Treated fly ash : A potential catalyst for catalytic cracking

100-103Fly ash from a Thermal Power Plant was converted to zeolite by alkali fusion followed by hydrothermal treatment. The formation of zeolite was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The performance of the prepared zeolite as cracking catalyst was tested by carrying out cracking of a heavy crude residue. Cracking of the same feed was also carried out with raw (untreated) fly ash and commercial 13X zeolite. At 11 wt% catalyst loading, temperature 380°C and atmospheric pressure, the feed conversions to lighter products (bp ≤ 250°C) obtained were 35.6%, 58% and 58% with raw fly ash, treated fly ash and commercial zeolite, respectively, as the catalyst

Experimental and modeling hydraulic studies of foam drilling fluid flowing through vertical smooth pipes

Foam has emerged as an efficient drilling fluid for the drilling of low pressure, fractured and matured reservoirs because of its the ability to reduce formation damage, fluid loss, differential sticking etc. However the compressible nature along with its complicated rheology has made its implementation a multifaceted task. Knowledge of the hydrodynamic behavior of drilling fluid within the borehole is the key behind successful implementation of drilling job. However, little effort has been made to develop the hydrodynamic models for the foam flowing with cuttings through pipes of variable diameter. In the present study, hydrodynamics of the foam fluid was investigated through the vertical smooth pipes of different pipe diameters, with variable foam properties in a flow loop system. Effect of cutting loading on pressure drop was also studied. Thus, the present investigation estimates the differential pressure loss across the pipe. The flow loop permits foam flow through 25.4 mm, 38.1 mm and 50.8 mm diameter pipes. The smaller diameter pipes are used to replicate the annular spaces between the drill string and wellbore. The developed model determines the pressure loss along the pipe and the results are compared with a number of existing models. The developed model is able to predict the experimental results more accurately

Treated fly ash: A potential catalyst for alkylation of phenol with <i>tert-butyl </i>alcohol

495-500Alkylation of phenol was carried out with tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) over a variety of non-conventional catalysts, namely fly ash, zeolite prepared from fly ash, and commercial 13X zeolite. Zeolite prepared from fly ash by hydrothermal treatment showed the highest activity for the reaction under otherwise identical conditions. The effects of various parameters such as reaction temperature, reactant ratio (molar ratio of phenol to tert-butyl alcohol) and catalyst loading on the rate of reaction of phenol were studied with the catalyst prepared from fly ash. The alkylation reaction was found to be surface reaction controlled with negligible inter-particle mass transfer resistance

Study on the Thermal Stability of Viscoelastic Surfactant-Based Fluids Bearing Lamellar Structures

A detailed study has been done on the phase behavior and rheological properties of viscoelastic surfactant (VES)-based fracturing fluids bearing lamellar liquid crystal structures that are developed from two surfactants (SDS and NaOA) and three co-surfactants (propan-2-ol, <i>iso</i>-amyl alcohol, and 2-ethyl hexanol) in the presence of clove oil as the organic phase and water as the aqueous phase. Lamellar liquid crystals prepared from NaOA/2-ethyl hexanol/clove oil/water system demonstrated the best viscoelastic properties among all the developed fluids, because it exhibited resistance to high temperature and shear conditions. The addition of alkali and nanoparticles enhanced the viscoelastic properties, which were observed from static and dynamic rheological tests

INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT OF ¬CO2 ECBM POTENTIAL IN JHARIA COALFELD, INDIA

Coalbed methane (CBM) production is efectively achieved by utilizing two processes, viz. primary and secondary recovery. In this paper, the primary recovery of CBM was studied using the adsorption isotherm while CO2-ECBM process for the secondary recovery was simulated with realistic parameters. The adsorption isotherm for CH4 was drawn up to the pressure of 1200 psi for four coal samples and Langmuir isotherm curves for both CH4 and CO2 was measured for one sample up to 2000 psi. The adsorption isotherm of four samples was further utilized for fnding the primary recovery factor of methane, showing that the average primary recovery is~ 54% with the highest recovery factor of ~ 76% for one sample. Hence, CO2-ECBM process could be further implemented to enhance gas recovery. Then, a 3D heterogeneous coalbed model at a depth of 3219 ft was constructed using the COMET3 simulator to demonstrate the potential of CO2-ECBM recovery technique. A concept of break even time was introduced in this study for the comprehension of CO2-ECBM process. It is found that coalbed reservoirs may opt to implement this technology with economically sound recover