Numerical Simulations for Enhanced Methane Recovery from Gas Hydrate Accumulations by Utilizing CO2 Sequestration

In 2013, the International Energy Outlook (EIA, 2013) projected that global energy demand will grow by 56% between 2010 and 36500. Despite strong growth in renewable energy supplies, much of this growth is expected to be met by fossil fuels. Concerns ranging from greenhouse gas emissions and energy security are spawning new interests for other sources of energy including renewable and unconventional fossil fuel such as shale gas and oil as well as gas hydrates. The production methods as well as long-term reservoir behavior of gas hydrate deposits have been under extensive investigation. Reservoir simulators can be used to predict the production potentials of hydrate formations and to determine which technique results in enhanced gas recovery. In this work, a new simulation tool, Mix3HydrateResSim (Mix3HRS), which accounts for complex thermodynamics of multi-component hydrate phase comprised of varying hydrate solid crystal structure, is used to perform the CO2-assisted production technique simulations from CH4 hydrate accumulations. The simulator is one among very few reservoir simulators which can simulate the process of CH4 substitution by CO2 (and N2 ) in the hydrate lattice.;Natural gas hydrate deposits around the globe are categorized into three different classes based on the characteristics of the geological sediments present in contact with the hydrate bearing deposits. Amongst these, the Class 2 hydrate accumulations predominantly confirmed in the permafrost and along seashore, are characterized by a mobile aqueous phase underneath a hydrate bearing sediment. The exploitation of such gas hydrate deposits results in release of large amounts of water due to the presence of permeable water-saturated sediments encompassing the hydrate deposits, thus lowering the produced gas rates. In this study, a suite of numerical simulation scenarios with varied complexity are considered which aimed at understanding the underlying changes in physical, thermodynamic and transport properties with change in pressure and temperature due to the presence of the simple CO2-hydrate and mixed hydrates (mainly CH4-CO2 hydrate and CH4 -CO2-N2 hydrate) in the porous geologic media. These simulations on CO2/ CH4-CO2 hydrate reservoirs provided a basic insight to formulate and interpret a novel technological approach.;This approach aims at prediction of enhanced gas production profiles from Class 2 hydrate accumulations by utilizing CO2 sequestration. The approach also offers a possibility to permanently store CO 2 in the geologic formation to a greater extent compared to a direct injection of CO2 into gas hydrate sediments. The production technique implies a three-stage approach using one vertical well design. In Stage I, the CO2 is injected into the underlying aquifer. In Stage II, the well is shut in and injected CO2 is allowed to be converted into immobile CO2 hydrate. Finally, during Stage III, decomposition of CH4 hydrate is induced by the depressurization method. The gas production potential is estimated over 15 years. The results reveal that methane production is increased together with simultaneous reduction of concomitant water production rate comparing to a conventional Class 2 reservoir production

Improved Iterative Truncated Arithmetic Mean Filter

This thesis discusses image processing and filtering techniques with emphasis on Mean filter, Median filter, and different versions of the Iterative Truncated Arithmetic Mean (ITM) filter. Specifically, we review in detail the ITM algorithms (ITM1 and ITM2) proposed by Xudong Jiang. Although filtering is capable of reducing noise in an image, it usually also results in smoothening or some other form of distortion of image edges and file details. Therefore, maintaining a proper trade off between noise reduction and edge/detail distortion is key. In this thesis, an improvement over Xudong Jiang’s ITM filters, namely ITM3, has been proposed and tested for different types of noise and for different images. Each of the two original ITM filters performs better than the other under different conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed filter, ITM3, provides a better trade off than ITM1 and ITM2 in terms of attenuating different types of noise and preserving fine image details and edges

A collaborative high performance and grid computing portal

The world of high performance and grid computing is so vast that it always poses constant challenges and high learning curves to researchers and scientists. A Portal-based solution facilitates a simple web-based graphical user interface that helps the non computer science users take advantage of highly evolving, on-demand, distributed computing to carry out their research activities. A collaborative portal brings together various resources, applications and services under one roof and provides a single point of entry and access to the users. This thesis work endeavors to build a unique High Performance and Grid Computing Portal that combines two existing high performance portals into a single unique portal that a user can easily access and use to carry out various high performance and grid computing tasks. This report addresses the requirements for building a high performance computing portal, the various solutions that can be offered, variations in the solutions due to uniqueness of each individual grid infrastructure, problems that arise in combining two existing high performance computing portals and solutions to these problems. As a test case, we have combined the CCT HPC Portal and LONI Portal both of which are developed by us. The portlets that have been developed during this work include, but are not limited to, network monitoring, grid accounting, reporting, and generic portlets that could be used by any high performance computing portal by making a few configuration changes. This work introduces integration of LDAP authentication with GridSphere framework for Virtual Organization centric view of the portal. This solution opens up two large grid infrastructures to the LONI and LSU grid communities through one web interface without worrying about different logins and grid certificates. This portal was developed based on the user\u27s perspective. Access to the portal is controlled by the affiliation and role of the user in each or both of these organizations. The goal of this project is to be able to develop a single grid portal for both CCT and LONI grids. This eliminates the need to develop and maintain more than one portal and also makes it easy for the users to just remember one URL to carry out all their tasks on either or both the grids

