- Email: [email protected]
02071 Trends in scientific computing applied to petroleum exploration and production
03 Gaseous fuels (sources, properties, recovery, treatment) Brazil, this means investments in modifying its refineries and setting up partnerships in the downstream segment for consumer centres absorbing all products of high added value, such as the USA and even Southeast Asia and Western Europe.
06/02071 Trends in scientific computing applied to petroleum exploration and production Guevara, S. E. et al. Ciencia Tecnologia y Futuro, 2002, 2, (3), 31 40. Current trends of computational tools in the upstream of the petroleum industry are presented. Several results and images obtained through commercial programs and through in-house software developments illustrate the topics discussed. They include several types of problems and programming paradigms. Emphasis is made on the future of parallel processing through the use of affordable, open systems, such as LINUX. This kind of technologies will likely make possible new research and industry applications, since quite advanced computational resources will be available to many people working in the area.
Derived liquid fuels 06/02072 Alumina-supported potassium iodide as a heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production from soybean oil Xie, W. and Li, H. Journal Qt" Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, 2006, 255, (1 2), l-9. Biodiesel fuel, a promising alternative diesel fuel produced by a catalytic transesterification of vegetable oils, has become more attractive recently because of its environmental concerns and the fact that it is made from renewable resources. In this work, the transesterification of soybean oil with methanol has been studied in a heterogeneous system, using alumina loaded with potassium iodide as a solid base catalyst. After loading KI of 35 wt% on alumina followed by calcination at 773 K for 3 h, the catalyst gave the highest basicity and the best catalytic activity for this reaction. The catalysts were characterized by means of XRD, IR, SEM and the Hammett indicator method. Moreover, the dependence of the conversion of soybean oil on the reaction variables such as the catalyst loading, the molar ratio of methanol to oil and the reaction time was studied. The conversion of 96% was achieved under the optimum reaction conditions. Besides, a correlation of the catalyst activity for the transesterification reaction with its basicity was proposed.
06/02073 An empirical approach in predicting biodiesel viscosity at various temperatures Krisnangkura, K. et al. Fuel, 2006, 85, (1), 107-113. A thermodynamic model is proposed for the determination of kinematic viscosities of saturated fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) of various chain lengths at different temperatures. The linearity of the natural logarithm of viscosity-carbon number, plot is limited to a narrow carbon number range. The predicted viscosities of FAMEs of C12:0-Cls:0, which are commonly found in vegetable oils and used as biodiesels, agree well with the experimental values. The highest difference is 0.354 cSt (5.60%), for methyl stearate at 40°C. When the proposed method for viscosity calculation of saturated FAMEs are used in combination with the methods for viscosities of biodiesel the mixtures, the predicted viscosities agree well with the values reported in the literatures and the measured values. The differences between the predicted viscosities and those reported in the literatures (at 40~C) are 1.08 to 8.56% (for eight different vegetable oil methyl esters). The differences between the predicted viscosities and the measured values for coconut methyl esters, at 25, 40 and 50°C are 9.20, 5.53 and 5.57%, respectively. The differences are slightly higher than those of palm oil methyl esters (4.48, 2.06 and 2.48%, respectively). The proposed method can also be applied to predict the viscosities of free fatty acids and it is speculated it may be applied to other homologous series as well.
06/02074 Catalytic denitrogenation of hydrocarbons through partial oxidation in supercritical water Yuan, P.-Q. et al. Fuel, 2006, 85, (3), 367-373. In this work, the denitrogenation of hydrocarbons under supercritical water oxidation environment was investigated in a rotated bomb reactor at 623-723 K and 25-35 MPa over sulfided NiMo catalyst. Quinoline was used as a model nitrogen-containing compound. A high reduction of total nitrogen up to about 85% was obtained. The denitrogenation pathway is composed of two consecutive steps: in situ Hz generation and the hydrogenation of quinoline. The hydrogenation mechanism of quinoline varies with reaction temperature because of
the participation of supercritical water in HDN step. The strong adsorption of quinoline and its hydrogenation intermediates on catalyst surface has an adverse influence on total nitrogen reduction rate.
06/02075 Experimental measurements of the NOx and CO concentrations operating in oscillatory and non-oscillatory burning conditions Martins, C. A. et al. Fuel, 2006, 85, (1), 84-93. The effects of combustion driven acoustic oscillations in carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides emission rates of a combustor operated with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were investigated. Because the fuel does not contain nitrogen, tests were also conducted with ammonia injected in the fuel, in order to study the formation of fuel NOx. The main conclusions were: (a) the pulsating combustion process is more efficient than the non-pulsating one and (b) the pulsating combustion process generates higher rates of NOx, with and without ammonia injection, as shown by CO and NO concentrations as function of the 02 concentration. An increase in the LPG flow rate, keeping constant the air to fuel ratio, increased the acoustic pressure amplitude and the frequency of oscillation. The injection of ammonia had no influence on either pressure amplitude or frequency.
