Paste oil recoveries

To eliminate the high pressure resulting from the excessive water, we studied the use of dried SWL solids in several experiments. It was never possible completely to recover pasting oil when the dried solids were used. At 380°C. the paste oil was nearly recovered, but the monophenol yield was low. At 428°C., the paste oil recovery was lower, and the monophenol yield was higher. In one experiment the dried solids were extracted with liquid ammonia so that carbohydrate material would be removed from the calcium lignin sulfonate. Approximately 10% of the solids were removed... 

As the result of many experiments, we concluded that a 55% concentrate of desugared, spent liquor was the best lignin starting material, based on cheapness and paste oil recovery. We also concluded that light oils (containing many hydrocarbons, etc. such as cyclohexane and benzene),... 

Interest in the chemistry of water-soluble polymers (polyelectrolytes) has been continually increasing during the past 45 years. The tremendous scope of utility for water-soluble polymers has led to a vigorous search for new materials and the rapid development of polyelectrolytes into a dynamic field of industrial research. Growth in this field has been especially rapid since 1960 and today, many companies are engaged in synthesis and applications research on polyelectrolytes that are primarily used in four main marketing areas water treatment, paper, textiles, and oil recovery [1]. Polyacrylamide gel was also used as soil conditioner [2-4]. 

This multitude of properties the polymer must possess dictate that better polymer performance will be obtained from materials with complicated structures. Such polymers are complex polymers l) random copolymers, 2) block copolymers, 3) graft copolymers, 4) micellizing copolymers, and 5) network copolymers. There has been a dramatic increase in the past decade in the number and complexity of these copolymers and a sizable number of these new products have been made from natural products. The synthesis, analysis, and testing of lignin and starch, natural product copolymers, with particular emphasis on graft copolymers designed for enhanced oil recovery, will be presented. 

RME shows particular promise in the recovery of proteins/enzymes [12-14]. In the past two decades, the potential of RME in the separation of biological macromolecules has been demonstrated [15-20]. RMs have also been used as media for hosting enzymatic reactions [21-23]. Martinek et al. [24] were the first to demonstrate the catalytic activity of a-chymotrypsin in RMs of bis (2-ethyl-hexyl) sodium sulfosuccinate (Aerosol-OT or AOT) in octane. Since then, many enzymes have been solubilized and studied for their activity in RMs. Other important applications of RME include tertiary oil recovery [25], extraction of metals from raw ores [26], and in drug delivery [27]. Application of RMs/mi-croemulsions/surfactant emulsions were recognized as a simple and highly effective method for enzyme immobilization for carrying out several enzymatic transformations [28-31]. Recently, Scheper and coworkers have provided a detailed account on the emulsion immobiUzed enzymes in an exhaustive review [32]. 

Over the past decade, much progress in supercritical fluid technology has occurred. For example, supercritical fluids have found widespread use in extractions (2-5), chromatography (6-9), chemical reaction processes (10,11), and oil recovery (12). Most recently, they have even been used as a solvent for carrying out enzyme-based reactions (14). Unfortunately, although supercritical fluids are used effectively in a myriad of areas, there is still a lack of a detailed understanding of fundamental processes that govern these peculiar solvents. 

Electrokinetics is an in situ remediation technology applicable to soil or soil-like material with low hydraulic conductivities (e.g., clay) contaminated with heavy metals, radionuclides, and selected organic pollutants. The technique has been used in the past in the oil recovery industry and to remove water from soils. 

More than one hundred years ago, certain fundamental principles in supercritical extraction had already been known, but viable processes for using this technique developed slowly. In the past two decades, process engineers in several industries have been interested in using supercritical fluids to extract soluble nonvolatile components from mixtures. One of many examples is enhanced oil recovery using carbon dioxide. Another is the fractionation of cod-liver oil using supercritical ethane (1). 

During the past two decades, much attention has been focused on enhanced oil recovery by chemical flooding processes in order to increase the world-wide energy supply. It is well recognized that the... 

During the past decade, it has been reported that many surfactant formulations for enhanced oil recovery generally form multiphase microemulsions (18-20). From these studies, it is evident... 

The proportion of enhanced oil production that is caused by hydrocarbon-miscible and, to a lesser extent, immiscible flooding is evident from Table I. Hydrocarbon-flooding dominates in Canada, where it accounts for 81% of Canada s enhanced oil recovery (EOR) production. Although steam-flooding is the most commonly applied EOR process in the United States, oil production from hydrocarbon-flooding is significant and has increased by more than the production from any other EOR process over the past 2 years. In countries other than the United States and Canada, most of the oil recovered by hydrocarbon-flooding comes from Libya, but hydrocarbon injection is also applied in the Soviet countries and in the United Arab Emirates (J). 

X HE USE OF HYDROPHOBIC INTERACTIONS to produce associative thickeners has increased markedly over the past 10 years in such diverse areas as surface coatings and enhanced oil recovery. The desired thickening properties are produced by relatively low molecular weight polymers that are reversibly cross-linked by pendant hydrophobic moieties to give a three-dimensional network. To maintain solubility, the number of hydrophobes per soluble molecule is low, and the chain length is typical of that used in surfactants (i.e., Cs-Cie). In solution, the hydrophobes appear to associate in an analogous fashion to micellization, in that, in the absence of surfactants. 

Because of these unique properties, xanthan gum has utility in a wide range of applications. In the petroleum area, xanthan gum is used to thicken oil-well drilling fluids and to provide viscous aqueous solutions for enhanced oil recovery. In the industrial area, xanthan gum finds utility in thickening textile printing pastes, acid and alkaline cleaners, slurry explosive formulations, and in a wide range of other industrial applications. 

In the past, emulsion properties were seen from a physical point of view to involve forces and hydrody-namic motion in the interdrop thin film. Thanks to the physicochemical concepts developed for the enhanced oil-recovery processes, a newer physicochemical approach, based on a molecular description of the interaction between the interfacially adsorbed surfactant and the oil and water phases, is now available and will be emphasized here. 

In typical offshore production the fluids produced are gathered into a collection line or common manifold. All the lines that feed into this manifold have been subjected to chemicals such as corrosion inhibitors, scale inhibitors, wax inhibitors, and hydrate inhibitors. In enhanced oil recovery of conventional crudes, siufactant micellar floods have been used in the past to promote recovery. For heavy oil, fluid flow is enhanced by viscosity-reducing agents and or diluents. The reality is a more complex system for upgrading or refining. 

Polyacrylamides (PA) are some of the most widely used water soluble polymers. Their long chain-linearity and their versatility have led to many successful applications over the past two decades. The biggest market sector for PA s today is municipal and industrial waste water treatment, where they are used as flocculants. Other applications range from enhanced oil recovery to textile sizing. 

Anionic surfactants with sulfonates, carboxylates, sulfate and posphonate monoester groups as well as biosurfactants have been employed in oil recovery processes. Among these groups, sulfonates have been widely used in EOR processes during the past years. 

This S3nnposium includes two overview invited lectures by Professor J. J. Taber on "Enhanced Oil Recovery Past, Present and Future" and Professor H. F. Eicke on "Aggregation in Surfactant Solutions Formation and Properties of Micelles and Micro-... 

RESEARCH ON ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE... 

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