Rheology of milk foams produced by steam injection

Rheology of milk foams generated by steam injection was studied during the transient destabilization process using steady flow and dynamic oscillatory techniques: yield stress (τ_y) values were obtained from a stress ramp (0.2 to 25 Pa) and from strain amplitude sweep (0.001 to 3 at 1 Hz of frequency); elastic (G') and viscous (G") moduli were measured by frequency sweep (0.1 to 150 Hz at 0.05 of strain); and the apparent viscosity (η_a) was obtained from the flow curves generated from the stress ramp. The effect of plate roughness and the sweep time on τ_y was also assessed. Yield stress was found to increase with plate roughness whereas it decreased with the sweep time. The values of yield stress and moduli—G' and G"—increased during foam destabilization as a consequence of the changes in foam properties, especially the gas volume fraction, φ, and bubble size, R_32 (Sauter mean bubble radius). Thus, a relationship between τ_y, φ, R_32, and σ (surface tension) was established. The changes in the apparent viscosity, η, showed that the foams behaved like a shear thinning fluid beyond the yield point, fitting the modified Cross model with the relaxation time parameter (λ) also depending on the gas volume fraction. Overall, it was concluded that the viscoelastic behavior of the foam below the yield point and liquid-like behavior thereafter both vary during destabilization due to changes in the foam characteristics.

Production of milk foams by steam injection: the effects of steam pressure and nozzle design

Foam properties depend on the physico-chemical characteristics of the continuous phase, the method of production and process conditions employed; however the preparation of barista-style milk foams in coffee shops by injection of steam uses milk as its main ingredient which limits the control of foam properties by changing the biochemical characteristics of the continuous phase. Therefore, the control of process conditions and nozzle design are the only ways available to produce foams with diverse properties. Milk foams were produced employing different steam pressures (100-280 kPa gauge) and nozzle designs (ejector, plunging-jet and confined-jet nozzles). The foamability of milk, and the stability, bubble size and texture of the foams were investigated. Variations in steam pressure and nozzle design changed the hydrodynamic conditions during foam production, resulting in foams having a range of properties. Steam pressure influenced foam characteristics, although the net effect depended on the nozzle design used. These results suggest that, in addition to the physicochemical determinants of milk, the foam properties can also be controlled by changing the steam pressure and nozzle design.

Design of a Self-Adaptive Down-Hole Layered Steam Injector and Its Application

Layered steam injection, widely used in Liaohe Oilfield at Present, is an effective recovery technique to heavy oil reserves. Which makes the steam front-peak push forward uniformly, the amount of steam injection be assigned rationally, and the effect of injection steam be obtained as expected. To maintain a fixed ratio of layered steam injection and solve the problem of nonadjustable hole diameter with the change of layer pressure in the existing injectors, a new method is proposed in this paper to design layered steam injectors based on the dynamic balance theory. According to gas-liquid two-phase flow theory and beat transfer theory, the energy equation and the heat conduction equation in boreholes are developed. By analyzing the energy equilibrium of water-steam passing through the injector hole, we find an expression to describe the relation between the cross-sectional area of injector hole and the layer pressure. With this expression, we provide a new set of calculation methods and write the corresponding computer program to design and calculate the main parameters of a steam injector. The actual measurement data show that the theoretically calculated results are accurate, the software runs reliably, and they provide the design of self-adjustable layered steam injectors with the theoretical foundation.

Design of a Self-Adaptive Down-Hole Layered Steam Injector and Its Application

Layered steam injection, widely used in Liaohe Oilfield at present, is an effective recovery technique to heavy oil reserves. Which makes the steam front-peak push forward uniformly, the amount of steam injection be assigned rationally, and the effect of injection steam be obtained as expected. To maintain a fixed ratio of layered steam injection and solve the problem of nonadjustable hole diameter with the change of layer pressure in the existing injectors, a new method is proposed in this paper to design layered steam injectors based on the dynamic balance theory According to gas-liquid two-phase flow theory and heat transfer theory, the energy equation and the heat conduction equation in boreholes are developed. By analyzing the energy equilibrium of water-steam passing through the injector hole, we find an expression to describe the relation between the cross-sectional area of injector hole and the layer pressure. With this expression, we provide a new set of calculation methods and write the corresponding computer program to design and calculate the main parameters of a steam injector. The actual measurement data show that the theoretically calculated results are accurate, the software runs reliably, and they provide the design of self-adjustable layered steam injectors with the theoretical foundation.