06/02076 Interaction mechanism of flocculants with coal waste slurry Sabah, E. and Erkan, Z. E. Fuel, 2006, 85, 13), 350 359. Coal tailings are the inevitable by-product of coal mining and preparation plants, and often are problematic in terms of dewatering and solid-liquid separation. The interaction of multi-component fine coal tailings with various coagulants and flocculants are important in dewatering processes. Tun~bilek coal preparation plant wastes are composed of 81% inorganic solids with negative surface charges dominating at all pHs. The highest settling rate and turbidity values without flocculant are obtained at natural pH of 8.3 due to the presence of inorganic ions in the suspension particularly Mg 2+ and Ca "-+ that act as natural coagulants. Additon of medium and low charge density anionic flocculants with high molecular weight at natural pH produced higher settling rates at lower dosages than nonionic and cationic flocculants. It shown that the charge density of anionic flocculants has a signifcant effect on both settling rate and supernatant turbidity, also the settling rate increases with increasing the degree of anionicity. Anionic flocculants having high molecular weight and high anione charge density produced flocs at sufficient size necessary for settling conditions, yet anionic flocculants having.low charge density were more effective in the clarification of suspensions containing clay minerals of high stability. The multivalent ions act as a bridge between negatively charged coal, quartz and clay minerals with anionic groups ( C H 2 - ( C H - C = O ) - C O O groups) of the polymer. Non-ionic flocculants required higher dosages than other flocculants to achieve equivalent settling rates; though excellent turbidity values were obtained in most common pH values. Cationic flocculants of higher charge densities (%70) achieved good settling rates and low supernatant turbidities (9.9 NTU) at natural pH for a dosage of 119.7 g/tsolids flocculant. An interaction mechanism of each polymer type with different components of the tailings is proposed.
03
GASEOUS FUELS Sources, properties, recovery, treatment
06/02077 Assessment of desulfurization of natural gas by chemoautotrophic bacteria in an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) Amirfakhri, J. et al. Chemical Engineering and Processing, 2006, 45, (3), 232 237. The purpose of this study is to evaluate an anaerobic system (ABR) cultured by chemoautotrophic bacteria for biodesulfurization of natural gas. In this study anaerobic baffled reactor with five compartments and active volume of 10 1 was used. For increasing solid retention time, reactor was packed by pumice with 0.5-2 cm diameter which active volume decreased to 9 1. Inoculation was performed by activated sludge from municipal sewage treatment, which was kept in anaerobic condition for 1 year. The synthetic wastewater which contains $2032 ion was used in start-up and S -2 for running of ABR. Performance of the reactor was evaluated at three equivalent hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 50, 28, and 9 h, with the equivalent loading rate of 0.11, 0.2, and 0.62 mm01 S 2 1-1 h-l. Sulfide was converted to elemental sulfur and sulfate, so that more than 61% of the
Fuel and Energy Abstracts
September 2006 321
06/02071 Trends in scientific computing applied to petroleum exploration and production Guevara, S. E. et al. Ciencia Tecnologia y Futuro, 2002, 2, (3), 31 40. Current trends of computational tools in the upstream of the petroleum industry are presented. Several results and images obtained through commercial programs and through in-house software developments illustrate the topics discussed. They include several types of problems and programming paradigms. Emphasis is made on the future of parallel processing through the use of affordable, open systems, such as LINUX. This kind of technologies will likely make possible new research and industry applications, since quite advanced computational resources will be available to many people working in the area.
Derived liquid fuels 06/02072 Alumina-supported potassium iodide as a heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production from soybean oil Xie, W. and Li, H. Journal Qt" Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, 2006, 255, (1 2), l-9. Biodiesel fuel, a promising alternative diesel fuel produced by a catalytic transesterification of vegetable oils, has become more attractive recently because of its environmental concerns and the fact that it is made from renewable resources. In this work, the transesterification of soybean oil with methanol has been studied in a heterogeneous system, using alumina loaded with potassium iodide as a solid base catalyst. After loading KI of 35 wt% on alumina followed by calcination at 773 K for 3 h, the catalyst gave the highest basicity and the best catalytic activity for this reaction. The catalysts were characterized by means of XRD, IR, SEM and the Hammett indicator method. Moreover, the dependence of the conversion of soybean oil on the reaction variables such as the catalyst loading, the molar ratio of methanol to oil and the reaction time was studied. The conversion of 96% was achieved under the optimum reaction conditions. Besides, a correlation of the catalyst activity for the transesterification reaction with its basicity was proposed.
06/02073 An empirical approach in predicting biodiesel viscosity at various temperatures Krisnangkura, K. et al. Fuel, 2006, 85, (1), 107-113. A thermodynamic model is proposed for the determination of kinematic viscosities of saturated fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) of various chain lengths at different temperatures. The linearity of the natural logarithm of viscosity-carbon number, plot is limited to a narrow carbon number range. The predicted viscosities of FAMEs of C12:0-Cls:0, which are commonly found in vegetable oils and used as biodiesels, agree well with the experimental values. The highest difference is 0.354 cSt (5.60%), for methyl stearate at 40°C. When the proposed method for viscosity calculation of saturated FAMEs are used in combination with the methods for viscosities of biodiesel the mixtures, the predicted viscosities agree well with the values reported in the literatures and the measured values. The differences between the predicted viscosities and those reported in the literatures (at 40~C) are 1.08 to 8.56% (for eight different vegetable oil methyl esters). The differences between the predicted viscosities and the measured values for coconut methyl esters, at 25, 40 and 50°C are 9.20, 5.53 and 5.57%, respectively. The differences are slightly higher than those of palm oil methyl esters (4.48, 2.06 and 2.48%, respectively). The proposed method can also be applied to predict the viscosities of free fatty acids and it is speculated it may be applied to other homologous series as well.
