideas that will be unpacked in this paper

Visual Techniques for Geological Fieldwork Using Mobile Devices

Visual techniques in general and 3D visualisation in particular have seen considerable adoption within the last 30 years in the geosciences and geology. Techniques such as volume visualisation, for analysing subsurface processes, and photo-coloured LiDAR point-based rendering, to digitally explore rock exposures at the earth’s surface, were applied within geology as one of the first adopting branches of science. A large amount of digital, geological surface- and volume data is nowadays available to desktop-based workflows for geological applications such as hydrocarbon reservoir exploration, groundwater modelling, CO2 sequestration and, in the future, geothermal energy planning. On the other hand, the analysis and data collection during fieldwork has yet to embrace this ”digital revolution”: sedimentary logs, geological maps and stratigraphic sketches are still captured in each geologist’s individual fieldbook, and physical rocks samples are still transported to the lab for subsequent analysis. Is this still necessary, or are there extended digital means of data collection and exploration in the field ? Are modern digital interpretation techniques accurate and intuitive enough to relevantly support fieldwork in geology and other geoscience disciplines ? This dissertation aims to address these questions and, by doing so, close the technological gap between geological fieldwork and office workflows in geology. The emergence of mobile devices and their vast array of physical sensors, combined with touch-based user interfaces, high-resolution screens and digital cameras provide a possible digital platform that can be used by field geologists. Their ubiquitous availability increases the chances to adopt digital workflows in the field without additional, expensive equipment. The use of 3D data on mobile devices in the field is furthered by the availability of 3D digital outcrop models and the increasing ease of their acquisition. This dissertation assesses the prospects of adopting 3D visual techniques and mobile devices within field geology. The research of this dissertation uses previously acquired and processed digital outcrop models in the form of textured surfaces from optical remote sensing and photogrammetry. The scientific papers in this thesis present visual techniques and algorithms to map outcrop photographs in the field directly onto the surface models. Automatic mapping allows the projection of photo interpretations of stratigraphy and sedimentary facies on the 3D textured surface while providing the domain expert with simple-touse, intuitive tools for the photo interpretation itself. The developed visual approach, combining insight from all across the computer sciences dealing with visual information, merits into the mobile device Geological Registration and Interpretation Toolset (GRIT) app, which is assessed on an outcrop analogue study of the Saltwick Formation exposed at Whitby, North Yorkshire, UK. Although being applicable to a diversity of study scenarios within petroleum geology and the geosciences, the particular target application of the visual techniques is to easily provide field-based outcrop interpretations for subsequent construction of training images for multiple point statistics reservoir modelling, as envisaged within the VOM2MPS project. Despite the success and applicability of the visual approach, numerous drawbacks and probable future extensions are discussed in the thesis based on the conducted studies. Apart from elaborating on more obvious limitations originating from the use of mobile devices and their limited computing capabilities and sensor accuracies, a major contribution of this thesis is the careful analysis of conceptual drawbacks of established procedures in modelling, representing, constructing and disseminating the available surface geometry. A more mathematically-accurate geometric description of the underlying algebraic surfaces yields improvements and future applications unaddressed within the literature of geology and the computational geosciences to this date. Also, future extensions to the visual techniques proposed in this thesis allow for expanded analysis, 3D exploration and improved geological subsurface modelling in general.publishedVersio

Multidimensional computation and visualisation for marine controlled source electromagnetic methods

The controlled source electromagnetic method is improving the search for oil and gas in marine settings and is becoming an integral component of many exploration toolkits. While the level of detail and benefit obtained from recorded electromagnetic data sets is limited to the tools available, interpretation is fundamentally restricted by non-unique and equivalent solutions. I create the tools necessary to rapidly compute and visualise multi-dimensional electromagnetic fields generated for a variety of controlled source electromagnetic surveys. This thesis is divided into two parts: the creation of an electromagnetic software framework and the electromagnetic research applications.The creation of a new electromagnetic software framework is covered in Part I. Steps to create and test a modern electromagnetic data structure, three-dimensional visualisation and interactive graphical user interface from the ground up are presented. Bringing together several computer science disciplines ranging from parallel computing, networking and computer human interaction to three-dimensional visualisation, a package specifically tailored to marine controlled source electromagnetic compuation is formed. The electromagnetic framework is comprised of approximately 100,000 lines of new Java code and several third party libraries, which provides low-level graphical, network and execution cross-platform functionality. The software provides a generic framework to integrate most computational engines and algorithms into the coherent global electromagnetic package enabling the interactive forward modelling, inversion and visualisation of electromagnetic data.Part II is comprised of several research applications utilising the developed electromagnetic software framework. Cloud computing and streamline visualisation are covered. These topics are covered to solve several problems in modern controlled source electromagnetic methods. Large 3D electromagnetic modelling and inversion may require days or even weeks to be performed on a single-threaded personal computers. A massively parallelised electromagnetic forward modelling and inversion methods can dramatically was created to improve computational time. The developed ’macro’ parallelisation method facilitated the reduction in computational time by several orders of magnitude with relatively little additional effort and without modification of the internal electromagnetic algorithm. The air wave is a significant component of marine controlled source electromagnetic surveys however there is controversy and confusion over its defintion. The airwave has been described as a reflected, refracted, direct or diffusing wave, which has lead to confusion over its physical reality