THE STEAM-JET AEROSOL COLLECTOR

A new principle of sampling aerosol particles by means of steam injection with the consequent collection of grown droplets has been established. An air stream free of water-soluble gases is rapidly mixed with steam. The resulting supersaturation causes aerosol particles to grow into droplets. The droplets containing dissolved aerosol species are then collected by two cyclones in series. The solution collected in the cyclones is constantly pumped out and can be on- or off-line analysed by means of ion chromatography or flow injection analysis. On the basis of the new sampling principle a prototype of an aerosol sampler was designed which is capable of sampling particles quantitatively down to several nanometres in diameter. The mass sampling efficiency of the instrument was found to be 99\%. The detection limit of the sampler for ammonium, sulphate, nitrate and chloride ions is below 0.7 mu g m(-3). By reduction of an already identified source of contamination, much lower detection limits can be achieved. During measurements the sampler proved to be stable, working without any assistance for extended periods of time. Comparison of the sampler with filter packs during measurements of ambient air aerosols showed that the sampler gives good results.

注蒸汽井套管应力的数值计算与工业应用

在注蒸汽吞吐井的井筒应力模型中引入井筒温度场，利用ANSYS软件对不同约束条件下井简的应力场进行了计算．结果表明，最大热应力发生在套管内壁，超过了N80套管的弹性屈服极限，最大热膨胀发生在温度过渡区．当套管周围掏空时，热应变远大于材料的弹性极限应变，是诱发热采井套管变形损坏的主要原因．为此提出了相应的套管损坏防治措施，在油田现场采用厚壁合金钢TP120TH套管完井，试验结果验证了防治措施的有效性．

