AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Conversion constants for mahogany-zone oil shale

The average Mahogany-zone value for the ratio of oil to organic matter is given in equation 1. Confidence limits at 95% are given for this and subsequent averages. Oil (wt % raw shale)/Organic matter (wt % raw shale) = 0.659 0.008 (1). Based on the actually determined organic carbon contents of the 10 individual samples analyzed, the average for the ratio of oil to organic carbon is given in equation 2. Oil (wt % raw shale)/Organic carbon (wt % raw shale) = 0.818 0.009 (2). These average values may be used to estimate the conversion from Mahogany-zone oil shales of similar grade. The conversion constants presented here are valid for shale yielding about 25 gal of oil per ton but are approximate for shales of other grades.

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Changes occurring in coal during in situ gasification. [MS Thesis based on physical and chemical study of residues combined with burn data - simulated]

The Morgantown Energy Research Center's simulated in situ gasification experiments combusted lignite and bituminous coals under nearly identical conditions. This permits some conclusions to be made based upon the results and residues from these two different types of coal. Many of the conclusions, however, are inferences based upon the limited data from the analyses of the residues from these three simulated in situ gasification experiments. The investigation utilized several standard coal and coke analysis techniques to chemically, physically, and petrographically characterize the coal and the residues left after its gasification experiments. Additional comparisons of these residues to carbonized coal were made largely because of their visual similarities. These comparisons provide added insight into the changes the in situ gasification residues undergo. The study includes a discussion of the MERC experiments, a literature review of in situ gasification and its component processes, the methods used, results, conclusions and recommendations. Twenty-one specific conclusions are listed. (LTN)

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Overburden characterization and post-burn study of the Hoe Creek, Wyoming underground coal gasification site and comparison with the Hanna, Wyoming site

In 1978 the third test (Hoe Creek III) in a series of underground coal gasification (UCG) experiments was completed at a site south of Gillette, Wyoming. The post-burn study of the geology of the overburden and interlayered rock of the two coal seams affected by the experiment is based on the study of fifteen cores. The primary purpose of the study was to characterize the geology of the overburden and interlayered rock and to determine and evaluate the mineralogical and textural changes that were imposed by the experiment. Within the burn cavity the various sedimentary units have been brecciated and thermally altered to form several pyrometamorphic rock types of paralava rock, paralava breccia, buchite, buchite breccia and hornfels. High temperature minerals of mullite, cordierite, oligo-clase-andesine, tridymite, cristobalite, clinopyroxenes, and magnetite are common in the pyrometamorphic rocks. The habit of these minerals indicates that they crystallized from a melt. These minerals and textures suggest that the rocks were formed at temperatures between 1200/sup 0/ and 1400/sup 0/C. A comparison of geologic and geological-technological factors between the Hoe Creek III site, which experienced substantial roof collapse, and the Hanna II site, which had only moderate roof collapse, indicates that overburden thickness relative to coal seam thickness, degree of induration of overburden rock, injection-production well spacing, and ultimate cavity size are important controls of roof collapse in the structural setting of the two sites.

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Kinetics of hydrogenation of alternative crude oils. Final report, August 1, 1980-July 31, 1982. [Contains 1586 bibliographic citations]

The objectives of this study were to analyze alternate crudes kinetic hydrotreatment data in the literature, develop a mathematical model for interpretation of these data, develop an experimental procedure and apparatus to collect accurate kinetic data, and finally, to combine the model and experimental data to develop a general model which, with a few experimental parameters, could be used in design of future hydrotreatment processes. These objectives were to cover a four year program (1980 to 1984) and were subjective to sufficient funding. Only partial funding has been available thus far to cover activities for two years. A hydrotreatment data base is developed which contains over 2000 citations, stored in a microcomputer. About 50% of these are reviewed, classified and can be identified by feedstock, catalyst, reactor type and other process characteristics. Tests of published hydrodesulfurization data indicate the problems with simple n-th order, global kinetic models, and point to the value of developing intrinsic reaction kinetic models to describe the reaction processes. A Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model coupled with a plug flow reactor design equation has been developed and used for published data evaluation. An experimental system and procedure have been designed and constructed, which can be used for kinetic studies. 30 references, 4 tables.