Optimal Reactive Extraction of Valeric Acid from Aqueous Solutions Using Tri-n-propyl amine/Diluent and Dibenzyl amine/Diluent Systems

Reactive extraction of valeric acid from water by tri-n-propyl amine (TPA) and dibenzyl amine (DBA) dissolved in polar oxygenated aliphatic diluents (diethyl sebacate, diethyl succinate, diethyl malonate, ethyl caprylate, ethyl valerate and isoamyl alcohol) has been studied at T = 298 ± 0.2 K and Pp =101.3 ± 0.7 kPa . Distribution data have been subjected to formulation of an optimization structure for effective acid separation. The optimization approach uses separation ratio R and synergistic enhancement SE factors to efficiently identify optimum extraction ranges. Among the examined aliphatic ester and alcohol diluents, monoesters exhibit higher solvation efficiency comprising acid1–amine1 complex formation, while isoamyl alcohol yields larger loading factors. The uptake capacity of the amine/diluent system is ranging in the order TPA > DBA. Modeling efforts based on the mass-action law principles have shown considerable success. The mass action law chemodel and modified Langmuir approach are quite accurate yielding mean errors of 0.9 % and 0.7 %, respectively

LOX/hydrocarbon rocket engine analytical design methodology development and validation. Volume 1: Executive summary and technical narrative

During the past three decades, an enormous amount of resources were expended in the design and development of Liquid Oxygen/Hydrocarbon and Hydrogen (LOX/HC and LOX/H2) rocket engines. A significant portion of these resources were used to develop and demonstrate the performance and combustion stability for each new engine. During these efforts, many analytical and empirical models were developed that characterize design parameters and combustion processes that influence performance and stability. Many of these models are suitable as design tools, but they have not been assembled into an industry-wide usable analytical design methodology. The objective of this program was to assemble existing performance and combustion stability models into a usable methodology capable of producing high performing and stable LOX/hydrocarbon and LOX/hydrogen propellant booster engines