井间地震技术研究和应用

Cross well seismic technique is a new type of geophysical method, which observes the seismic wave of the geologic body by placing both the source and receiver in the wells. By applying this method, it averted the absorption to high-frequency component of seismic signal caused by low weathering layers, thus, an extremely high-resolution seismic signal can be acquired. And extremely fine image of cross well formations, structure, and reservoir can be achieved as well. An integrated research is conducted to the high-frequency S-wave and P-wave data and some other data to determine the small faults, small structure and resolving the issues concerning the thin bed and reservoir's connectivity, fluid distribution, steam injection and fracture. This method connects the high-resolution surface seismic, logging and reservoir engineering. In this paper, based on the E & P situation in the oilfield and the theory of geophysical exploration, a research is conducted on cross well seismic technology in general and its important issues in cross well seismic technology in particular. A technological series of integrated field acquisition, data processing and interpretation and its integrated application research were developed and this new method can be applied to oilfield development and optimizing oilfield development scheme. The contents and results in this paper are as listed follows: An overview was given on the status quo and development of the cross well seismic method and problems concerning the cross well seismic technology and the difference in cross well seismic technology between China and international levels; And an analysis and comparison are given on foreign-made field data acquisition systems for cross-well seismic and pointed out the pros and cons of the field systems manufactured by these two foreign companies and this is highly valuable to import foreign-made cross well seismic field acquisition system for China. After analyses were conducted to the geometry design and field data for the cross well seismic method, a common wave field time-depth curve equation was derived and three types of pipe waves were discovered for the first time. Then, a research was conducted on the mechanism for its generation. Based on the wave field separation theory for cross well seismic method, we believe that different type of wave fields in different gather domain has different attributes characteristics, multiple methods (for instance, F-K filtering and median filtering) were applied in eliminating and suppressing the cross well disturbances and successfully separated the upgoing and downgoing waves and a satisfactory result has been achieved. In the area of wave field numerical simulation for cross well seismic method, a analysis was conducted on conventional ray tracing method and its shortcomings and proposed a minimum travel time ray tracing method based on Feraiat theory in this paper. This method is not only has high-speed calculation, but also with no rays enter into "dead end" or "blinded spot" after numerous iterations and it is become more adequate for complex velocity model. This is first time that the travel time interpolation has been brought into consideration, a dynamic ray tracing method with shortest possible path has been developed for the first arrivals of any complex mediums, such as transmission, diffraction and refraction, etc and eliminated the limitation for only traveling from one node to another node and increases the calculation accuracy for minimum travel time and ray tracing path and derives solution and corresponding edge conditions to the fourth-order differential sonic wave equation. The final step is to calculate cross well seismic synthetics for given source and receivers from multiple geological bodies. Thus, real cross-well seismic wave field can be recognized through scientific means and provides important foundation to guide the cross well seismic field geometry designing. A velocity tomographic inversion of the least square conjugated gradient method was developed for cross well seismic velocity tomopgraphic inversion and a modification has been made to object function of the old high frequency ray tracing method and put forward a thin bed oriented model for finite frequency velocity tomographic inversion method. As the theory model and results demonstrates that the method is simple and effective and is very important in seismic ray tomographic imaging for the complex geological body. Based on the characteristics of the cross well seismic algorithm, a processing flow for cross well seismic data processing has been built and optimized and applied to the production, a good section of velocity tomopgrphic inversion and cross well reflection imaging has been acquired. The cross well seismic data is acquired from the depth domain and how to interprets the depth domain data and retrieve the attributes is a brand new subject. After research was conducted on synthetics and trace integration from depth domain for the cross well seismic data interpretation, first of all, a research was conducted on logging constraint wave impedance of cross well seismic data and initially set up cross well seismic data interpretation flows. After it applied and interpreted to the cross well seismic data and a good geological results has been achieved in velocity tomographic inversion and reflection depth imaging and a lot of difficult problems for oilfield development has been resolved. This powerful, new method is good for oilfield development scheme optimization and increasing EOR. Based on conventional reservoir geological model building from logging data, a new method is also discussed on constraining the accuracy of reservoir geological model by applying the high resolution cross well seismic data and it has applied to Fan 124 project and a good results has been achieved which it presents a bight future for the cross well seismic technology.

Infant milk formula manufacture: process and compositional interactions in high dry matter wet-mixes

Infant milk formula (IMF) is fortified milk with composition based on the nutrient content in human mother's milk, 0 to 6 months postpartum. Extensive medical and clinical research has led to advances in the nutritional quality of infant formula; however, relatively few studies have focused on interactions between nutrients and the manufacturing process. The objective of this research was to investigate the impact of composition and processing parameters on physical behaviour of high dry matter (DM) IMF systems with a view to designing more sustainable manufacturing processes. The study showed that commercial IMF, with similar compositions, manufactured by different processes, had markedly different physical properties in dehydrated or reconstituted state. Commercial products made with hydrolysed protein were more heat stable compared to products made with intact protein, however, emulsion quality was compromised. Heat-induced denaturation of whey proteins resulted in increased viscosity of wet-mixes, an effect that was dependant on both whey concentration and interactions with lactose and caseins. Expanding on fundamental laboratory studies, a novel high velocity steam injection process was developed whereby high DM (60%) wet-mixes with lower denaturation/viscosity compared to conventional processes could be achieved; powders produced using this process were of similar quality to those manufactured conventionally. Hydrolysed proteins were also shown to be an effective way of reducing viscosity in heat-treated high DM wet-mixes. In particular, using a whey protein concentrate whereby β-Lactoglobulin was selectively hydrolysed, i.e., α-Lactalbumin remained intact, reduced viscosity of wet-mixes during processing while still providing good emulsification. The thesis provides new insights into interactions between nutrients and/or processing which influence physical stability of IMF both in concentrated liquid and powdered form. The outcomes of the work have applications in such areas as; increasing the DM content of spray drier feeds in order to save energy, and, controlling final powder quality.

