123,523 research outputs found
Pore structure characterization of low permeability rocks
Full text linkTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Engenharia de Materiais, Florianópolis, 2014.Hoje as pesquisas em rochas de baixa permeabilidade (grande tendência no mundo e em breve na indústria petrolífera brasileira) se voltam à escala de poros seja para investigação petrofísica, morfológica, de distribuição de tamanhos de grãos ou poros ou escoamento de fluidos, prática descrita pelos valores de permeabilidade. A avaliação destas propriedades por sua vez, é essencial ao desenvolvimento e exploração de reservas de hidrocarbonetos. No entanto, a determinação de parâmetros do sistema poroso nessas rochas, arenitos de baixa permeabilidade (TGS) e rochas selantes (SR), continua a ser um grande desafio devido à extrema variabilidade de ambientes deposicionais e complexa microestrutura composta por argilas e tamanhos de poros de submícrons a ångströms. Nesta tese empregou-se um conjunto de técnicas experimentais para a caracterização da estrutura porosa de TGS e SR. De tal modo, o trabalho foi dividido em dois tópicos principais: (i) Caracterização do sistema poroso e propriedades petrofísicas em TGS utilizando-se as técnicas de permeabilidade por decaimento de pulso (PDP), NMR de baixo campo, adsorção gasosa N2 (N2GA), porosimetria por intrusão Hg (MICP), nano- e microtomografia de raios X (res. Abstract : Nowadays, significant research effort in low-permeability rocks (a wide tendency elsewhere and soon in the Brazilian petroleum industry) has been focused on pore-scale petrophysics, morphologies and distributions, as well as fluid flow circulation described by the values of permeability. The evaluation of these properties in turn is essential for the assessment and exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves; however, determining pore system parameters in such rocks as tight gas sandstones (TGS) and seal rocks (SR) remains challenging because of the extreme variability in depositional environments resulting in complex pore structures comprised by clays and length scales from sub-microns to Angstroms. In this work we applied a set of techniques to characterize submicron-pore structures in TGS and SR. Therefore it was divided into two main topics of interest: (i) Characterization of petrophysical properties and pore systems in very low permeability TGS using Pulse-Decay Permeability (PDP), Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (LFNMR), Nitrogen Gas Adsorption (N2GA), Mercury Intrusion Capillary Pressure (MICP) and Multi-scale 3D X-ray Nano- and MicroCT (down to 0.7 µm resolution) techniques; (ii) Study of Photoacoustic Spectrometry (PAS) for determining thermal diffusivity (TD) and porosity in three seal rocks originating from dissimilar fields as a key issue for safe exploration, storage purposes (CO2 sequestration) and developments in shale characterization. The values obtained for TD were between 0.01667 and 0.09298 (cm2/s) while porosity ranged from 1.42 to 9%. For the analyzed TGS the 3D pore-structure characterization lead to pore tortuosity and shape factors ranges of 2.19-5.47 and 3.2-8.5, respectively, and pore size distributions tended to be bimodal for MICP, trimodal for 3D multi-scale and tetramodal for LFNMR measurements. The porosity values ranged from 1.94 to 11.96% obtained by the combination of N2GA and MICP techniques and permeability from 0.036 to 0.00066 mD by PDP technique. The measured pore-structure parameters were also used to predict empirical permeability in TGS (using e.g. Carman-Kozeny (Dullien, 1992) and Coates (1999) models). The set of applied methods has shown to be a useful tool for the unconventional reservoir characterization since it allows obtaining pore morphological and quantitative parameters which account for the permeability values
The selectivity, voltage-dependence and acid sensitivity of the tandem pore potassium channel TASK-1 : contributions of the pore domains
Full text linkWe have investigated the contribution to ionic
selectivity of residues in the selectivity filter and pore
helices of the P1 and P2 domains in the acid sensitive
potassium channel TASK-1. We used site directed mutagenesis
and electrophysiological studies, assisted by structural
models built through computational methods. We have
measured selectivity in channels expressed in Xenopus
oocytes, using voltage clamp to measure shifts in reversal
potential and current amplitudes when Rb+ or Na+ replaced
extracellular K+. Both P1 and P2 contribute to selectivity,
and most mutations, including mutation of residues in the
triplets GYG and GFG in P1 and P2, made channels nonselective.