천연가스 공급망 내 초구조 최적화 및 다중모듈방식을 이용한 공정설계 및 운전

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공과대학 화학생물공학부, 2019. 2. 이원보.본 논문은 공정시스템 분야의 최신기술 수요에 상응하는 최적 공정설계 및 운전기술 개발을 주목적으로 한다. 최근 셰일가스 등 변화하는 천연가스 자원으로부터 지속적인 부가가치 창출과 플랜트의 내재적 안전성을 제고할 수 있는 설계 및 운전을 도모하였다는 점에서 실제 산업에의 응용가치가 매우 높다. 첫 번째로 천연가스 가솔린회수 및 액화 통합공정에 질소회수공정을 추가하여, 저품질 천연가스로부터 지속적인 액화천연가스 생산이 가능한 공정을 설계하였다. 열교환망 및 분리공정 최적화를 위해 공정요소들의 엑서지를 최소화할 수 있는 초구조를 설계함으로써 기존의 연구가 찾지 못하였던 새로운 최적 구조 및 운전조건을 결정하였다. 나아가 서로 다른 천연가스 조성에 따라 각기 적용이 가능한 대안공정을 추가 설계·최적화함으로써 변화되는 천연가스 자원에 지속적인 가치창출을 위한 해답을 제시하고 있다. 두 번째로 공정의 예비설계단계에서 내재적 안전성의 개념을 도입하여, 경제성과 안전성의 균형을 유지하기 위한 새로운 다목적최적화 알고리즘을 개발하였다. 잠재적 위험도가 높은 천연가스 액화공정을 대상으로 액화사이클에 따른 초구조를 모사하여 두 가지 목적함수의 가중치에 따른 최적해를 결정함으로써 기존 최적화의 한계를 보완하였다. 마지막으로 플랜트 안전운전을 위해 공정이상에서부터 사고의 발생 및 전파과정을 실시간으로 구현할 수 있는 시뮬레이션 모듈을 개발하였다. 동적공정시뮬레이션 및 사고시뮬레이션의 두 가지 독립된 모듈을 객체연결매입 기법을 이용하여 연동함으로써 사고상황에서 운전원의 임의조치가 모듈에 실시간 반영되도록 하였다. 해당 모듈은 임의의 사고상황에서 제어실 및 현장 운전원의 적절한 대응을 효과적으로 유도할 수 있으며 나아가 플랜트 안전시스템설계에 객관화된 지표를 제시할 수 있었다. 본 논문은 위와 같이 실제 산업의 기술적 수요를 충족시키고 이를 발전시킴으로써 공정시스템 학술분야에 기여하였다.Recently in the field of process systems engineering in natural gas processing, various researches trying to make changes in the existing framework of process design and operation have been studied with the emerging need of sustainability and safety in the chemical processes. These two considerations of sustainability and safety either result in a totally new solution for a certain decision making or require far different methods or technologies for it. Especially for a natural gas supply chain broadly from drilling of the gas/oil reservoirs to distributing the product gas to end-users like households or offices, new frameworks of process design and operation critically influence the way of producing desired products and supplying them to the users in the associated industries. Then it determines the structure, operating conditions, and operation procedures of chemical processes which are economically powerful and good in operability. Recently, as the natural gas sources becomes unconventional varying from mid-to-small size reservoirs or shale gases, this change makes the offshore natural gas plants emerge as an alternative and vital site of producing LNG (liquefied natural gas) with strict requirements of safety. It also makes additional processing units like a cryogenic nitrogen recovery be necessary for sustainable production of LNG with leaner feed natural gases. Among various processes in the overall natural gas supply chain, this thesis dealt with largely three parts including gas pre-treatment, liquefaction, and distribution to the end-users, attempting to design new processes or develop new methods of decision making in the context of the new framework considering sustainability and safety in process systems engineering. In this thesis, I will discuss the process synthesis, intensification, and optimization for sequential units, multi-objective optimization for economic feasibility and inherent safety, and multi-modular approach for interactive simulation of dynamic process and 3D-CFD (computational fluid dynamics) accident models. First of all, for designing a sustainable process of producing LNG from feed natural gases with high amounts of nitrogen, two cryogenic nitrogen recovery processes integrated with LNG production and NGL (natural gas liquid) recovery were designed and optimized based on the structural analysis of components separation: one for integrated nitrogen recovery unit and the other for standalone one. The difference of each process is the way the nitrogen is removed from the natural gas. The former recovers nitrogen in the integrated heat and mass transfer structure with natural gas liquefaction while the latter separates the nitrogen recovery unit into an independent structure apart from the liquefaction section. These sophisticated nitrogen recovery solutions follow the recent demand of highly efficient electric motors as alternative compressor drivers which require less or no fuel gas, the major sink of nitrogen in the feed gas. These two processes were compared with each other in terms of specific power (kWH/kg_LNG), which is equivalent to the overall process efficiency, with respect to the nitrogen content in the feed gas from 0mol% to 20mol%. Consequently, as the nitrogen content in the feed gas increases, the specific power of each process also increases while the standalone solution has a priority over the other until around 17mol% of nitrogen and after that point the integrated solution becomes relatively more efficient. It should be noted that all of the optimization results of each configuration were improved with the reduced specific power by up 38.6% compared to those from previous studies which have similar configurations. The way this study aimed could be reasonable guidelines for other chemical process designs as well as nitrogen recovery in natural gas processing. Secondly, for designing a safer process of natural gas processing, two different systematic approaches were newly proposed in this study: one for risk reduction method based on rigorous QRA (quantitative risk assessment) results through process design modification of an existing plant which already finished up to the detailed design stage, and the other for deciding an optimal process design through multi-objective optimization for minimizing both the TAC (total annual cost) and the risk (fatality frequency) at the preliminary design stage. This latter approach could largely lower the cost required for finalizing the