06/02074 Catalytic denitrogenation of hydrocarbons through partial oxidation in supercritical water Yuan, P.-Q. et al. Fuel, 2006, 85, (3), 367-373. In this work, the denitrogenation of hydrocarbons under supercritical water oxidation environment was investigated in a rotated bomb reactor at 623-723 K and 25-35 MPa over sulfided NiMo catalyst. Quinoline was used as a model nitrogen-containing compound. A high reduction of total nitrogen up to about 85% was obtained. The denitrogenation pathway is composed of two consecutive steps: in situ Hz generation and the hydrogenation of quinoline. The hydrogenation mechanism of quinoline varies with reaction temperature because of
the participation of supercritical water in HDN step. The strong adsorption of quinoline and its hydrogenation intermediates on catalyst surface has an adverse influence on total nitrogen reduction rate.
06/02075 Experimental measurements of the NOx and CO concentrations operating in oscillatory and non-oscillatory burning conditions Martins, C. A. et al. Fuel, 2006, 85, (1), 84-93. The effects of combustion driven acoustic oscillations in carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides emission rates of a combustor operated with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were investigated. Because the fuel does not contain nitrogen, tests were also conducted with ammonia injected in the fuel, in order to study the formation of fuel NOx. The main conclusions were: (a) the pulsating combustion process is more efficient than the non-pulsating one and (b) the pulsating combustion process generates higher rates of NOx, with and without ammonia injection, as shown by CO and NO concentrations as function of the 02 concentration. An increase in the LPG flow rate, keeping constant the air to fuel ratio, increased the acoustic pressure amplitude and the frequency of oscillation. The injection of ammonia had no influence on either pressure amplitude or frequency.
06/02076 Interaction mechanism of flocculants with coal waste slurry Sabah, E. and Erkan, Z. E. Fuel, 2006, 85, 13), 350 359. Coal tailings are the inevitable by-product of coal mining and preparation plants, and often are problematic in terms of dewatering and solid-liquid separation. The interaction of multi-component fine coal tailings with various coagulants and flocculants are important in dewatering processes. Tun~bilek coal preparation plant wastes are composed of 81% inorganic solids with negative surface charges dominating at all pHs. The highest settling rate and turbidity values without flocculant are obtained at natural pH of 8.3 due to the presence of inorganic ions in the suspension particularly Mg 2+ and Ca "-+ that act as natural coagulants. Additon of medium and low charge density anionic flocculants with high molecular weight at natural pH produced higher settling rates at lower dosages than nonionic and cationic flocculants. It shown that the charge density of anionic flocculants has a signifcant effect on both settling rate and supernatant turbidity, also the settling rate increases with increasing the degree of anionicity. Anionic flocculants having high molecular weight and high anione charge density produced flocs at sufficient size necessary for settling conditions, yet anionic flocculants having.low charge density were more effective in the clarification of suspensions containing clay minerals of high stability. The multivalent ions act as a bridge between negatively charged coal, quartz and clay minerals with anionic groups ( C H 2 - ( C H - C = O ) - C O O groups) of the polymer. Non-ionic flocculants required higher dosages than other flocculants to achieve equivalent settling rates; though excellent turbidity values were obtained in most common pH values. Cationic flocculants of higher charge densities (%70) achieved good settling rates and low supernatant turbidities (9.9 NTU) at natural pH for a dosage of 119.7 g/tsolids flocculant. An interaction mechanism of each polymer type with different components of the tailings is proposed.
03
GASEOUS FUELS Sources, properties, recovery, treatment
06/02077 Assessment of desulfurization of natural gas by chemoautotrophic bacteria in an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) Amirfakhri, J. et al. Chemical Engineering and Processing, 2006, 45, (3), 232 237. The purpose of this study is to evaluate an anaerobic system (ABR) cultured by chemoautotrophic bacteria for biodesulfurization of natural gas. In this study anaerobic baffled reactor with five compartments and active volume of 10 1 was used. For increasing solid retention time, reactor was packed by pumice with 0.5-2 cm diameter which active volume decreased to 9 1. Inoculation was performed by activated sludge from municipal sewage treatment, which was kept in anaerobic condition for 1 year. The synthetic wastewater which contains $2032 ion was used in start-up and S -2 for running of ABR. Performance of the reactor was evaluated at three equivalent hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 50, 28, and 9 h, with the equivalent loading rate of 0.11, 0.2, and 0.62 mm01 S 2 1-1 h-l. Sulfide was converted to elemental sulfur and sulfate, so that more than 61% of the
Fuel and Energy Abstracts
September 2006 321