Improved Efficiency of Miscible CO2 Floods and Enhanced Prospects for CO2 Flooding Heterogeneous Reservoirs. Final Report, April 17, 1991--May 31, 1997

From 1986 to 1996, oil recovery in the US by gas injection increased almost threefold, to 300,000 bbl/day. Carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) injection projects make up three-quarters of the 191,139 bbl/day production increase. This document reports experimental and modeling research in three areas that is increasing the number of reservoirs in which CO{sub 2} can profitably enhance oil recovery: (1) foams for selective mobility reduction (SMR) in heterogeneous reservoirs, (2) reduction of the amount of CO{sub 2} required in CO{sub 2} floods, and (3) low interfacial tension (97) processes and the possibility of CO{sub 2} flooding in naturally fractured reservoirs. CO{sub 2} injection under miscible conditions can effectively displace oil, but due to differences in density and viscosity the mobility of CO{sub 2} is higher than either oil or water. High CO{sub 2} mobility causes injection gas to finger through a reservoir, causing such problems as early gas breakthrough, high gas production rates, excessive injection gas recycling, and bypassing of much of the reservoir oil. These adverse effects are exacerbated by increased reservoir heterogeneity, reaching an extreme in naturally fractured reservoirs. Thus, many highly heterogeneous reservoirs have not been considered for CO{sub 2} injection or have had disappointing recoveries. One example is the heterogeneous Spraberry trend in west Texas, where only 10% of its ten billion barrels of original oil in place (OOIP) are recoverable by conventional methods. CO{sub 2} mobility can be reduced by injecting water (brine) alternated with CO{sub 2} (WAG) and then further reduced by adding foaming agents-surfactants. In Task 1, we studied a unique foam property, selective mobility reduction (SMR), that effectively reduces the effects of reservoir heterogeneity. Selective mobility reduction creates a more uniform displacement by decreasing CO{sub 2} mobility in higher permeability zones more than in lower permeability zones

Investigating Nabisco\u27s claim that double stuf Oreos contain double the stuff

The objective of this study was to test Nabisco\u27s claim that Double Stuf Oreos contain double the \stuf\ when compared to original Oreos. Six packages of each type of cookie were purchased from 3 local grocery stores. For each package 10 cookies were randomly selected using a random number generator. Sixty of each cookie type was used in this study. Total cookie weight of each cookie side and cream weight were measured in grams for each cookie. Results from a t-test indicate no evidence that consumers are getting less than double the stuff and a 95% confidence interval constructed for the ratio of means also supports this

Diversity of Zoanthids (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) on Hawaiian Seamounts: Description of the Hawaiian Gold Coral and Additional Zoanthids

The Hawaiian gold coral has a history of exploitation from the deep slopes and seamounts of the Hawaiian Islands as one of the precious corals commercialised in the jewellery industry. Due to its peculiar characteristic of building a scleroproteic skeleton, this zoanthid has been referred as Gerardia sp. (a junior synonym of Savalia Nardo, 1844) but never formally described or examined by taxonomists despite its commercial interest. While collection of Hawaiian gold coral is now regulated, globally seamounts habitats are increasingly threatened by a variety of anthropogenic impacts. However, impact assessment studies and conservation measures cannot be taken without consistent knowledge of the biodiversity of such environments. Recently, multiple samples of octocoral-associated zoanthids were collected from the deep slopes of the islands and seamounts of the Hawaiian Archipelago. The molecular and morphological examination of these zoanthids revealed the presence of at least five different species including the gold coral. Among these only the gold coral appeared to create its own skeleton, two other species are simply using the octocoral as substrate, and the situation is not clear for the final two species. Phylogenetically, all these species appear related to zoanthids of the genus Savalia as well as to the octocoral-associated zoanthid Corallizoanthus tsukaharai, suggesting a common ancestor to all octocoral-associated zoanthids. The diversity of zoanthids described or observed during this study is comparable to levels of diversity found in shallow water tropical coral reefs. Such unexpected species diversity is symptomatic of the lack of biological exploration and taxonomic studies of the diversity of seamount hexacorals

Acoustic Emission Source Location Using Finite Element Generated Delta-T Mapping

Supplementary Materials: The following are available online at www.mdpi.com/xxx/s1, Figure S1: 505 title, Table S1: title, Video S1: title.Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. One of the most significant benefits of Acoustic Emission (AE) testing over other Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques lies in its damage location capability over a wide area. The delta-T mapping technique developed by researchers has been shown to enable AE source location to a high level of accuracy in complex structures. However, the time-consuming and laborious data training process of the delta-T mapping technique has prevented this technique from large-scale application on large complex structures. In order to solve this problem, a Finite Element (FE) method was applied to model training data for localization of experimental AE events on a complex plate. Firstly, the FE model was validated through demonstrating consistency between simulated data and the experimental data in the study of Hsu-Nielsen (H-N) sources on a simple plate. Then, the FE model with the same parameters was applied to a planar location problem on a complex plate. It has been demonstrated that FE generated delta-T mapping data can achieve a reasonable degree of source location accuracy with an average error of 3.88 mm whilst decreasing the time and effort required for manually collecting and processing the training data.Lloyd's 513 Register Foundation; Brunel University London; National Structural Integrity Research Centre, NSIRC studentship - Condition bases monitoring techniques for the early identification of stress corrosion cracking