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Finite-element modeling of thermo-mechanical responses associated with underground coal conversion

The in-situ gasification of coal has received increased international attention. Several technical, environmental, safety, and economic considerations have been indicated as potential advantages. The controlled extraction of this resource requires laboratory experiments, mathematical modeling, and field tests. The prediction of temperature, stress and gasification chamber configuration is a pre-requiste in evaluating process mechanisms, roof collapse, combustion stability, and optimization of commercial projects. The thermo-mechanical response are obtained by using the finite element method. The energy generated by the coal combustion at the burn front is quantitatively introduced in the heat conduction equation. The gasification chamber configuration is defined by an assumed reference front isotherm. Thermo-elastic and thermo-plastic constitutive relations along with failure criteria are used in predicting the failure fronts. The incorporation of the burn front propagation and the collapse of failed overburden determines the chamber configuration. Temperature dependent material propertis are used in the vicinity of the gasification chamber boundary. The formulation is used to simulate several field tests. The computed gasification chamber configuration and the experimental field results are compared and favorable agreement is obtained. The thermo-mechanical formulation is demonstrated to be a practical technique for predicting the transient gasification chamber configuration and the ground movement. Recommendations for improving the thermo-mechanical formulation and computational techniques are given.

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Low-Temperature Oxidation of viscous crude oils

"During in-situ combustion, oxygen can bypass the flame front and react with oil at relatively low temperatures (T<400 degrees F) compared to combustion. These reactions, referred to collectively as Low Temperature Oxidation (LTO), can adversely affect the crude’s physical and chemical properties and result in lower oil recovery. In this paper, the results of a laboratory study on the low temperature oxidation of four oils are presented. The oils range in API gravity from 31.1 to 10.1 degrees and in dead oil viscosity (85 degrees F) from 14 to 54,300 cp. They include two biodegraded oils, mature crude, and immature heavy oil. The low temperature oxidation of these oils is reported as functions of reaction time (16-336 hours), oxygen partial pressure (150-700 psia) and temperature (72-450 degrees F).  Low temperature oxidation is shown to increase both oil viscosity and density. For the 31.1 degrees API oil, these increases are minor and should have insignificant effects on process performance. However, for the heavier oils, the viscosity of the oxidized oils increases exponentially with increasing extents of oxidation, WO2 (mg O2 reacted per gram of oil). A relatively minor oxidation (40 mg/g) result in a six fold increase is shown to be dependent on oil’s API gravity, origin, and composition.  The compositions’ changes accompanying low temperature oxidation are also discussed. LTO is shown to significantly increase the asphaltene content of the oxidized oils and a correlation is presented between asphaltene content and XO2. Simulated distillation results demonstrate that LTO does not significantly impact the volatility or carbon number distributions of either the light or heavy oils. The observed physical and compositional property changes are shown to be consistent oils/resins/asphaltenes/coke.  In these reactions, the native resin fraction is believed to be the most easily oxidized component of the crude. Of the saturates and aromatics that comprise the oils fraction. Adegbesan et al. and Babu and Cormack have observed that the aromatics are significantly more reactive. The saturates appear to be unaffected by LTC.  In this paper, the results of a laboratory study on the LTO of four crudes are presented. The objective of this work was to characterize the reactivity/reactions of these crudes and to investigate the effects that LTO has on their physical and chemical properties. The four oils rage in API gravity (60 degrees F) from 31.1 to 10.1 and in dead oil viscosity (85 degrees F) from 14 to 54,300 cp. They include two biodegraded crudes, immature heavy oil, and mature oil. In the following sections, the results of a LTO study of these four oils are presented. The experimental matrix includes the effects of reaction time (16-336 hrs), oxygen partial pressure (150-700 psia), and temperature (72-450 degrees F). The compositional changes via elemental analysis, gas composition, asphaltene content, FTIR spectroscopy, and simulated distillation by OC accompanying LTO are discussed and related to oil properties (volatility, u and p), reaction mechanisms, and the extent of oxidation."

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Chemical vapor deposition of group IVb, Vb, and VIb elements with nonmetals. A literature review. Information circular

The Bureau of Mines reviewed the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) literature on the nonmetal binary and ternary compounds of the group IVB, VB, and VIB elements, with emphasis directed to the following nonmetals: B, C, N, O, and Si. This review examines each of these binary and selected ternary compounds of the group IVB, VB, and VIB elements as coatings and gives some of their preparative methods, uses, and properties. A total of 259 references were found for these compounds of the nine elements. This review was utilized in the Bureau’s research to provide abrasion-, erosion-, and corrosion-resistant coatings in order to conserve critical metals and protect various metallic surfaces in metallurgical, mining, and energy conversion systems.

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Arctic ice island and sea ice movements and mechanical properties. Second quarterly report, 1 January-31 March 1984

Research activities for the second quarter are presented for the following tasks: (1) ice island; (2) Chukchi Sea pack ice age; and (3) mechanical properties of sea spray ice bonds structures. The research program on ice islands has four objectives: (1) establish a time history of all of the Arctic ice shelves and an historically-verified source function for ice islands through the use of aerial photography, satellite imagery, and all available historical records; (2) establish positioning buoys on the existing ice islands to track their trajectories daily and to telemeter daily barometric pressure and temperature, via System Argos; (3) relate geostrophic winds to the observed trajectories; (4) build a pseudo-random model for ice island motion over the long term which will enable a determination of the probability of interaction ice islands and offshore structures. Task 2 is designed to determine probabilities of ice-free summer periods, their duration and extent, for the US portion of the Chukchi Sea. The emphasis on Task 3 is to measure the bond strength between the spray ice and various coatings which might be used on offshore structures. Significant progress was made on all three tasks and detailed reports are presented. 54 figures.