A computational study of a transversely propelling polymer and passive particles

Using Langevin dynamics simulations, we study a system of transversely propelling filament and passive Brownian particles. We consider a polymer whose monomers experience a constant propulsion force perpendicular to the local tangent in the presence of passive particles undergoing thermal fluctuations in two dimensions. We demonstrate that the sideways propelling polymer can act as a sweeper to collect the passive Brownian particles, mimicking a shuttle-cargo system. The number of particles the polymer collects during its motion increases with time and finally saturates to a maximum number. Moreover, the velocity of the polymer decreases as the particles get trapped due to the extra drag they generate. Rather than going to zero, the velocity eventually reaches a terminal value close to the contribution from the thermal velocity when it collects the maximum load. We show that, apart from the length of the polymer, the propulsion strength and the number of passive particles are deciding factors for the maximum trapped particles. In addition, we demonstrate that the collected particles arrange themselves in a triangular, closed, packed state, similar to what has been observed i

Cost-Effective Allocation Of Nested Routing Relay Node Resources

By implementing an overlay routing system, the ability to adjust various routing features (such as latency or TCP throughput) is available, without requiring any changes to the underlying standards. However, laying the groundwork for overlays involves setting up the overlay infrastructure. Here we have an optimization challenge that arises: The smallest set of overlay nodes to find is one that is sufficient to provide the necessary routing features. To prove that in a thorough manner, we analyze this optimization issue here. This paper shows that it is hard to approximate and so provides a nontrivial approximation approach. The details of the plan are examined in the context of numerous actual scenarios to measure the benefit that may be realized. Here, we examine a wide range of BGP-enabled routers to see how few required less than 100 BGP-enabled servers to implement BGP routing policy across the shortest pathways to all autonomous systems (ASs), hence lowering the average path length of routed pathways by 40%. The study is able to prove the scheme's many uses, the first of which is for TCP performance improvement, with results that achieve nearly optimal placement of overlay nodes. Also, when using Voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications, where a small number of overlay nodes can have a significant impact on maximum peer-to-peer delay, the study shows that the scheme's many functions are useful

Enhancing collaboration by providing a shared environment in wEMBOSS

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on May 23, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Gordon K. SpringerIncludes bibliographical references."July 2011"wEMBOSS, a web interface for EMBOSS suite of programs, is a powerful tool developed to serve the needs of molecular biology user community. It started as a coordinated effort from Martin Sarachu of the Argentinean EMBnet Node and Marc Colet from the Belgian EMBnet node. Collaboration is a process where two or more people work together to achieve a common goal. Collaboration is especially important to researchers in obtaining better results. wEMBOSS being a platform for research, the idea of introducing a collaborative environment into wEMBOSS seems worth considering. The current project deals with implementing a shared environment in wEMBOSS by introducing the concept of groups and sharing. This kind of a shared environment not only helps with better but also faster results. The project's administrator interface helps manage data efficiently. Another important point to be discussed about wEMBOSS is the authentication system. wEMBOSS uses the basic HTTP authentication where in, it is mandatory for the users of wEMBOSS to be known by the server where wEMBOSS resides. Any outside user cannot use wEMBOSS. It does not sound sensible and secure to provide access to any random user to the server where wEMBOSS resides. In order to solve this problem, the current project uses a different authentication system. The Shibboleth system is integrated with wEMBOSS which provides access to users from federated organizations formed based upon trust. Users are provided access to wEMBOSS after authenticating and authorizing themselves

Genetic Doping in Sports: A Biological and Legal Examination!

Doping is commonly perceived as a moral and ethical violation. This matter is of global significance. Doping is the illicit use of certain substances and methods to enhance sports performance and stamina. This is accomplished by consuming these medications, which enhance the body's ability to supply a larger quantity of oxygenation to the muscles. However, the ingestion of these chemicals has a multitude of detrimental effects on an individual's well-being, encompassing but not restricted to infections, allergies, cardiovascular diseases, ischemic stroke, pulmonary embolism, hypertension, acne, male erectile dysfunction, and disturbances in women's menstrual cycles. Therefore, doping can directly impact sporting events. The ongoing development of novel drug delivery techniques presents a formidable obstacle to the battle against doping, rendering it progressively arduous for experts to detect these chemicals and medications. The government must remain updated on the latest advancements in chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and implement steps to regulate their usage to ensure fair competition. This article aims to comprehensively examine the practices of gene doping in athletics, with a specific emphasis on their biological and legal examination