Petroleum industry applications related

It has been a decade and a half ce the first report of pillaring of the smectite clays. Since that time a better understanding of the formation of these phases and their characterization has occurred. Like the zeolite molecular sieves, the interest in these phases has mainly been confined to the petroleum industry and related applications. The direction of catalyst testing of the PLS is expected to parallel those areas now being pursued in the zeolite molecular sieves. 

The Marine Biotechnology Institute (MBI) was founded in 1987 for the study and applications of biodiversity in marine environments. Currently, and within the scope of the present book, the research area of relevance is industrial applications of microbiology . The institute also performs research in C02 fixation. The Applied Microbiology Laboratory is searching cost-effective utilization of microbes for environmental conservation and restoration. In particular, the decontamination of areas polluted with petroleum-related compounds has been addressed. Attention has been paid to removal of polycyclic hydrocarbons. They are also developing processing methods for the conversion of biomass and organic wastes by methane fermentation. 

Factor analysis extracts information from the sample data set (e.g., IR spectra) and does not rely on reference minerals. However, because abstract factors have no physical meaning, reference minerals may be needed in target transformations or other procedures to extract mineralogical information. One valuable piece of information obtainable without the use of extraneous data is the number of components required to represent the data within experimental error. Reported applications of factor analysis to mineralogy by FTIR are few (12). However, one commercial laboratory is offering routine FTIR mineral analyses to the petroleum industry, based on related methods (22). 

Vapor Phase Absorption. Absorption is closely related to extractive distillation, in that a solvent is used for the separation of one or more constituents from a gaseous mixture. In absorption, however, the mixture to be treated is comprised of compounds having relatively large differences in volatility and condensation cannot be conveniently used. The various absorption processes differ primarily in the means used to separate product and absorber oil. A typical example of the application of vapor phase absorption in the petroleum industry is the recovery of gasoline from natural gas. 

Refrigeration is best known for its use in the air conditioning of buildings and in the treatment, transportation, and preservation of foods and beverages. It also finds large-scale industrial use, for example, in the manufacture of ice and the dehydration of gases. Applications in the petroleum industry include lubricating-oil purification, low-temperature reactions, and separation of volatile hydro-1 carbons. A closely related process is gas liquefaction, which has important commercial applications. 

This paper describes the techniques employed by Texaco Inc., in making extensive patept and literature surveys as a background and basis for laboratory research. These techniques are fundamentally applicable to most searches relating to chemistry or any phase of the petroleum industry. 

The wide spectrum of self-assembly phenomena can be categorized in various ways. In this entry, we discuss the similarities and the differences between two- and three-dimensional systems. The last section of this entry describes recent and possible future applications of self-assembly processes, mainly related to advanced materials, environmental issues, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. Emulsions, microemulsions, and foams are examples of important and common applications in which self-assembly plays a key role. These have a wide variety of industry applications from cosmetics, foods, detergents, oil recovery, drug formulation/delivery, petroleum refining, and mining. As these are the subjects of other topics in this encyclopedia, they are not covered here. 

Optimization has many applications in chemical, mineral processing, oil and gas, petroleum, pharmaceuticals and related industries. Not surprisingly, it has attracted the interest and attention from many chemical engineers in both the academia and industry for several decades. Optimization of chemical and related processes requires a mathematical model that describes and predicts the process behavior. 

This chapter provides an introduction to the occurrence, properties, and importance of foams as they relate to the petroleum industry. The fundamental principles of colloid science may be applied in different ways to stabilize or destabilize foams. This application has practical importance because a desirable foam that must be stabilized at one stage of an oil production process, may be undesirable in another stage and necessitate a defoaming strategy. By emphasizing the definition of important terms, the importance of interfacial properties of foam making and stability is demonstrated. 

This glossary provides brief explanations for important terms in the study of suspensions that occur in the petroleum industry, whether such studies involve fundamental principles, experimental investigations, or industrial applications. Even when restricted to petroleum industry applicationsy the suspension field encompasses aspects of many disciplines and comprises a large body of terminology. This selection of frequently used terms includes scientific terms relating to the principles underlying suspension stability and properties. Cross-references for the more important synonyms and abbreviations are also included. 

The science of catalysis aims at two objectives basic knowledge and practical application. Practical application of any science is intimately related to economics and, accordingly, it is important to see what the driving forces are behind this fabulous application of catalysis in the world s petroleum industry. 

There are a number of reviews available for surfactants in specific industries [S7], and for specific surfactant classes. References [SJ-90] discuss methods for the determination of anionic surfactants, which are probably the most commonly encountered in the petroleum industry. Most of these latter methods are applicable only to the determination of sulfate- and sulfonate-functional surfactants. Probably the most common analysis method for anionic surfactants is Epton s two-phase titration method [9J, 92] or one of its variations [93, 94], Related, single-phase titrations can be performed and monitored by either surface tension [95] or surfactant-sensitive electrode [84, 85, 96-98] measurements. Grons-veld and Faber [99] discuss adaptation of the titration method to oleic phase samples. 

Petroleum solvents are relatively light petroleum cuts, in the C4 to C14 range, and have numerous applications in industry and agriculture. Their use is often related to their tendency to evaporate consequently, they are classified as a function of their boiling points. 

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