Análise do comportamento reológico de pastas de cimento contendo resíduos de pneu para poços de petróleo

The low tenacity presented by the Portland cement pastes used in the oil wells cementation has been motivating several researches with attention focused on alternative materials. Additives have been developed to generate flexible pastes with mechanical resistance capable to support the expansions and retractions of the metallic covering of the wells that submit to the steam injection, technique very used to increase the recovery factor in oil reservoirs with high viscosity. A fresh paste with inadequate rheological behavior may commit the cementation process seriously, involving flaws that affect the performance of the paste substantially in the hardened state. This work proposes the elaboration and the rheological analysis of Portland cement pastes with addition of residues of rubber tire in several proportions, with the aim of minimizing the damages provoked in the hem cementing of these wells. By thermogravimetric analysis, the particles of eraser that go by the sieve of 0,5mm (35 mesh) opening and treated superficially with NaOH solution of 1 mol/L presented appropriate thermal resistance for wells that submit to thermal cyclic. The evaluation of the study based on the results of the rheological analysis of the pastes, complemented by the mechanical analysis, thickening, stability, tenor of free water and filtrate loss, being used as parameter a paste reference, without rubber addition. The results showed satisfactory rheology, passive of few corrections; considerable loss of mechanical resistance (traction and compression), compensated by earnings of tenacity, however with established limits for its application in oil wells; satisfactory stability, free water and thickening time

Adição de vermiculita expandida mícron em pastas de baixa densidade para cimentação de poços de petróleo

The northeastern region of Brazil has a large number of wells producing oil using a method of secondary recovery steam injection, since the oil produced in this region is essentially viscous. This recovery method puts the cement / coating on thermal cycling, due to the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between cement and metal coating causes the appearance of cracks at this interface, allowing the passage of the annular fluid, which is associated with serious risk socioeconomic and environmental. In view of these cracks, a correction operation is required, resulting in more costs and temporary halt of production of the well. Alternatively, the oil industry has developed technology for adding new materials in cement pastes, oil well, providing high ductility and low density in order to withstand the thermo-mechanical loads generated by the injection of water vapor. In this context, vermiculite, a clay mineral found in abundance in Brazil has been applied in its expanded form in the construction industry for the manufacture of lightweight concrete with excellent insulation and noise due to its high melting point and the presence of air in their layers lamellar. Therefore, the vermiculite is used for the purpose of providing low-density cement paste and withstand high temperatures caused by steam injection. Thus, the present study compared the default folder containing cement and water with the folders with 6%, 8% and 10% vermiculite micron conducting tests of free water, rheology and compressive strength where it obtained the concentration of 8 % with the best results. Subsequently, the selected concentration, was compared with the results recommended by the API standard tests of filtered and stability. And finally, analyzed the results from tests of specific gravity and time of thickening. Before the study we were able to make a folder with a low density that can be used in cementing oil well in order to withstand the thermo-mechanical loads generated by steam injection

Estudos de Durabilidade Frente ao Ataque Ácido de Compósitos Portland-Polímero para Cimentação de Poços de Petróleo

