4 research outputs found
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Analysis of crude oil vapor pressures at the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Crude oil storage caverns at the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) are solution-mined from subsurface salt domes along the U.S. Gulf Coast. While these salt domes exhibit many attractive characteristics for large-volume, long-term storage of oil such as low cost for construction, low permeability for effective fluids containment, and secure location deep underground, they also present unique technical challenges for maintaining oil quality within delivery standards. The vapor pressures of the crude oils stored at SPR tend to increase with storage time due to the combined effects of geothermal heating and gas intrusion from the surrounding salt. This presents a problem for oil delivery offsite because high vapor-pressure oil may lead to excessive atmospheric emissions of hydrocarbon gases that present explosion hazards, health hazards, and handling problems at atmospheric pressure. Recognizing this potential hazard, the U.S. Department of Energy, owner and operator of the SPR, implemented a crude oil vapor pressure monitoring program that collects vapor pressure data for all the storage caverns. From these data, DOE evaluates the rate of change in vapor pressures of its oils in the SPR. Moreover, DOE implemented a vapor pressure mitigation program in which the oils are degassed periodically and will be cooled immediately prior to delivery in order to reduce the vapor pressure to safe handling levels. The work described in this report evaluates the entire database since its origin in 1993, and determines the current levels of vapor pressure around the SPR, as well as the rate of change for purposes of optimizing both the mitigation program and meeting safe delivery standards. Generally, the rate of vapor pressure increase appears to be lower in this analysis than reported in the past and, problematic gas intrusion seems to be limited to just a few caverns. This being said, much of the current SPR inventory exceeds vapor pressure delivery guidelines and must be degassed and cooled in order to meet current delivery standards
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DRSPALL :spallings model for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant 2004 recertification.
This report presents a model to estimate the spallings releases for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Performance Assessment (WIPP PA). A spallings release in the context of WIPP PA refers to a portion of the solid waste transported from the subsurface repository to the ground surface due to inadvertent oil or gas drilling into the WIPP repository at some time after site closure. Some solid waste will be removed by the action of the drillbit and drilling fluid; this waste is referred to as cuttings and cavings. If the repository is pressurized above hydrostatic at the time of intrusion, solid waste material local to the borehole may be subject to mechanical failure and entrainment in high-velocity gases as the repository pressure is released to the borehole. Solid material that fails and is transported into the wellbore and thus to the surface comprise the spallings releases. The spallings mechanism is analogous to a well blowout in the modern oil and gas drilling industry. The current spallings conceptual model and associated computer code, DRSPALL, were developed for the 2004 recertification because the prior spallings model used in the 1996 WIPP Compliance Certification Application (CCA) was judged by an independent peer review panel as inadequate (DOE 1996, 9.3.1). The current conceptual model for spallings addresses processes that take place several minutes before and after a borehole intrusion of a WIPP waste room. The model couples a pipe-flow wellbore model with a porous flow repository model, allowing high-pressure gas to flow from the repository to the wellbore through a growing cavity region at the well bottom. An elastic stress model is applied to the porous solid domain that allows for mechanical failure of repository solids if local tensile stress exceeds the tensile strength of the waste. Tensile-failed solids may be entrained into the wellbore flow stream by a fluidized bed model, in which case they are ultimately transported to the land surface comprising a release. In July 2003, DOE/SNL presented the spallings conceptual model to a independent peer review panel in accordance with NUREG 1297 guidelines (NRC, 1988). The panel ultimately judged the model as adequate for implementation in WIPP PA (Yew et al., 2003). This report documents the spallings model history from 1997 to the implementation of DRSPALL in the 2004 Compliance Recertification Application (CRA) (DOE, 2004). The scope of this report includes descriptions of the conceptual model, numerical model, verification and validation techniques, model sensitivity studies, and WIPP PA spallings results as presented in the 2004 CRA
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Strategic Petroleum Reserve equation of state model development : current performance against measured data.
This report documents the progression of crude oil phase behavior modeling within the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve vapor pressure program during the period 2004-2009. Improvements in quality control on phase behavior measurements in 2006 coupled with a growing body of degasification plant operations data have created a solid measurement baseline that has served to inform and significantly improve project understanding on phase behavior of SPR oils. Systematic tuning of the model based on proven practices from the technical literature have shown to reduce model bias and match observed data very well, though this model tuning effort is currently in process at SPR and based on preliminary data. The current report addresses many of the steps that have helped to build a strong baseline of data coupled with sufficient understanding of model features so that calibration is possible
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U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Vapor Pressure Committee 2009 annual report.
This report comprises an annual summary of activities under the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Vapor Pressure Committee in FY2009. The committee provides guidance to senior project management on the issues of crude oil vapor pressure monitoring nd mitigation. The principal objectives of the vapor pressure program are, in the event of an SPR drawdown, to minimize the impact on the environment and assure worker safety and public health from crude oil vapor emissions. The annual report reviews key program areas ncluding monitoring program status, mitigation program status, new developments in measurements and modeling, and path forward including specific recommendations on cavern sampling for the next year. The contents of this report were first presented to SPR senior anagement in December 2009, in a deliverable from the vapor pressure committee. The current SAND report is an adaptation for the Sandia technical audience