We interpret the effects of these—and of other
mutations—in terms of the way the pore is likely to be
stabilised structurally. We show also that residues in the
outer pore mouth contribute to selectivity in TASK-1.
Mutations resulting in loss of selectivity (e.g. I94S, G95A)
were associated with slowing of the response of channels to
depolarisation. More important physiologically, pH sensitivity
is also lost or altered by such mutations. Mutations
that retained selectivity (e.g. I94L, I94V) also retained their
response to acidification. It is likely that responses both to
voltage and pH changes involve gating at the selectivity filter
A solid with a hierarchical tetramodal micro-meso-macro pore size distribution
No full textPorous solids have an important role in addressing some of the major energy-related problems facing society. Here we describe a porous solid, alpha-MnO2, with a hierarchical tetramodal pore size distribution spanning the micro-, meso-and macro pore range, centred at 0.48, 4.0, 18 and 70 nm. The hierarchical tetramodal structure is generated by the presence of potassium ions in the precursor solution within the channels of the porous silica template; the size of the potassium ion templates the microporosity of alpha-MnO2, whereas their reactivity with silica leads to larger mesopores and macroporosity, without destroying the mesostructure of the template. The hierarchical tetramodal pore size distribution influences the properties of alpha-MnO2 as a cathode in lithium batteries and as a catalyst, changing the behaviour, compared with its counterparts with only micropores or bimodal micro/mesopores. The approach has been extended to the preparation of LiMn2O4 with a hierarchical pore structure.Peer reviewe
Determinação de propriedades petrofísicas de rochas reservatórios usando modelos de redes de poros
Full text linkTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências e Engenharia de Materiais, Florianópolis, 2014A pesquisa na área de produção de petróleo tem como principal objetivo otimizar a exploração e elevar a recuperação nos campos petrolíferos. Assim, a caracterização e a determinação de propriedades petrofísicas de rochas reservatórios são alguns dos intentos da engenharia de petróleo. Embora existam diferentes tipos de rochas reservatórios, a maioria das reservas é encontrada em rochas areníticas e rochas carbonáticas, pois apresentam porosidade e permeabilidade adequadas à acumulação de petróleo. Enquanto arenitos são relativamente homogêneos, rochas carbonáticas podem apresentar significativas variações em relação ao tamanho e à distribuição de poros, dificultando a simulação de processos de transporte de fluidos ocorridos no meio poroso. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho propõe o desenvolvimento de um modelo de rede que represente o meio poroso de rochas reservatório e possibilite a predição das propriedades. Este modelo, intitulado de esferas máximas, utiliza imagens tridimensionais de amostras de reservatórios para extração de uma rede de poros-gargantas, preservando, de maneira geral, a geometria e topologia do meio poroso real. Como complementação, foi também aplicada uma metodologia baseada no algoritmo do eixo médio para representação do espaço poroso. Denominado de Pore Analysis Tools, este algoritmo é aplicado para verificar a consistência dos resultados obtidos pelo modelo proposto. Ambas as metodologias foram utilizadas para caracterizar o espaço poroso de amostras de rochas areníticas e carbonáticas. Para tanto, foram determinadas propriedades como porosidade, permeabilidade e curvas de pressão capilar, sendo algumas comparadas a resultados obtidos a partir de ensaios laboratoriais. Para as amostras analisadas, foram encontradas discrepâncias nos resultados oriundos dos modelos de redes, porém, são justificáveis devido à diferença na identificação de poros e gargantas nas redes extraídas. Ainda assim, os modelos de redes fornecem um maior conhecimento das características das rochas reservatórios, bem como possibilitam a rápida, prática e menos onerosa predição de propriedades petrofísicas para a qualificação dos reservatórios.Abstract: Research in oil production area aims to optimize the operation and increase the recovery in oil fields. Thus, the characterization and determination of petrophysical properties of the reservoir rocks are some attempts of petroleum engineering. Although there are different types of reservoir rocks, most reservoirs are found in carbonate and sandstone