Due to the inappropriate treatment of dairy wastewater, which can easily cause underground water pollution, there is an increasing need for a novel approach to reuse dairy wastewater. The technology of microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation with environmentally friendly characteristics and high efficiency has been widely used for underground infrastructure remediation. However, there is a lack of in-depth research on the application of this technology under extreme underground environments, such as the borehole of oil wells with high temperature, high pressure, alkaline, and aerobic conditions. In addition, to reduce the cost of this technology when applied on a large scale, we adopted dairy wastewater to cultivate bacteria. Then, we put the bacterial solution into cement slurry in the borehole to improve the cementing quality. In this paper, the rheology properties, mechanical strength, permeability, porosity, and pore distribution of microbial cementing slurry were studied. Moreover, we applied this microbial cement slurry in the Chunguang 17-14 well of China, and the sealing channeling ability of cement sheath on site was evaluated. The results showed that dairy wastewater could serve as an alternative medium to provide nutrients and energy for the growth of bacteria with low cost. Additionally, the microbial cement slurry exhibited a good right-angle thickening performance and high mechanical strength. The field application displayed an anti-gas channeling ability after microbial remediation. The application of dairy wastewater incubated bacteria to cement slurry not only provides an alternative method for the reuse of dairy wastewater but is also conducive to prolonging the lifespan of oil wells.
Today, the issues related to solving the problem of finding an effective distribution of oil flows through the system of oil pipelines in order to reduce the total energy consumption are relevant. The solution to this problem is connected with selection of rational pumping modes for various technological sections of oil pipelines using modern methods of mathematical programming or new techniques for improving the energy and transport characteristics of oil. Reducing energy consumption during pumping of crude through oil trunk pipelines can be achieved by various methods. Numerous investigations in this direction are mainly carried out to save energy on separate single-line pipelines. However, due to the development of the network of trunk oil pipelines in the world over the past decades, the issues of energy efficient management of oil flows throughout the entire oil pipeline system of oil and gas enterprises become urgent. This paper analyses parameters for pipeline transport of high-viscosity and heavy oils. The article proposes a method for assessing the rheological properties of oil for further planning of pumping taking into account the preservation of oil quality and an increase in energy and transport characteristics. The proposed solutions and tasks for predicting changes in the viscosity-temperature characteristics of the flow for blends of different oil types are especially relevant in the current conditions of an increase in the share of oil production with complex rheological characteristics. Results of the presented investigations may be used for planning the measures of efficient transportation of high-viscosity and heavy oils.
This paper considers the issue of associated petroleum gas utilization during hydrocarbon production in remote petroleum fields. Due to the depletion of conventional oil and gas deposits around the globe, production shifts to hard-to-recover resources, such as heavy and high-viscosity oil that requires a greater amount of energy to be recovered. At the same time, large quantities of associated petroleum gas are extracted along with the oil. The gas can be utilized as a fuel for power generation. However, even the application of combined power modes (combined heat and power and combined cooling heat and power) cannot guarantee full utilization of the associated petroleum gas. Analysis of the electrical and heat loads’ graphs of several oil fields revealed that the generated thermal energy could not always be fully used. To improve the efficiency of the fuel’s energy potential conversion, an energy system with a binary power generation cycle was developed, consisting of two power installations—a main gas microturbine and an auxiliary steam turbine unit designed to power the technological objects in accordance with the enterprise’s power load charts. To provide for the most complete utilization of associated petroleum gas, a gas-to-liquid system is introduced, which converts the rest of the gas into synthetic liquid hydrocarbons that are used at the field. Processing of gas into various products also lowers the carbon footprint of the petroleum production. Application of an energy system with a binary power generation cycle makes it possible to achieve an electrical efficiency up to 55%, at the same time maintaining high efficiency of consumers’ energy supply during the year. The utilization of the associated petroleum gas in the developed system can reach 100%.
