Kinetic Analysis of Methane Hydrate Formation with Butterfly Turbine Impellers.

Heat generation during gas hydrate formation is an important problem because it reduces the amount of water and gas that become gas hydrates. In this research work, we present a new design of an impeller to be used for hydrate formation and to overcome this concern by following the hydrodynamic literature. CH4 hydrate formation experiments were performed in a 5.7 L continuously stirred tank reactor using a butterfly turbine (BT) impeller with no baffle (NB), full baffle (FB), half baffle (HB), and surface baffle (SB) under mixed flow conditions. Four experiments were conducted separately using single and dual impellers. In addition to the estimated induction time, the rate of hydrate formation, hydrate productivity and hydrate formation rate, constant for a maximum of 3 h, were calculated. The induction time was less for both single and dual-impeller experiments that used full baffle for less than 3 min and more than 1 h for all other experiments. In an experiment with a single impeller, a surface baffle yielded higher hydrate growth with a value of 42 × 10-8 mol/s, while in an experiment with dual impellers, a half baffle generated higher hydrate growth with a value of 28.8 × 10-8 mol/s. Both single and dual impellers achieved the highest values for the hydrate formation rates that were constant in the full-baffle experiments.

Cryogenic fracturing using liquid nitrogen on granite at elevated temperatures: a case study for enhanced geothermal systems in Kazakhstan.

Cryogenic fracturing using liquid nitrogen (LN2) is a novel stimulation technology that enhances porosity, permeability, and rock-fluid contact area in subsurface formations targetted for geothermal energy extraction. In our experimental study, granite cores collected from the Zhylgyz region in South Kazakhstan were equilibrated at various elevated temperatures before treatments involving LN2 exposure time. Compression, Brazilian, and fracture toughness tests were performed on granite with starting temperatures ranging from 100 to 500 °C to quantify the impact of initial temperature on cryogenic fracturing and to compare with baseline geomechanical tests at 50 °C without LN2 exposure. The results show that LN2 cooling of hot granite induces mechanical rock failure and permeability enhancement. Moreover, the degree of thermo-fracturing augments with initial granite temperature, total freezing time, and number of freezing-thawing cycles. The peak load before failure of granite specimens, both in compression and Brazilian tests, reduces with the increased sample temperature difference and length of LN2 treatment. The fracture toughness of our semi-circular bend (SCB) LN2-treated specimens diminished with increasing temperature difference between granite and boiling point. In both experimental LN2 treatment processes, the specimens with an initial temperature of 500 °C before LN2 treatment formed many new fissures and extensions of pre-existing ones, showing that the plastic behavior is augmented. While cryo-fracturing experimental confirmation is recommended with site-specific samples in planning geothermal operations, these results in our work indicate a threshold downhole temperature, e.g., > 300 °C, for enhanced stimulation outcomes.

Kinetic Analysis of Methane-Propane Hydrate Formation by the Use of Different Impellers.

In the present study, the effect of different kinds of impellers with different baffles or no baffle was investigated. Up-pumping pitched blade turbine (PBTU) and Rushton turbine (RT) were the two types of impellers tested. The reactor was equipped with different designs of baffles: full, half and surface baffles, or no baffles. Single (PBTU or RT) and dual (PBTU/PBTU or RT/RT) use of impellers with full (FB), half (HB), surface (SB), and no baffle (NB) combinations formed two sets of 16 experiments. The first group of experiments was close to the equilibrium line (P = 26.5 bars and T = 8.5 °C), and the second group was deep in the equilibrium line (P = 24.5 bars and T = 2 °C). There was estimation of rate of hydrate formation, induction time, hydrate productivity, overall power consumption, split fraction, and separation factor. In both single and dual impellers, the results showed that RT experiments are better compared to PBTU in the rate of hydrate formation. The induction time is almost the same because we are deep in the equilibrium line while, hydrate productivity values are higher in PBTU compared to RT experiments. As a general view, RT experiments consume more energy compared to PBTU experiments.

Synthesis and Heavy-Metal Sorption Studies of N,N-Dimethylacrylamide-Based Hydrogels.

In this work, a hydrogel system was produced via radical polymerization of N,N-dimethylacrylamide and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid in the presence of N,N-methylene-bis-acrylamide as a crosslinker and ammonium persulfate as an initiator. Parameters that impact the conversion of copolymerization (such as initial concentration of monomers, temperature, initiator dose, and time) were studied. The swelling degree of the hydrogel was investigated with the addition of a crosslinker and initiator at different pH levels. A hydrogel with high conversion and high swelling degree was selected to investigate their ability for adsorption of Pb(II) ions from solutions. Adsorption behavior of Pb(II) ions in a hydrogel was examined as a function of reaction time and concentration of lead ions from a solution of Pb(II) ions.

A Short Review on the N,N-Dimethylacrylamide-Based Hydrogels.

Scientists have been encouraged to find different methods for removing harmful heavy metal ions and dyes from bodies of water. The adsorption technique offers promising outcomes for heavy metal ion removal and is simple to run on a large scale, making it appropriate for practical applications. Many adsorbent hydrogels have been developed and reported, comprising N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMAA)-based hydrogels, which have attracted a lot of interest due to their reusability, simplicity of synthesis, and processing. DMAA hydrogels are also a suitable choice for self-healing materials and materials with good mechanical properties. This review work discusses the recent studies of DMAA-based hydrogels such as hydrogels for dye removal and the removal of hazardous heavy metal ions from water. Furthermore, there are also references about their conduct for self-healing materials and for enhancing mechanical properties.