rocks, since they have appropriate porosity and permeability to oil accumulation. While sandstones are relatively homogeneous, carbonate rocks can get significant variations in relation to the size and distribution of pores, making the simulation of fluid transport processes occurring in the porous media difficult. In this sense, this study proposes the development of a network model that represents the reservoir rock porous media and enables the prediction of the properties. This model, called maximal spheres, uses three-dimensional images of samples from reservoirs to extract a pore-throats network, preserving, in general, the geometry and topology of real porous media. As complementation it was also applied a methodology based on the medial axis algorithm to represent the pore space. Called Pore Analysis Tools, this algorithm is applied to verify the consistency of results obtained by the proposed model. Both methods were used to characterize the pore space of sandstone and carbonate rocks samples. For that, it was determined properties such as porosity, permeability and capillary pressure curves, some compared to the results obtained from laboratory tests. For the samples analyzed, discrepancies were found in the results derived from network models, however, it is justifiable due to the difference in the pore and throat identification in the extracted networks. Still, the network models provide a better understanding of the characteristics of reservoir rocks, as well as provide quick, practical and less costly prediction of petrophysical properties for reservoir qualification
Pore solution composition of alkali-activated slag/fly ash pastes
No full textThe pore solutions of a series of hardened alkali-activated slag/fly ash pastes were extracted by the steel-die method, and analyzed using ICP-OES analysis technique. According to the saturation index from thermodynamic calculations, the pore solutions of alkali-activated slag pastes kept oversaturated with respect to solid reaction products with time. In the pore solutions of alkali-activated fly ash pastes, an increase of temperature (from 40 °C to 60 °C) led to decreases of the concentrations of Si, Al, Ca, Na, OH−, K, Fe and Mg, while the soluble silicate in the alkaline activator resulted in increases of the concentrations of these elements. Compared to the alkali-activated slag paste with the same alkaline activator, 50% replacement of slag by fly ash did not result in a substantial change of the pore solution composition. Based on the experimental results, conceptual models were proposed to describe the elemental concentrations in the pore solutions.Accepted Author ManuscriptMaterials and Environmen
Caracterização do espaço poroso em rochas por esferas máximas exatas
Full text linkDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da ComputaçãoNeste trabalho, uma modificação ao algoritmo de esferas máximas (MB) é proposto. Essa abordagem recebe o nome de esferas máximas exatas (EMB), por utilizar os raios exatos ao invés de duas aproximações. Tal mudança, traz consequências para o resultado final, definindo de forma mais detalhada a estrutura interna do espaço poroso, gerando cinquenta por cento mais poros e gargantas. Dessa forma, a rede gerada de modo exato é comparada a rede original, em características básicas e nas simulações de escoamento monofásico, obtendo-se resultados bem correlacionados e em mesma escala de grandeza para ambas, apesar de diferentes. Muitas otimizações para paralelização e dados comprimidos são propostas e o algoritmo exato, mesmo processando mais esferas, é de duas a seis mais rápido para todos os casos de estudo.In this work a maximum balls (MB) modification is presented. This novel approach receives the name of exact maximum balls (EMB) because it uses one exact radius instead of two approximations. Therefore, there are consequences to the generated pore network which is found out to define the pore space with at least fifty porcent more detail, that is, pores and throats. That way, the exact pore network is compared with the original and it is discovered that there is a strict correlation between their results and that these are always of the same magnitude, although different. Also, a lot of optimizations to process compressed data and to allow data parallelization are shown and the EMB pore network extraction is, in every test case, consistently faster than MB. The obtained speedup was from two up to six times