In this article, the authors reviewed a new technology to prevent the formation of asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits by the thermal method of electrothermal impact on the oil wellbore shaft using a wind-electric installation as an autonomous power source. The advantage of this thermal stimulation technique lies in its continuous nature, which will allow keeping the clear opening of the tubing constant. The scheme of the autonomous system for down-hole electric heating of oil is presented. A tubular or induction heater can serve as an electric heating element placed in the well. The heating element of the system can be used in the wells exploited by freeflow, gas lift and mechanized methods, while its installation does not require an overhaul. The paraffin oil saturation temperature and temperature distribution over the depth of the well were defined. The amount of heat, which must be transferred to the oil mixture in the tubing in order to ensure effective operation of the well, taking into account the dynamic state of the system, is calculated. The optimal depth of the heating element's location in the well and its power was determined. The calculation of the required power for wind-electric installation to maintain the set temperature in the wellbore was performed. Having conducted the studies, it was revealed that in order to prevent the asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits formation on the tubing walls of oil wells, it is expedient to use the in-line heater, which maintains the average steady-state temperature along the wellbore and at the wellhead above the initial crystallization point of the asphaltresin-paraffin deposits. The application of the developed electrothermal system is relevant in the conditions of formation of asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits in the wellbore shaft at the fields, which do not have a connection to the centralized power grid.
Filtration of the drilling mud is one of it's most important parameters, especially when drilling-in producing formation. Decrease of filtration characteristics allows reducing both solid and liquid phases's penetration zone into the formation. The study of the effect of the weighting-bridging agent's fractional composition on the filtration rate allows selecting of optimal composition of the solid phase in the the drilling mud. This paper presents studies of the static filtration rate of drilling mud with addition of various weighting-bridging agents. The obtained result indicates that an intensive decrease in the filtration rate is observed at calcium carbonate's introduction into the solution with an average particle size of up to 50 μm. Further studies should be directed to investigate the dynamic filtration rate, the possibility of "mixing" of various fractions in the composition of one solution and the evaluation of their influence on the filtration rate.
With the depletion of traditional energy resources, the share of heavy-oil production has been increasing recently. According to some estimates, their reserves account for 80% of the world’s oil resources. Costs for extraction of heavy oil and natural bitumen are 3–4 times higher than the costs of extracting light oil, which is due not only to higher density and viscosity indicators but also to insufficient development of equipment and technologies for the extraction, transportation, and processing of such oils. Currently, a single pipeline system is used to pump both light and heavy oil. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the features of the heavy-oil pumping mode. This paper presents mathematical models of heavy-oil flow in oil-field pipelines. The rheological properties of several heavy-oil samples were determined by experiments. The dependencies obtained were used as input data for a simulation model using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. The modeling condition investigates the range of shear rates up to 300 s−1. At the same time, results up to 30 s−1 are considered in the developed computational models. The methodology of the research is, thus, based on a CFD approach with experimental confirmation of the results obtained. The proposed rheological flow model for heavy oil reflects the dynamics of the internal structural transformation during petroleum transportation. The validity of the model is confirmed by a comparison between the theoretical and the obtained experimental results. The results of the conducted research can be considered during the selection of heavy-oil treatment techniques for its efficient transportation.
During well drilling in offshore conditions beyond the North of the Arctic Circle, there are often problems associated with deviations in the rheological parameters of the drilling mud as the temperature changes. Mud temperature in the upper part of the well in most cases is in the range up to 20 °C, whereas in the productive formation it is up to 80 °C and more. For such conditions, it is necessary to estimate the influence of temperature on the rheological parameters of drilling fluids, which is done in this paper. Compositions of water-based and hydrocarbon-based muds that may be used in the conditions of the offshore hydrocarbon fields were considered. The paper presents the authors’ formula for a drilling mud that possesses more stable rheological parameters in the temperature conditions of the offshore oil field and is more environmentally friendly. The physical properties of the newly designed drilling mud were measured with laboratory equipment. Rheological investigations were carried out under varying temperatures up to 80 °C. The results of the experiments show the newly designed drilling mud to be more stable than its hydrocarbon-based analogue. Besides, the newly developed composition has a lower content of solid phase, which is also an important parameter for the process of sea wells construction, often characterized by a narrow window of permissible pressure.
This article discusses methods of enhanced power generation using a binary power system with low-boiling fluid as an intermediate energy carrier. The binary power system consists of micro-gas and steam power units and is intended for remote standalone power supply. Trifluotrichloroethane was considered as the working agent of the binary cycle. The developed system was modeled by two parts in MATLAB Simulink and Aspen HYSYS. The model in Aspen HYSYS calculates the energy and material balance of the binary energy system. The model in MATLAB Simulink investigates the operation of power electronics in the energy system for quality power generation. The results of the simulation show that the efficiency of power generation in the range of 100 kW in the developed system with micro-turbine power units reaches 50%.