Portland-polymers composites are promising candidates to be used as cementing material in Northeastern oil wells of Brazil containing heavy oils submitted to steam injection. In this way, it is necessary to evaluate its degradation in the commonly acidizind agents. In addition, to identify how aggressive are the different hostile environments it is an important contribution on the decision of the acidic systems to be used in. It was investigated the performance of the Portland-polymer composites using powdered polyurethane, aqueous polyurethane, rubber tire residues and a biopolymer, those were reinforced with polished carbon steel SAE 1045 to make the electrochemical measurements. HCl 15,0 %, HCl 6,0 % + HF 1,5 % (soft mud acid), HCl 12,0 % + HF 3,0 % (regular mud acid) and HAc 10 % + HF 1,5 % were used as degrading environment and electrolytes. The more aggressive acid solution to the plain Portland hardened cement paste was the regular mud acid, that showed loss of weight around 23.0 %, followed by the soft mud acid, the showed 11.0 %, 15.0 % HCl with 7,0 % and, at last the 10.0 % HAc plus HF 1.5 % with just 1.0 %. The powdered polyurethane-composite and the aqueous polyurethane one showed larger durability, with reduction around 87.0 % on the loss of weight in regular mud acid. The acid attack is superficial and it occurs as an action layer, where the degraded layer is responsible for the decrease on the kinetic of the degrading process. This behavior can be seen mainly on the Portland- aqueous polyurethane composite, because the degraded layer is impregnated with chemically modified polymer. The fact of the acid attack does not have influence on the compressive strength or fratography of the samples, in a general way, confirms that theory. The mechanism of the efficiency of the Portland-polymers composites subjected to acid attack is due to decreased porosity and permeability related with the plain Portland paste, minor quantity of Ca+2, element preferentially leached to the acidic solution, wave effect and to substitute part of the degrading bulk for the polymeric one. The electrolyte HAc 10 % + HF 1,5 % was the least aggressive one to the external corrosion of the casing, showing open circuit potentials around +250 mV compared to -130 mV to the simulated pore solution to the first 24 hours immersion. This behavior has been performed for two months at least. Similar corrosion rates were showed between both of the electrolytes, around 0.01 μA.cm-2. Total impedance values, insipient arcs and big polarization resistance capacitive arcs on the Nyquist plots, indicating passivity process, confirm its efficiency. In this way, Portlandpolymers composites are possible solutions to be succeed applied to oilwell cementing concomitant submitted to steam injection and acidizing operation and the HAc 10,0 % + HF 1,5 % is the less aggressive solution to the external corrosion of the casing

Desenvolvimento de pastas de cimento flexíveis para poços de petróleo submetidos à injeção de vapor utilizando látex do tipo SBR

Novel cementing materials formulations containing flexible polymeric admixtures have been studied aiming at improving the mechanical behavior of oil well cement slurries submitted to steam injection. However, research activities in this sector are still under development. The steam injected directly into the well causes casing dilation, which after a reduction in temperature, tends to return to its original dimensions, resulting in crack formation and hydraulic isolation loss of the well, which will result in shortening of well life. In this scenario, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the mechanical behavior of Portland-based slurries containing SBR latex, applied in oil well cementing of wells submitted to steam injection. Were formulated slurries with densities of 1.797 g/cm3 (15.0 lb/Gal) and 1.869 g/cm3 (15.6 lb/Gal), containing admixtures with a latex concentration of 0; 66.88; 133.76; 200.64 and 267.52 L/m3 (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 gpc). Tests including rheology, fluid loss control, thickening time, API compressive strength and splitting tensile strength, beyond steam injection simulation. Microstrutural characteristics of the slurries were also performed (XRD, TG, FTIR and SEM). The results showed that increasing the polymer concentration increased in the rheological properties and fluid loss, and a decrease in the elasticity modulus of the cement slurries. The results obtained showed that the slurries can be applied in cementing operations of oil wells submitted to steam injection.

Otimização e análise mecânica de pastas geopoliméricas para uso em poços sujeitos à injeção cíclica de vapor

