Volume & Issue: Volume 3, Issue 2 - Serial Number 8, September 2019 
Petroleum Engineering

Simulation and Optimization of Demercaptanization of Propane and Butane in South Pars Gas Refineries

Pages 3-14

Abdolmotaleb Bijani; Seyyed Hamid Esmaeili-Faraj; Mojtaba Daei Moghaddam

Abstract Propane and butane that are the contents of LPG are separated from natural gas in the unit 107 of 5th refinery of South Pars Gas Company (SPGC). The concentration of methyl mercaptan and ethyl mercaptan in the propane stream are 551 and 46ppm, respectively, and the concentration of these components in butane stream are 1218 ppm and 0.8%, respectively. In order to remove mercaptans from butane and propane, aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide with 15 to 20% wt. is used for the scrubbing. In this research, using the Petro-SIM software, which is a particular simulator for oil and gas industries, the units 113, 114, and 115 of 5th refinery of SPGC are simulated. The results of the simulation are compared with the data of both experimental data and design documents, and they are goodly match. Then, using the software optimizer the operating parameters is optimized. The optimization results show that by increasing the extraction temperature in the unit of 115 up to 46 ° C, the concentration of mercaptan in the products can be reduced. The other independent parameters do not affect the final result of the process.

drilling

Study of the rheological and compatibility behavior of sulfonated acrylamide copolymer/ wheat starch blends in aqueous media

Pages 15-27

Abdolamir Ostovari; Jamal Aalaie; Saeed Bazgir; Sanam Sepehri

Abstract In order to develop the scope of application of polymer materials in the preparation of drilling fluids, in this study, various blends of wheat starch and copolymer of sulfonated polyacrylamide were prepared and the rheology and compatibility behavior of samples under different salinity and aging conditions were evaluated. The rheological behavior of starch-polyacrylamide blends in tap water and saturated brine water showed that the viscosity of the samples increased with increasing concentration of polyacrylamide copolymer in the both media. However, starch-polyacrylamide blends in saturated brine had less viscosity than tap water. It was observed that in both tap water and salt water saturated conditions after 4 hours of aging at 90 ° C, the viscosity of most samples increased. Comparison of the curves for empirical viscosity data and prediction of the mixing rule showed that in both of tap water and salt saturated water, positive deviation from the mixing rule is observed, which indicates the compatibility between the blend components. By performing the aging process, although positive deviation was still observed, this positive deviation slightly decreased, which means the negative effect of aging on the compatibility of the starch- copolymer of sulfonated polyacrylamide blend.
In conclusion, the results of this study showed that the blend of starch- sulfonated polyacrylamide copolymer is compatible at high temperature (90 °C) and saturated NaCl salt wate. Moreover, in some samples, this compatibility exists even after aging.

enhanced oil recovery

The experimental study of the effect of polyacrylamide nanocomposite on reservoir rock and fluid properties in presence of formation water

Pages 29-41

Asghar Gandomkar; Fatemeh Nayeri; Neda Javanmard; Hadi Adloo; Mehdi Sharif

Abstract one of the most common improved oil recovery method in the world. High residual oil saturation at the end of this method is due to low macroscopic sweep efficiency and viscous fingering. It can be improved by the mobility control during polymer solution injection. In this study, by of silica/ the effect of it on IFT, viscosity, and was investigated. In addition, the performance of in high salinity water was studied by using nano particles. The zeta potential results show that the stability of polymer solution was enhanced in of nano particles in high salinity water condition. Also, the lowest IFT was obtained for contained 1 percent nano silica (18.34 ), and the most tendency to water wet conditions was provided for this concentration. In addition to, 1 percent nano silica/ has the best performance on formation water viscosity and improved the mobility ratio to 1.07, which it can increase the oil recovery.

Fuel Cell

Voltage control of Two-chamber microbial fuel using classical PI and MPC controller

Pages 43-53

Morteza Esfandyari; Mohammad Ali fanaei

Abstract In this paper, for control Voltage of two chamber Microbial fuel cell, two-type PI controller and MPC controller are used. For this purpose, two compartments of the model presented by Esfandyari et al. [1, 2] have been used to model the microbial fuel cell. Then, based on this model, a classic PI controller based on the internal model and a MPC controller was designed and implemented. Based on the designed controllers, it was adjusted by adjusting the flow rate of the substrate to changes usually introduced in turbulence, such as the concentration of input to the substrate, or the effect of the uncertainty in the parameters of the process model, such as rmax and Ks. The results show that the MPC controller has a better performance compared to the classic PI controller.

Drug delivery

Applying a system-oriented method for culture medium design to improve bio-ethanol production by synechocystis

Pages 55-67

Mohammad Ali Babazadegan; Ehsan Motamedian

Abstract The use of genetic engineering tools to produce industrial strains, especially from non-model microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, is always subject to limitations. In this research, a system-oriented method was used to design a culture medium instead of strain designing and its ability to increase ethanol production by Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 was experimentally evaluated. In this method, compounds are added to the medium to regulate the activity of target enzymes not for the purpose of being consumed by the cells, and thus, the designed culture medium eliminates the intracellular constraints on the production. A metabolic model was used to determine the minimum level of ethanol production and to identify genes that increase or decrease of their expression increase this minimum level. Then, regulators of the enzyme expressed by the target genes were extracted from the Brenda database and their effect on the production was evaluated experimentally and design of experiment was performed to optimize the concentration of the selected compounds. Among the compounds identified, two inhibitors (salicylic acid and mercuric chloride) and one activator (pyruvate) were selected to be added to the medium and their concentration was optimized using the central composite design method. The proposed regulatory medium increased the production of ethanol from 352 to 1116 mg/l, indicating the effectiveness of the added regulatory compounds on the cyanobacteria metabolism. The proposed system-oriented method can be used to design medium culture for other important bio-products such as recombinant proteins.

mass-transport

Fixed–bed column studies of U(VI) biosorption using Pseudomonas putida – Chitosan hybrid biosorbent

Pages 68-81

Hozhabr Sohbatzadeh; Ali reza Keshtkar; Jaber Safdari

Abstract In current research, Pseudomonas putida @ Chitosan hybrid biosorbent capability for U(VI) biosorption in a fixed bed column was investigated. The results showed that the increase in inlet concentration from 50 to 200 mg/L increased the biosorption capacity from 188.75 to 429.28 mg/g. In the column system, the sorption capacity was higher than that of the batch system because fixed bed column make best use of the inlet concentration difference as sorption driving force. Decrease in inlet flow rate through increase in the residence time for better diffusion or interaction as well as greater access to binding sites for uranium ions caused an improvement in column performance. Decline in the biosorption capacity due to increase in the inlet flow rate demonstrated that intraparticle diffusion was the rate-controlling step. With decreasing in the sorbent particle size from 1.5 to 1 mm, a significant increase in the biosorption capacity from 179.02 to 296.87 mg/g was achieved. FTIR and potentiometric titration confirmed that while –NH3+ was the dominant functional group in the chitosan, –NH3+, –NH3, –OH, –COOH were responsible for the hybrid biosorbent. In conclusion, the present study indicated that Pseudomonas putida @ Chitosan could be a suitable biosorbent for U(VI) biosorption from aqueous solution in the continuous system.