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Explosively produced fracture of oil shale. Progress report, April-June 1982

The Los Alamos National Laboratory is conducting rock fragmentation research in oil shale to develop the blasting technologies and designs required to prepare a rubble bed for a modified in situ retort. The first section of this report describes the progress in our experimental work at Anvil Points Mine in cooperation with the Oil Shale Consortium, Sandia National Laboratories, and Science Applications, Inc. It details further studies in explosive characterization and in validation of numerical calculation techniques. It also discusses the development of a physical theory for the determination of permeability and describes the file experiments conducted this quarter. The second section focuses on the cratering experiments at the Colony Mine and the influence of site-specific geology on oil shale fragmentation experiments. 40 figures, 1 table.

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Flow non-uniformities in packed beds:  effect on dispersion

A general equation is derived for the dispersion coefficient in a packed bed under conditions of non-uniform, one dimensional flow. Predictions of the theory are analyzed for the simple case of two concentric annular regions in a cylindrical packed bed with different void fractions. Small differences in void fraction can lead to significant changes in the dispersion coefficient for the packed bed, both in laminar and turbulent flow regimes. The radial variations of the average residence time and spread of a pulse of non-reactive tracer are investigated.

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Summary of the geology at the underground coal gasification site, Pricetown, WV

The Morgantown Energy Technology Center is planning to conduct a field experiment for the in situ recovery of the Pittsburgh Coal at the Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) test site, Pricetown, West Virginia. Since the project's inception, field data have been collected and used to evaluate the pre-burn character of the coal seam and the adjacent strata. The results show that the Pittsburgh Coal, at the study area, is a rock unit commonly split into two sub-units with a total thickness not generally exceeding eight feet. It is a relatively deep, bituminous bed that is approximately 900 feet below the surface. The face cleat orientation, which corresponds to the direction of gaseous flow during a UCG test, is about N73/sup 0/W. The rate of water influx into the wellbore, an indicator of in situ permeability, is on the order of half a gallon per day. The strata overlying the coalbed consist generally of a unit of gray shale, three to four feet thick, followed by a thick sequence (about ninety feet) of limestone and lime shale; deposited below the Pittsburgh Coal is an apparently thick unit of gray shale. And finally, the field is characterized by gently dipping sedimentary beds which do not show any vertical displacement indicative of dip slip or oblique slip type faulting. With respect to this underground coal gasification experiment, adverse effects from these subsurface, geologic conditions should be minimal.

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Rawlins UCG (underground coal gasification) Demonstration Project site characterization report

The US Department of Energy and Energy International, Inc. have entered into a Cooperative Agreement to conduct a cost-shared UCG field test demonstrating the operation of commercial scale underground coal gasification (UCG) on steeply dipping bed modules to provide synthesis gas for a small scale commercial ammonia plant. The field test and the commercial ammonia plant will be located at the North Knobs site near Rawlins, Wyoming. During this demonstration test, two or more UCG modules will be operated simultaneously until one module is completely consumed and an additional module is brought on line. During this period, the average coal gasification rate will be between 500 and 1200 tons per day. A portion of the raw UCG product gas will be cleaned and converted into a synthesis gas, which will be used as feedstock to a 400--500 ton per day ammonia plant. The UCG facility will continue to operate subsequent to the test demonstration to provide feedstock for the commercial plant. The objective of the geologic site characterization program is to provide a descriptive model that accurately represents the geologic environment of the coal resource that is to be gasified. This model is to be used as an aid in understanding the hydrology of the coal bearing sequence, as a framework for installation of the process wells and the subsequent exploitation of the coal resources. 3 figs., 3 tabs.

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Measurement of the flow properties of coals for in-situ gasification. Progress report, July 1978--September 1978. [As a function of water saturation and orientation]

The effective and relative permeabilities of Hanna, Wyoming sub-bituminous coals and Texas lignites to nitrogen and carbon dioxide were measured as functions of water saturation and structural orientation at simulated overburden pressures of 200 psig and 400 psig. Porosity values derived from water saturation and shrinkage values were also obtained for the six Hanna and three lignite samples which were tested. The results of permeability tests on five Texas lignites reported previously were coupled with the three new runs to obtain average relative permeability curves for the lignites. The present work merely adds to the statistical population developed under the contract and analysis will be a partial function of the final report.

