Characterisation of carbonaceous deposition in oil exposed surfaces at the nanoscale

© 2016 IEEE. Carbonaceous deposits in oil exposed surfaces are responsible for compromising performance and reducing profitability across the hydrocarbons value chain. In particular, in upstream operation, fouling between the well and the production facility has been found to reduce flow, availability and reliability resulting in lost production. Thus, a better understanding of the processes leading to the deposition of these complex and heavy organic compounds is required, since it is unclear whether they primarily aggregate in the liquid phase or at the liquid-solid interface. In an effort to understand the mechanisms behind deposition, this study uses different modalities of atomic force microscopy (AFM) to characterise relevant metallic, oil exposed surfaces with deposits already on them. More specifically, in this post-mortem analysis, surfaces exposed to oil with and without the presence of an inhibitor are imaged in an effort to pinpoint the effect of the inhibitor on deposition

Prenatal muscle forces are necessary for vertebral segmentation and disc structure, but not for notochord involution in mice

Embryonic muscle forces are necessary for normal vertebral development and spinal curvature, but their involvement in intervertebral disc (IVD) development remains unclear. The aim of the current study was to determine how muscle contractions affect (1) notochord involution and vertebral segmentation, and (2) IVD development including the mechanical properties and morphology, as well as collagen fibre alignment in the annulus fibrosus. Muscular dysgenesis (mdg) mice were harvested at three prenatal stages: at Theiler Stage (TS)22 when notochord involution starts, at TS24 when involution is complete, and at TS27 when the IVD is formed. Vertebral and IVD development were characterised using histology, immunofluorescence, and indentation testing. Our results revealed that notochord involution and vertebral segmentation occurred independently of muscle contractions between TS22 and TS24. However, in the absence of muscle contractions, we found vertebral fusion in the cervical region at TS27, along with (i) a displacement of the nucleus pulposus towards the dorsal side, (ii) a disruption of the structural arrangement of collagen in the annulus fibrosus, and (iii) an increase in viscous behaviour of the annulus fibrosus. These findings emphasise the important role of mechanical forces during IVD development, and demonstrate a critical role of muscle loading during development to enable proper annulus fibrosus formation. Our findings further suggest a need for mechanical loading in the creation of fibre-reinforced tissue engineering replacement IVDs as a therapy for IVD degeneration

Fabrication of Amyloid Curli Fibers-Alginate Nanocomposite Hydrogels with Enhanced Stiffness

Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society. Alginate hydrogels are biocompatible, biodegradable, low-cost, and widely used as bioinks, cell encapsulates, three-dimensional culture matrices, drug delivery systems, and scaffolds for tissue engineering. Nevertheless, their limited stiffness hinders their use for certain biomedical applications. Many research groups have tried to address this problem by reinforcing alginate hydrogels with graphene, carbon nanotubes, or silver nanoparticles. However, these materials present nanotoxicity issues, limiting their use for biomedical applications. Other studies show that electrospinning or wet spinning can be used to fabricate biocompatible, micro- and nanofibers to reinforce hydrogels. As a relatively simple and cheap alternative, in this study we used bioengineered bacteria to fabricate amyloid curli fibers to enhance the stiffness of alginate hydrogels. We have fabricated for the first time bioengineered amyloid curli fibers-hydrogel composites and characterized them by a combination of (i) atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure the Young's modulus of the bioengineered amyloid curli fibers and study their topography, (ii) nanoindentation to measure the Young's modulus of the amyloid curli fibers-alginate nanocomposite hydrogels, and (iii) Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to analyze their composition. The fabricated nanocomposites resulted in a highly improved Young's modulus (up to 4-fold) and showed very similar physical and chemical properties, opening the window for their use in applications where the properties alginate hydrogels are convenient but do not match the stiffness needed

Multiscale Approach Linking Self-Aggregation and Surface Interactions of Synthesized Foulants to Fouling Mitigation Strategies

© 2019 American Chemical Society. Fouling of oil-exposed surfaces remains a crucial issue as a result of the continued importance of oil as the world's primary energy source. The key perpetrators in crude oil fouling have been identified as asphaltenes, a poorly described mixture of diverse polyfunctional molecules that form part of the heaviest fractions of oil. Asphaltenes are responsible for a decrease in oil production and energy efficiency and an increase in the risk of environmental hazards. Hence, understanding and managing systems that are prone to fouling is of great value but constitutes a challenge as a result of their complexity. In an effort to reduce that complexity, a study of a synthesized foulant of archipelago structure is presented. A critical perspective on previously described solubility and aggregation mechanisms (e.g., critical nanoaggrerate concentration and critical clustering concentration) is offered because the characterized system favors a continuous distribution of n-mers instead. A battery of experimental and modeling techniques have been employed to link the bulk and interfacial behavior of a representative foulant monomer to effective fouling mitigation strategies. This systematic approach defines a new multiscale methodology in the investigation of fouling systems