Investigating if Dr. Pepper TEN is a \10\ for men

The objective was to investigate taste preference for Dr Pepper TEN and Diet Dr Pepper and consumers\u27 willingness to purchase Dr Pepper TEN after viewing the product\u27s commercial. A taste preference test was conducted using 168 students at Clemson University during fall 2013. An online survey developed using Qualtrics consisted of items for demographics, taste preference and consumer behavior after viewing a Dr Pepper TEN commercial. One and two sample proportion Z tests were performed and chi-squared tests were used for testing associations. The majority (overall, males and females) preferred the taste of Dr Pepper TEN (p-value\u3c0.001). There was no evidence of a difference in the proportion of males and females who preferred the taste of Dr Pepper TEN (p-value=0.2546). There was no evidence of an association between gender and likelihood of purchasing Dr Pepper TEN after seeing the commercial (p-value\u3c0.25). The results give doubt to the \just for women\ claim of the advertisements

The UK's Global Health Respiratory Network: Improving respiratory health of the world's poorest through research collaborations.

Respiratory disorders are responsible for considerable morbidity, health care utilisation, societal costs and approximately one in five deaths worldwide [1-4]. Yet, despite this substantial health and societal burden – which particularly affects the world’s poorest populations and as such is a major contributor to global health inequalities – respiratory disorders have historically not received the policy priority they warrant. For example, despite causing an estimated 1000 deaths per day, less than half of the world’s countries collect data on asthma prevalence (http://www.globalasthmareport.org/). This is true for both communicable and non-communicable respiratory disorders, many of which are either amenable to treatment or preventable

Effects of air pollution and the introduction of the London Low Emission Zone on the prevalence of respiratory and allergic symptoms in schoolchildren in East London: a sequential cross-sectional study

The adverse effects of traffic-related air pollution on children’s respiratory health have been widely reported, but few studies have evaluated the impact of traffic-control policies designed to reduce urban air pollution. We assessed associations between traffic-related air pollutants and respiratory/allergic symptoms amongst 8–9 year-old schoolchildren living within the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ). Information on respiratory/allergic symptoms was obtained using a parent-completed questionnaire and linked to modelled annual air pollutant concentrations based on the residential address of each child, using a multivariable mixed effects logistic regression analysis. Exposure to traffic-related air pollutants was associated with current rhinitis: NOx (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00–1.02), NO2 (1.03, 1.00–1.06), PM10 (1.16, 1.04–1.28) and PM2.5 (1.38, 1.08–1.78), all per μg/m3 of pollutant, but not with other respiratory/allergic symptoms. The LEZ did not reduce ambient air pollution levels, or affect the prevalence of respiratory/allergic symptoms over the period studied. These data confirm the previous association between traffic-related air pollutant exposures and symptoms of current rhinitis. Importantly, the London LEZ has not significantly improved air quality within the city, or the respiratory health of the resident population in its first three years of operation. This highlights the need for more robust measures to reduce traffic emissions

Nanoscale study of the as-grown hydrogenated amorphous silicon surface

A scanning tunneling microscope has been used to study the topography of the as-grown surface of device-quality, intrinsic, hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited by rf discharge from silane. The substrates were atomically flat, oxide-free, single-crystal silicon or gallium arsenide. No evidence for island formation or nanoscale irregularities was seen in studies of 100-Å-thick films on either silicon or gallium arsenide. The topography of 1000- and 4000-Å-thick films has much variation; many regions can be characterized as rolling hills, but atomically flat areas have also been observed nearby. Generally, it appears that surface diffusion plays a role in smoothing the film topography. In most regions, the observed slopes were 10% or less from horizontal, but some steep-sided valleys, indicating incipient voids, were observed. The effect of the finite size of the scanning tunneling microscope probe tip is considered; this has an effect on the observed images in some cases

Adsorption and wettability study of methyl ester sulphonate on precipitated asphaltene

Asphaltene precipitation from crude oil and its subsequent aggregation forms solid, which preferentially deposit on rock surfaces causing formation damage and wettability changes leading to loss of crude oil production. To resolve this problem, asphaltene inhibitor has been injected into the formation to prevent the precipitation of asphaltene. Asphaltene inhibitors that are usually employed are generally toxic and non-biodegradable. This paper presents a new environmentally friendly asphaltene inhibitor (methyl ester sulphonate), an anionic surfactant, which has excellent sorption on formation rock surfaces. Result from adsorption study validated by Langmuir and Freundlich models indicate a favourable adsorption. At low volumes injected, methyl ester sulphonate is capable of reverting oil-wet sandstone surface to water-wet surface. Biodegradability test profile shows that for concentrations of 100-5000ppm it is biodegradable by 65-80%

Agricultural R&D, technology and productivity.

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