Preparation, Proximate Composition and Culinary Properties of Yellow Alkaline Noodles from Wheat and Raw/Pregelatinized Gadung (Dioscorea Hispida Dennst) Composite Flours

The steady increase of wheat flour price and noodle consumptions has driven researchers to find substitutes for wheat flour in the noodle making process. In this work, yellow alkaline noodles were prepared from composite flours comprising wheat and raw/pregelatinized gadung (Dioscorea hispida Dennst) flours. The purpose of this work was to investigate the effect of composite flour compositions on the cooking properties (cooking yield, cooking loss and swelling index) of yellow alkaline noodle. In addition, the sensory test and nutrition content of the yellow alkaline noodle were also evaluated for further recommendation. The experimental results showed that a good quality yellow alkaline noodle can be prepared from composite flour containing 20% w/w raw gadung flour. The cooking yield, cooking loss and swelling index of this noodle were 10.32 g, 1.20 and 2.30, respectively. Another good quality yellow alkaline noodle can be made from composite flour containing 40% w/w pregelatinized gadung flour. This noodle had cooking yield 8.93 g, cooking loss 1.20, and swelling index of 1.88. The sensory evaluation suggested that although the color, aroma and firmness of the noodles were significantly different (p ≤ 0.05) from wheat flour noodle, but their flavor remained closely similar. The nutrition content of the noodles also satisfied the Indonesian National Standard for noodle. Therefore, it can be concluded that wheat and raw/pregelatinized gadung composite flours can be used to manufacture yellow alkaline noodle with good quality and suitable for functional food

Mechanism of Alkaline Flooding in Low Acid Number Crude

Alkaline flooding is capable to mobilize and recover a part of residual oil remaining after waterflood. It is an enhanced oil recovery technique which involved the injection of alkaline chemical such as sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate during waterflooding operations. The reaction that takes place between alkaline chemical and certain types of oil leads to surfactant generation in situ. It will eventually lead to reduction of interfacial tension (IFT) hence improve the oil recovery. In numerous literatures, alkaline flooding is mostly done on high acid number crude. However, there are also cases of successful alkaline flooding in low acid number crude. In addition, there is no exact theory that relates acid number with oil recovery. In this study, the mechanisms of alkaline water flooding in low acid number crude are investigated. The improvement of oil recovery in alkaline flooding does not only depend on the acid number. Emulsification contributes to improvement of oil recovery. In addition, the formation of Winsor Type III microemulsion shows the desirable condition during EOR. This project is carried out by experimental work and simulation using UTHCHEM software

Study the Effects of Nanohybrid Polymers / Polymer Nanocomposites on the Flow Behaviour of Indian Waxy Crude Oil

NO ABSTRAC

Evaluation of Enzyme Additives on the Nutritional Use of Feeds with a High Content of Plant Ingredients for Mugil cephalus

The Mugilidae are a group of fish with a great interest for aquaculture due to their omnivorous profile, rapid growth, and resistance to environmental variations. The selection of feed ingredients for these species is currently focused on an extensive use of plant by-products, with this being limited by their content in anti-nutritive factors (mainly phytate and non-starch polysaccharides; NSPs). Nevertheless, specific enzymes can be used to counteract some of those negative effects. In the present study, the effect of pretreating two high-plant feeds with a mixture of enzymes (glucanases + phytase) on the digestive use of protein and phosphorus by juvenile mullets (Mugil cephalus) was assessed using both in vitro and in vivo assays. The enzymatic treatment significantly modified the potential bioavailability of some nutrients, such as a reduction of sugars, pentoses, and phytic phosphorus. Also, it increased the digestibility of protein in one of the feeds but reduced that of phosphorus in both of them. The potential usefulness of enzyme treatment and the information provided by the two types of assays are discusse

Economic Appraisal of Undeveloped Unconventional Gas: The Bowland United Kingdom Case

The estimation of production potential provides the foundation for commercial viability appraisal of natural resources. Due to uncertainty around production assessment approaches in the unconventional petroleum production field, an appropriate production estimation methodology which addresses the requisite uncertainty at the planning stage is required to guide energy policy and planning. This study proposes applying the numerical unconventional production estimation method which relies on geological parameters, (pressure, porosity, permeability, compressibility, viscosity and the formation volume factor) as well as the rock extractive index (a measure of technical efficiency) and develops a model that estimates the appropriate values for four of the parameters required based on a depth correlation matrix while a stochastic process guides the other parameters based on known data range. The developed model is integrated with a numerical model to estimate gas production potential and developed framework is eventually applied to undeveloped shale gas wells located in the Bowland shale, central Britain. The results account for below ground uncertainty and heterogeneity of wells. A sensitivity analysis is applied to consider the relative impacts of individual parameters on production potential. The estimated daily initial gas production rate ranges from 15,000scf to 319,000scf while estimated recovery over 12 years is approximately 1.1bscf in the reference case for wells examined. In relation to cost, A cost analysis is executed, which guides the identification of cost parameters. This study identifies key cost parameters and then develop a non-static model by examining the trends over the years as well as proposes a work break down cost estimation equation. In addition, a methodology in estimating the costs of developing unconventional gas resources based on the production technique is proposed. In addition, the sources of uncertainty in shale gas development cost estimation are examined and identified. It is found that there is an insignificant correlation of cost parameters with oil prices suggest that additional factors need to be analysed. These empirical model and results suggest that the market oil price impact on shale gas production cost although important but restrained by other factors which may include financial revenue hedging programs aimed at securing higher revenues or endogenous efficiency gains which direct production strategy in low oil prices situations. The results from the learning curve and innovation study shows that drilling technology has driven cost reduction and increased lateral lengths while the hydraulic fracturing technology has relied on more material use volumes. The additional demand in stimulation sand and other production materials as well as their disposal can lead to exogenous cost implications. Other expected exogenous cost implications are environmental, regulation and fiscal regimes which can aid or deter technology adoption in different regions. The overarching economic appraisal methodology is based on integration of the depth dependent correlation matrix, bottom up cost estimation and the undeveloped unconventional gas development decision models. Additionally, other input and output parameter scenarios are modelled as well as the impact of carbon emission regulation and mitigation

