The Experimental and Numerical Studies on Gas Production from Hydrate Reservoir by Depressurization

A set of experimental system to study hydrate dissociation in porous media is built and some experiments on hydrate dissociation by depressurization are carried out. A mathematical model is developed to simulate the hydrate dissociation by depressurization in hydrate-bearing porous media. The model can be used to analyze the effects of the flow of multiphase fluids, the kinetic process and endothermic process of hydrate dissociation, ice-water phase equilibrium, the variation of permeability, convection and conduction on the hydrate dissociation, and gas and water productions. The numerical results agree well with the experimental results, which validate our mathematical model. For a 3-D hydrate reservoir of Class 3, the evolutions of pressure, temperature, and saturations are elucidated and the effects of some main parameters on gas and water rates are analyzed. Numerical results show that gas can be produced effectively from hydrate reservoir in the first stage of depressurization. Then, methods such as thermal stimulation or inhibitor injection should be considered due to the energy deficiency of formation energy. The numerical results for 3-D hydrate reservoir of Class 1 show that the overlying gas hydrate zone can apparently enhance gas rate and prolong life span of gas reservoir.

L-shell x-ray yields and production cross sections of Zr and Mo bombarded by slow highly charged Ar16+ ions

The L-shell x-ray yields of Zr and Mo bombarded by slow Ar16+ ions are measured. The energy of the Ar16+ ions ranges from about 150keV to 350keV. The L-shell x-ray production cross sections of Zr and Mo are extracted from these yields data. The explanation of these experimental results is in the framework of the adiabatic directionization and the binding energy modified BEA approximation. We consider, in the slow asymmetric collisions such as Ar and Mo/Zr, the transient united atoms (UA) are formed during the ion-surface interaction and the direct-ionization is the main mechanism for the inner-shell vacancy production. Generally, the theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental data.

Rare Earth Pyrophosphates: Effective Catalysts for the Production of Acrolein from Vapor-phase Dehydration of Glycerol

Vapor-phase dehydration of glycerol to produce acrolein was investigated at 320 A degrees C over rare earth (including La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) pyrophosphates, which were prepared by precipitation method. The most promising catalysts were characterized by means of XRD, FT-IR, TG-DTA, BET and NH3-TPD measurements. The excellent catalytic performance of rare earth pyrophosphate depends on the appropriate surface acidity which can be obtained by the control of pH value in the precipitation and the calcination temperature, e.g. Nd-4(P2O7)(3) precipitated at pH = 6 and calcined at 500 A degrees C in the catalyst preparation.

Production of active oxygen species from Taxus cuspidata induced by far-UV radiation

In order to understand the role of active oxygen species in mediating plant injuries induced by far-UV radiation, seedlings of Taxus cuspidata Sieb. et Zucc. were irradiated by far-UV rays in laboratory for 4 weeks. The production of organic free-radicals in detached needles, and the production of O-2(radical anion) and O-1(2) in isolated chloroplasts were detected weekly by electron spin resonance (ESR) to evaluate their relative importance. The results show that the cumulative effect of far-UV irradiation, is best indicated by the production of organic free radicals in the needles, O-2(radical anion) production in chloroplasts is the next. The enhancement of O-1(2) production in chloroplasts by the cumulative far-UV irradiation seems to be not so important as O-2(radical anion) in mediating injuries induced by, far-UV radiation because of its high background value.

Seasonal patterns of gross primary production and ecosystem respiration in an alpine meadow ecosystem on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

We measured the net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) in an alpine meadow ecosystem (latitude 37degrees29'-45'N, longitude 101degrees12'-23'E, 3250 m above sea level) on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau throughout 2002 by the eddy covariance method to examine the carbon dynamics and budget on this unique plateau. Diurnal changes in gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (R-e) showed that an afternoon increase of NEE was highly associated with an increase of R-e. Seasonal changes in GPP corresponded well to changes in the leaf area index and daily photosynthetic photon flux density. The ratio of GPP/R-e was high and reached about 2.0 during the peak growing season, which indicates that mainly autotrophic respiration controlled the carbon dynamics of the ecosystem. Seasonal changes in mean GPP and R-e showed compensatory behavior as reported for temperate and Mediterranean ecosystems, but those of GPP(max) and R-emax were poorly synchronized. The alpine ecosystem exhibited lower GPP (575 g C m(-2) y(-1)) than, but net ecosystem production (78.5 g C m(-2) y(-1)) similar to, that of subalpine forest ecosystems. The results suggest that the alpine meadow behaved as a CO2 sink during the 1-year measurement period but apparently sequestered a rather small amount of C in comparison with similar alpine ecosystems.