Evaluation of the chemical composition and structure of asphaltenes from there offshore brazilian biodegrades heavy oils

Asphaltenes fractions were extracted and purified from three heavy Brazilian oils. Their mass compositions of C, H, N, Ni and V were obtained from elemental analysis and S and O atomic percentages from EDS. The H/C ratios showed high degree of unsaturation, while the O atomic percentages indicated more pronounced biodegradation effects on two samples. Quantitative data on N, Ni, and V and semi-quantitative data on S were related to oils origins. The structural data of asphaltenes were explored by combining Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). The oil with the lower degree of biodegradation contained asphaltenes with a lower level of condensed aromatic rings and longer aliphatic chain substituents. The asphaltenes obtained from the two most biodegraded oils showed similarities of polar groups and the presence of carboxylic functions, as well as lower contents of aliphatic substituents. The quality and quantity of occluded hydrocarbons were assessed after the mild oxidation of the separated asphaltenes fractions. It was suggested that the severe biodegradation which altered these structures may also be responsible to affect their occluded hydrocarbons

Digital Outcrop Model Generation from Hybrid UAV and Panoramic Imaging Systems

The study of outcrops in geosciences is being significantly improved by the enhancement of technologies that aims to build digital outcrop models (DOMs). Usually, the virtual environment is built by a collection of partially overlapped photographs taken from diverse perspectives, frequently using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). However, in situations including very steep features or even sub-vertical patterns, incomplete coverage of objects is expected. This work proposes an integration framework that uses terrestrial spherical panoramic images (SPI), acquired by omnidirectional fusion camera, and a UAV survey to overcome gaps left by traditional mapping in complex natural structures, such as outcrops. The omnidirectional fusion camera produces wider field of view images from different perspectives, which are able to considerably improve the representation of the DOM, mainly where the UAV has geometric view restrictions. We designed controlled experiments to guarantee the equivalent performance of SPI compared with UAV. The adaptive integration is accomplished through an optimized selective strategy based on an octree framework. The quality of the 3D model generated using this approach was assessed by quantitative and qualitative indicators. The results show the potential of generating a more reliable 3D model using SPI allied with UAV image data while reducing field survey time and complexity