Asphaltene stability in crude oil during carbon dioxide injection and its impact on oil recovery: A review, data analysis, and experimental study

Crude oils are usually associated with many compounds, some of which are favorable and others, which are not. One of the most unfavorable components of crude oil that pose severe operational problems and decreases oil production significantly are asphaltenes. These compounds are solids that are homogenized in the crude oil at room temperature but tend to separate from solution when agitated. They can deposit in the reservoir pores, wellbore, and transportation pipelines thus causing severe operational problems and oil recovery reduction. Even though researchers have been studying asphaltenes for more than 100 years, there is still an ambiguity concerning asphaltene structure and characteristics since asphaltenes have no unique structure. This research performed a comprehensive data analysis on both laboratory studies and field cases involving asphaltene in order to provide a generalized guideline on asphaltene properties asphaltene stability. The analysis was based on more than 200 references involving more than 4000 experiments and 19 field studies. Two statistical analysis tools were used, including histograms and boxplots. After determining the factor impacting asphaltene, this research conducted experiments to understand the impact of these factors on asphaltene stability in crude oil during carbon dioxide (CO2) injection in unconventional shale nanopores, since very limited research has been conducted in this area. The research investigated the impact of several factors including pressure, temperature, oil viscosity, pore size, porous media thickness, and heterogeneity on asphaltene precipitation, pore plugging, and oil recovery reduction. A Pareto Plot was also generated to determine the factor that had the strongest impact on asphaltene instability in the crude oil --Abstract, page iv

Pore network modelling of wettability effects on waterflood oil recovery from Agbada sandstone formation in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

A thesis Submitted to the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, 2016Wettability of a porous reservoir rock is an important factor that affects oil recovery during waterflooding. It is recognized as being important for multiphase properties. Understanding the variation of these properties in the field, due to wettability trends and different pore structures, is very critical for designing efficient and reliable processes and projects for enhanced hydrocarbon recovery. After primary drainage the reservoir wettability changes: if it was oil-wet initially, it gradually changes to water-wet during waterflooding. This change in reservoir wettability towards water-wet will reduce the residual oil saturation and improve the oil displacement efficiency. However, knowledge of the constitutive relationship between the pore scale descriptors of transport in the porous system is required to adequately describe wettability trend and its impact on oil recovery, particularly during waterflooding. In this work, the petrophysical properties that define fluid flow in the Agbada, Nigeria sandstone reservoir were determined using conventional experimental and x-ray CT scanning methods. Experimentally measured average porosity is 0.28, average permeability is 1699 mD, while the initial and irreducible water saturation is 0.22. Permeability in the x, y and z directions, ranging from 50 to 200 mD, were calculated from the pore network extracted from the Agbada sandstone rock. Results obtained from the Amott-Harvey wettability measurement method indicate that the reservoir is strongly water-wet, with Amott-Harvey index of about 0.9. The cross-over between the water and oil relative permeabilities occurred at saturations of the samples above 0.5, giving an indication of strong water-wetness. The work summarizes the mechanism of wettability alteration and characterizes the performance of the reservoir during waterflooding from injecting water, and relates the residual oil saturation, relative permeability and volumes of water injected to wettability and its effects on oil recovery. Waterflood oil recovery is computed using the Buckley-Leverett method based on the reservoir rock and fluid properties. Computed waterflood oil recovery using this method was about 60% of the oil initially in place. Plots of spontaneous imbibition rate show that the injection rate for optimal oil recovery is 40 bbls of injected water per day. At this rate, both the mobility and shock front mobility ratios are less than 1, leading to a stable flood front and absence of viscous fingering. Waterflooding is by far the most widely applied method of improved oil recovery over the years with good results in conventional and unconventional (tight oil) reservoirs It is relatively simple and cost effective: abundance and availability of water. Waterflood oil recovery factor is affected by internal and external factors. The placement of the injection and production wells, for example, impacts on the effectiveness of the waterflooding process. I considered the placement of the wells in a five-spot pattern as elements of an unbounded double periodic array of wells and assumed the reservoir to be homogeneous, infinite and isotropic, with constant porosity and permeability. Both fluids are treated as having slight but constant compressibility and their flow governed by Darcy’s law. The average pressure in the reservoir satisfies quasi-static flow or diffusion equation. I then assumed piston-like displacement of oil by injected water that takes account of viscosity diffence between both fluids and proposed a model based on the theory of elliptic functions, in particular Weierstrass p-functions functions. Oil-water contact movement, dimensionless time for water breakthrough at the production well, areal sweep and average reservoir pressures were modeled. The model was tested using Wolfram Mathematica 10 software and the results are promising. The thesis has therefore established that the Agbada sandstone reservoir is strongly water-wet and that waterflooding is a viable option for enhanced oil recovery from the reservoir.MT201