Oil wells subjected to cyclic steam injection present important challenges for the development of well cementing systems, mainly due to tensile stresses caused by thermal gradients during its useful life. Cement sheath failures in wells using conventional high compressive strength systems lead to the use of cement systems that are more flexible and/or ductile, with emphasis on Portland cement systems with latex addition. Recent research efforts have presented geopolymeric systems as alternatives. These cementing systems are based on alkaline activation of amorphous aluminosilicates such as metakaolin or fly ash and display advantageous properties such as high compressive strength, fast setting and thermal stability. Basic geopolymeric formulations can be found in the literature, which meet basic oil industry specifications such as rheology, compressive strength and thickening time. In this work, new geopolymeric formulations were developed, based on metakaolin, potassium silicate, potassium hydroxide, silica fume and mineral fiber, using the state of the art in chemical composition, mixture modeling and additivation to optimize the most relevant properties for oil well cementing. Starting from molar ratios considered ideal in the literature (SiO2/Al2O3 = 3.8 e K2O/Al2O3 = 1.0), a study of dry mixtures was performed,based on the compressive packing model, resulting in an optimal volume of 6% for the added solid material. This material (silica fume and mineral fiber) works both as an additional silica source (in the case of silica fume) and as mechanical reinforcement, especially in the case of mineral fiber, which incremented the tensile strength. The first triaxial mechanical study of this class of materials was performed. For comparison, a mechanical study of conventional latex-based cementing systems was also carried out. Regardless of differences in the failure mode (brittle for geopolymers, ductile for latex-based systems), the superior uniaxial compressive strength (37 MPa for the geopolymeric slurry P5 versus 18 MPa for the conventional slurry P2), similar triaxial behavior (friction angle 21° for P5 and P2) and lower stifness (in the elastic region 5.1 GPa for P5 versus 6.8 GPa for P2) of the geopolymeric systems allowed them to withstand a similar amount of mechanical energy (155 kJ/m3 for P5 versus 208 kJ/m3 for P2), noting that geopolymers work in the elastic regime, without the microcracking present in the case of latex-based systems. Therefore, the geopolymers studied on this work must be designed for application in the elastic region to avoid brittle failure. Finally, the tensile strength of geopolymers is originally poor (1.3 MPa for the geopolymeric slurry P3) due to its brittle structure. However, after additivation with mineral fiber, the tensile strength became equivalent to that of latex-based systems (2.3 MPa for P5 and 2.1 MPa for P2). The technical viability of conventional and proposed formulations was evaluated for the whole well life, including stresses due to cyclic steam injection. This analysis was performed using finite element-based simulation software. It was verified that conventional slurries are viable up to 204ºF (400ºC) and geopolymeric slurries are viable above 500ºF (260ºC)

Adição de resíduo cerâmico em pastas geopoliméricas para cimentação de poços de petróleo

The development of activities the of oil and gas sector have promoted the search for suitable materials for cementing oil wells. In the state of the Rio Grande do Norte, the integrity of the cement sheath tends to be impaired during steam injection, a procedure necessary to increase oil recovery in reservoirs with low-viscosity oil. The geopolymer is a material that can be used as alternative cement, since it has been used in the production of fire-resistant components, building structures, and for the control of toxic or radioactive residues. Geopolymers result from condensation polymer alkali aluminosilicates and silicates resulting three-dimensional polymeric structures. They are produced in a manner different from that of Portland cement, which is made an activating solution that is mixed with geopolymer precursor. Among the few works studied allowed us to conclude that the pastes prepared with metakaolin as precursor showed better performance of its properties. Several studies show the addition of waste clay as a means of reducing cost and improving end of the folder properties. On this basis, the goal is to study the influence of the addition of ceramic waste in geopolymer paste. To develop the study of rheology tests were carried out, filtered, thickening time, compressive strength, free water, specific gravity and permeability, according to the American Pretoleum Institute (API). The results for all formulations studied show that the folders have high mechanical strength to a light paste; low filtrate volume, absence of free water, very low permeability, slurry, consistent with a light paste, and thickening time low that can be corrected with the use of a retardant handle. For morphological characterization, microstructural, physical, chemical and thermal tests were carried out by XRD, MEV, DTA, TG, FTIR. In the trial of XRD, it was found that geopolymer is an amorphous material, with a peak of crystalline kaolinite. In tests of TG / DTA, revealed the presence of a significant event, which represents the mass loss related to water, and also observed the reduction of weight loss by increasing the concentration of ceramic waste. In the trial of MEV, we found a uniform matrix without the presence of other phases. In the trial of FT-IR, we observed the presence of the band related to water. From all results it was determined that the optimum concentration range of use is between 2.5 and 5% of waste ceramic