design as it doesnt need to follow the general QRA procedure where the recursive loop is recycled until the risk is reduced to an acceptable level. But before this approach starts to be applied, the suitability of its method should be verified as it has to make some assumptions in assessing the safety level of the process with limited information. Also the computation load would be higher as it needs to simultaneously consider the economic feasibility and inherent safety in designing a process. Despite the differences these two approaches have each other, however, they are essentially in the same context in that they share the same purpose of deciding a process design which is safer and/or even cheaper than the existing processes. Consequently, for the former approach of which the target process is the GTU (gas treatment unit) of an existing GOSP (gas oil separation plant) for processing associated natural gas, the modified design with different operation conditions reduced the total risk integrals by 27% at the expense of only the additional $50,000 for capital cost. In addition, sensitivity analysis of total risk with respect to probability of success for safety barriers was carried out in order to show the preferences of process design modification, this study proposed, over the improvement of safety systems. Meanwhile, the latter approach of superstructure formulation and multi-objective optimization for designing an optimal heat transfer structure and operating conditions was applied to the natural gas liquefaction processes, deciding that the SMR (single-stage mixed refrigerant process) structure with the TAC of 626.6MM$/yr and fatality frequency of 1.28E-03/yr has the highest priority over all possible solutions. Finally, with the aim of safely operating a chemical plant, a new operator training module which mainly targets the interactive cooperation of control room operators and field operators was developed through using multi-modular approach with advanced simulations and data processing technologies. This interactive simulation modeling delivers the online simulation results of process operation to the operators and induces them to take proper actions in case of a random accidental situation among pre-identified scenarios in a chemical plant. Developed model integrates the real-time process dynamic simulations with the off-line database of 3D-CFD accident simulation results in a designed interface using OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) technology so that it could convey the online information of the accident to trainees which is not available in existing operator training systems. The model encompasses the whole process of data transfer till the end of the training at which trainees complete an emergency shutdown system in a programmed model. The developed module was applied to a natural gas pressure regulating station where the high pressure gas is depressurized and distributed to the end-users like households or offices. An overall scenario is simulated in the interactive simulation model, which starts from an abnormal increase of the discharge (2nd) pressure of the main valve due to its malfunction, spreads to an accidental gas release through the crack of a pressure recorder, and ends with gas dispersion and explosion. Then the magnitude of the accident outcomes with respect to the lead time of each trainees emergency response is analyzed. Consequently, the module could improve the effectiveness of operator training system through interactively linking the trainee actions with the model interface so that the associated accident situations would vary with respect to each trainees competence facing an accident.Abstract i Table of Contents vii List of Figures x List of Tables xiv CHAPTER 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Research motivation 1 1.2. Research objectives 4 1.3. Outline of the thesis 6 1.4. Associated publications 11 CHAPTER 2. Process Intensification 12 2.1. Introduction 13 2.2. Conceptual Design of the Nitrogen Recovery 17 2.3. Design Improvement and Optimization 26 2.3.1. Integrated Nitrogen Recovery Unit 26 2.3.2. Optimization of the Base Case 32 2.3.3. Design Improvement 40 2.4. Alternative Process Design and Optimization 65 2.4.1. Standalone Nitrogen Recovery Unit 65 2.4.2. Optimization of Standalone Nitrogen Recovery Unit 74 2.4.3. Comparison between End-flash and Stripping Options 78 2.5. Varying Feed Composition and Optimization 95 2.6. Concluding Remarks 105 CHAPTER 3. Safer Process Design 107 3.1. Introduction 109 3.2. Risk Reduction through Process Design Modification 112 3.2.1. Risk Assessment for the Target Process 113 3.2.2. Risk Reduction to ALARP 141 3.3. Multi-objective Optimization Including Inherent Safety 154 3.3.1. New Decision Making Schemes for Inherent Safety 159 3.3.2. Superstructure for Natural Gas Liquefaction Processes 168 3.3.3. Multi-objective Optimization 187 3.3.4. Decision Making for Final Optimal Solution 203 3.3.5. Future Works 208 3.4. Concluding Remarks 210 CHAPTER 4. Safe Operation with Multi-modular Approach 212 4.1. Introduction 213 4.2. Interactive Simulation Modeling 218 4.2.1. Model Structure 218 4.2.2. Dynamic Process and Accident Simulation Engine 221 4.2.3. Real-time 3D-CFD Data Processing Method 225 4.3. Case Study – Pressure Regulating Station 231 4.3.1. Developing a Program Prototype 231 4.3.2. Prototype Test and Training Evaluation 252 4.4. Concluding Remarks 256 CHAPTER 5. Conclusion 257 Nomenclature 261 Reference 263 Abstract in Korean (국문초록) 270Docto