Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Friday, April 21, 2017
B P Introduces Low Salt Water to Enhance Oil Extraction as part of Shetlands oil boom
B P Introduces Low Salt Water to Enhance Oil Extraction as part of Shetlands oil boom
As part of an anticipated massive oil boom in the Sheltlands, along with a revamping of the Sullam Voe terminal (confirmed just last week), B.P. intends to use a desalination plant to reduce the salt content of seawater so that it can more effectively flush oil from the surfaces of the rock reservoirs that contain it. http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9044064&contentId=7077181If the process can increase the amount of oil recovered by another 4%, from a current average of 35%, this will mean a substantial increase in output across the industry. Applied to the Clair Ridge field, which is in the North Sea off the western Sheltand islands, it is thought that, over the lifetime of the well, 640 million barrels of crude oil might be recovered using untreated sea water, but that 42 million barrels, over and above this, could be made available using the low-salt water. The cost of the desalination plant is $120 million, which will add $3 to the cost of a barrel of oil.
Crude oil contains a wide range of molecules, many of which are charged or polar. In the B.P. research laboratories at Sunbury on Thames, in the south of England, it has been discovered that the oil molecules form chemical bridges with doubly charged cations, such as Ca2+ and Mg2+ that are present on the surfaces of clay particles in sandstone. At the normal salt concentrations in seawater (3,500 ppm), the oil molecules are compressed close to the mineral surface, so preventing access by free cations that are necessary to displace the Ca2+ and Mg2+ cations and thus free the oil from the surface. As the salt concentration is reduced, the thickness of the thin film of water between the oil molecules and the surface increases, through an effect known as “expansion of the electrical double layer”, and permits access of free cations from the seawater. This releases the oil molecules from the rock surface.
For the method to work, two criteria must pertain: (1) the total salinity of the water must be low enough to relax the electrical double layer compression, and (2) the dipositive cation concentration needs to be lower than that of the reservoir water. Together, these factors allow most of the oil to be released that is bound to the reservoir surface by this mechanism. B.P. uses water flooding to recover 60% of its oil, and it is predicted that the low-salt (LoSal®) method might increase production over the company’s holdings by 700 million barrels.
This latest development is part of a predicted new oil boom in the Shetland Sullom Voe oil terminal, for which £300 million ($480 million) worth of investment is expected.The manager of the terminal confirmed only last week that the following projects were going ahead:
? a complete refurbishment of the plant and pipework.
? introduction of a major gas-cleaning plant.
? construction of a temporary two-storey office building at Sella Ness.
? final work on the Project Aurora gas plant.
? overhaul, by its owners, Fortum, of the power station.
? overhaul of 16 giant oil storage tanks.
While only 9.2 million tonnes of oil were produced by the terminal last year, over its lifetime it has handled one-third of the British offshore oil production. The Clair Ridge development (where the desalinised water is to be employed) is expected to be a major producer, with two new platforms. Oil will be brought through the existing pipe to Sullom Voe from the end of 2016, which could continue for another 25 years, still being in operation in the 2040s.
This latest development is part of a predicted new oil boom in the Shetland Sullom Voe oil terminal, for which £300 million ($480 million) worth of investment is expected.The manager of the terminal confirmed only last week that the following projects were going ahead:
? a complete refurbishment of the plant and pipework.
? introduction of a major gas-cleaning plant.
? construction of a temporary two-storey office building at Sella Ness.
? final work on the Project Aurora gas plant.
? overhaul, by its owners, Fortum, of the power station.
? overhaul of 16 giant oil storage tanks.
While only 9.2 million tonnes of oil were produced by the terminal last year, over its lifetime it has handled one-third of the British offshore oil production. The Clair Ridge development (where the desalinised water is to be employed) is expected to be a major producer, with two new platforms. Oil will be brought through the existing pipe to Sullom Voe from the end of 2016, which could continue for another 25 years, still being in operation in the 2040s.
Available link for download
Friday, March 3, 2017
April iPhone Wallpapers Calendars Water Wood
April iPhone Wallpapers Calendars Water Wood
New month, new wallpapers! Each month I challenge myself to flex my creative muscles and come up with fun new designs for your iPhones (theyre not just for iPhones though - theyll work any smartphone!). For April, I tried something a little bit different: I used photographs of two natural textures as the backdrop for the calendars. I love the simplicity and crispness of the water and wood.
A fun fact about both of these? They were both taken on trips to the Caribbean, so seeing both of them brings back wonderful memories! The one of the left (the water) was taken from directly above while I was at the beach in St. Lucia snapping photos of my husband and friends sailing. Gosh that glassy aqua water was gorgeous!
The other was from our trip to St. Barth. The house we stayed in had this beautiful deck made of this gray wood. Im not sure if it was stained that way or if it "aged" that way naturally, but Im so glad I snapped a photo of it.
You have a choice of either the calendar or blank version (or both if youd like!). The blank ones would make great wallpapers year round, and of course the calendar is a handy thing to have on your lock screen for the month of April.
Heres what the blank ones look like for reference:
Links to download each image are below. Enjoy!
WATER:
calendar // blank
WOOD:
calendar // blank
Want to check out designs from other months? Click here to browse em!
Available link for download
Monday, February 20, 2017
Backyard Play Water Play Accessories Board
Backyard Play Water Play Accessories Board
With warmer weather we have our water tub out for play. I added this water accessories board and it has been a big hit with my daughters. The board serves as a place for buckets to sit on, tubes to connect to, and containers to hang from.
The board was sitting unused in our shed and I started by drilling two holes, one to hold the aquarium cleaning tube and the other for the soda bottle. (I taped the top of the soda bottle with packaging tape for safety.) I found an empty plant container with the holes in the bottom and nailed it onto the board and added another nail to hang a metal pail from. We added a fish net for scooping as well.
Having the board has added to the enjoyment of water play, which my daughters already love. It is easily removable and can be changed out to hold different water accessories as we experiment with different containers.
Available link for download
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