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Validação do cálculo de dados petrofísicos com base na caracterização de rochas de reservatório
Full text linkDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação, Florianópolis, 2012Esta dissertação tem como objetivo avaliar os cálculos de escoamento monofásico e o comportamento capilar das redes de poros e gargantas baseadas em raios exatos. O modelo usando raios exatos aborda modificações na formação da rede que precisam ser verificadas e analisadas para uma utilização mais confiável dessa abordagem. Para isso é efetuado um levantamento de dados referentes às permeabilidades absolutas, usando métodos bem documentados na literatura, para um conjunto amostral de rochas de reservatório. Após isso é verificado o comportamento da pressão capilar e a formação de resíduo no interior da rede de poros e gargantas. A comparação é realizada através de métodos computacionais desenvolvidos para este propósito. Os testes são feitos de maneira direta, os valores obtidos têm o objetivo de auxiliar o especialista na interpretação das amostras estudadas. Não será apontado qual método é o mais adequado para cada situação, mas sim, apresentados caminhos alternativos de análise e auxílio para avaliação criada pelo geólogo.<br
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Evidence for suboxic nitrification in recent marine sediments
Full text linkThe classical scheme of biogeochemical zones (BGZ) is known to be an oversimplification
of the microbial processes that occur in organic-rich marine sediments. Results from a coupled
deployment of pore-water gel probes in Loch Duich, Scotland, provide direct evidence for rapid
recycling within the iron reduction (FeR) and sulphate reduction (SR) zones. High resolution porewater
profiles obtained using diffusive equilibrium in thin films (DET) gel probes found a nitrate peak
at the boundary between the FeR and SR zones. This non-steady state feature is consistent with recycling
of reduced N occurring throughout the FeR zone. Both conventional pore-water iron profiles
and results from diffusive gradient in thin films (DGT) probes indicate that iron is solubilised and precipitated
in rapid Fe/S recycling reactions throughout the SR zone. The presence of such complex
recycling reactions confirms the oversimplification of the classical BGZ scheme
A surface-charge model for mudstones and the application to Pore Pressure Prediction
Full text linkNew geologic concepts have been developed that illuminate the critical role of bound water in the generation and prediction of overpressures in mudstones. The concept is based on new understanding of the surface-charge effects on water adsorbed on solid surfaces and comes in part from molecular modelling, atomic force measurements, and high-beam neutron diffraction studies reported in the literature. The picture that is emerging is as follows. Bound water on clay surfaces can support a lithostatic load. The bound water fraction increases with compaction, as free water is expelled, with a concomitant decrease in permeability. Overpressures commence at a threshold depth, the retention depth, where the rate of fluid loss is not sufficient to establish pressure equilibrium with the surface. With deeper burial there is a second threshold depth, a gating depth, where bound water condenses to a high-density phase. Below this gating depth, fluid expansion or other effects are responsible for secondary pressure anomalies. Knowledge of bound water effects accounts for discrepancies observed in laboratory measurements of mudstone properties. For instance, mercury intrusion and surface-area measurements depend strongly on how much (hygroscopic) bound water has-been absorbed or adsorbed on a sample before measurements. Surface charge effects tend to increase with compaction due, in part, to reduction of iron and beidellitization. A large data set for mudstones is used to show that the fraction of bound water tends to reach a maximum of almost 100 percent at a depth of 2 to 3 km. An important part of this research is the development of the empirical equation BW = 0.734 CEC (1-Փ)/Փ, where BW is bound water (fraction of total pore volume), Ф is porosity and CEC is cation-exchange capacity (expressed in meq/gm). Porosity and CEC are borehole derived using resistivity and acoustic methods described here. As an adjunct part of this research a software package (called P3) has been written that puts the concepts and relationships into practice
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