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Analysis of chemical reaction kinetics using a distribution of activation energies and simpler models

Chemical reaction kinetics for natural materials (e.g., fossil fuels) can often be accurately described by models using a distribution of activation energies. To investigate the general applicability of simpler models, reaction rates and fractions reacted at various heating rates or constant temperatures are calculated using an assumed average activation energy (E) with Gaussian distributions of various widths (< = 0-16% of E). Then the reaction rates or the integrated reaction rates are fit to simpler expressions. Effective kinetic parameters are presented for nonisothermal and isothermal conditions. Two methods are discussed for determining the actual activation energy distribution parameters (A, E, and <). The most general method is multiple nonlinear regression of reaction rates or integrals at two or more heating rates. A faster method utilizes linear regression to obtain E and an approximate value of A, followed by the determination of < and a more accurate value of A from simple correlations developed from model calculations. Finally, effective kinetic parameters for a reaction that has a distribution of activation energies depend on the extent of prereaction (e.g., maturity of petroleum source rocks). Calculated reaction rates are analyzed to determine effective parameters for prereactions of 0-90%. The effective activation energy of the remaining material increases with maturity from an artificially low value to approximately the true average value at high maturity. We also present correlations of T/sub max/ (temperature at which the reaction rate is maximum for a constant heating rate process) with sigma/sub e/ and maturity. 28 references, 11 figures, 4 tables.

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Influence of chemical factors on primary processing of Utah tar sand bitumen

Results of coking, catalytic cracking, and hydropyrolysis of Asphalt Ridge bitumen are compared. The unusual chemical nature of Uinta Basin bitumen requires that examination of various primary processes and a search for optimum conversion conditions be made. The principal chemical objective in primary processing is to reduce the molecular weight with a minimum cost in light product yields and a minimum requirement for hydrogen. Coking was shown to produce high yields of liquids and gases with a low sulfur coke as a potentially valuable by-product. Temperature was shown to have a significant effect on total yields in coking but had little effect on volatiles composition. Pressure was shown to have a significant effect both on composition and yields. Catalytic cracking produced high yields of liquids and gaseous products. Further research to find optimum conditions and the most appropriate role for catalytic cracking in bitumen processing is indicated. Hydropyrolysis was shown to convert bitumen in virtually 100% yields to gases and medium volatility liquids with low consumptions of hydrogen. This process shows good potential as a viable primary processing step. Analysis revealed that the structure of products can be significantly affected by various processing sequences studied. Analytical results are highly instructive as to what must be accomplished chemically during the conversion of virgin bitumen. The structure of the products also gives important clues as to the gross mechanisms of conversion. The results provide a basis for further evaluation of the most desirable approach to processing of Uinta Basin bitumen.

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Dynamic fracture and fragmentation of oil shale:  application of a numerical model to a blast design

A portion of Sandia's rock mechanics program has been directed at the study of the fracture and fragmentation properties of oil shale, with a goal of developing computational procedures for use in designing and/or evaluating blasting concepts for preparing in situ retort beds. A variety of experiments have revealed that the failure phenomenon in oil shale is highly strain-rate dependent. Data from the experiments have provided a base for a computational model for dynamic fracture and fragmentation. This model has been incorporated into a two-dimensional wavecode called TOODY and is now ready rudimentary assessments of practical blasting schemes. Such an application has recently been undertaken for a modified in-situ blasting concept which uses an array of vertically oriented explosive charges configured and sequentially detonated in decks. The charges are in boreholes drilled from a horizontal surface (floor or back) of a mined cavity. Within each deck the charges are in a square pattern. From deck-to-deck, the positions of the square patterns alternate so charges in one deck are centered with respect to charges in an adjacent deck. The computational procedures have been used to evaluate the fracturing and fragmentation that occur in the rock surrounding each charge and to determine some of the key parameters of the blast design (spacing between charges, burden thicknesses, explosive quantity requirements, etc.).

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Role of ground water and other natural factors in the underground gasification of coal (with the Lisichansk facility and the one outside Moscow as examples). [USSR]

The Moscow area of underground gasification of coal (UGC) lies 3 km south of Tula; it is situated within the Tulsko-Likhvinskii mound, on the northern slope of the Tulskaya upland, and occupies part of the water-divided region between the Upa River and Voronka River, its left- hand tributary. The surface of the area is undulating, with a general inclination to the northeast. Along its margins the area is broken up by a network of ravines. All the large ravines have steady water flows of 1 to 5 cu m/h. The gas generators of the Podmoskovnaya station are shaftless, with 25 x 25 and 25 x 35 networks of holes. Most of the holes have been linked by the filtration method. Electrolinking has been mastered in 1954. The gasification is conducted with an air blast. Gas generators 3 and 4 started production in 1947 to 1948, the other (2, 5, 5a, and 6) in subsequent years. The overall area subjected to gasification by Oct. 1, 1954 was 1.3 sq km.

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