Chemical treating agents reduce flocculation in clay water drilling fluids by one of more of the following mechanisms; Removal of contamination be precipitation Reducing the contaminant effect by sequestering the contaminant Neutralizing flocculation by satisfying cationic charges on the clay particles Forms a protective film around the clay particles Phosphates Powerful anionic dispersants, only … Continue reading Chemical Treatment of Drilling Fluids
Types of Clays
The first type is needle spaded non-swelling clays eg. Attapulgite or sepiolite. The shape of the clay allows it to build viscosity. As a result of their shape and poor swelling characteristics they don’t exhibit poor filtration control. Attapulgite is used primarily as a viscosity builder in saltwater fluids. Sepiolite is used as a supplemental … Continue reading Types of Clays
Drilling Fluids: Suspend and Release Cuttings
The mud must trap the cuttings while drilling but at the same time it must allow the solids control equipment to be able to remove the drilled solids. If cuttings settle out during the drilling process then this may bridge the well bore and cause problems. Also if the fluid is not designed properly then … Continue reading Drilling Fluids: Suspend and Release Cuttings
Drilling Fluids: Cuttings Removal
As the cuttings are drilled they must be removed and brought to the surface through the annulus. The removal of the cuttings is a function of the size, shape and density in combination with the rate of penetration (ROP), drill string rotation, viscosity, density and annular velocity of the drilling fluid. Viscosity - higher viscosities … Continue reading Drilling Fluids: Cuttings Removal
Electric Submersible Pump (ESP)
This a electrically powered pump that is inserted into oil-well bore to facilitate the lifting of the well bore fluid. The pump as its name implies is electrically powered and submerged in the fluid. The operation of the pump as with all pumps creates a pressure difference allowing the fluid to flow upward out of … Continue reading Electric Submersible Pump (ESP)
(Oil)Well Bore Packers
 Packer Applications               Casing Protection               Separation of multiple Zones               Isolation Packers               Elimination of Surging and heading               Sub-surface safety control               Artificial/Gas LiftThere are three types of packers; mechanical and hydraulic set and permanent. All packers fall into one or a combination of these.Mechanical Set Packers- These are set by some form of tubing movement, usually a rotation … Continue reading (Oil)Well Bore Packers
Gas To Liquid
This is a refining process to convert gas to other gaseous hydrocarbons with longer chains such as gasoline or diesel. Methane rich gases are converted into liquid synthetic fuels via direct conversion or via syngas. Methanol to Gasoline Process (MTG) The process starts by converting the natural gas to syngas then conversion of the syngas … Continue reading Gas To Liquid
Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel
With the rise in environmental concern and caring the fuel we use has had to be improved. There have been several iterations of making the fuel more environmentally palatable. The most popular was the introduction of unleaded fuel and MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether). Initially lead was used to prevent knocking of the fuel, then … Continue reading Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel
Sulphur Recovery Unit
In the case of an oil refinery the process used is the Claus process as opposed to the wet sulphuric acid process (WSA Process). The process recovers elemental sulphur from gaseous hydrogen sulphide. The overall main reaction is: 2H2S + O2 => S2 + 2H2O The process was invented by Car Friedrich Claus, a chemist … Continue reading Sulphur Recovery Unit
Acid Amine Treatment
This is also known as gas sweetening or acid gas removal. It refers to a group of processes that use aqueous solutions of various alkylamines (amine) to remove hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide. It is known as sweetening as the process removes the H2S gas thus improving the odour of the waste/process gas. Different amines … Continue reading Acid Amine Treatment
Gate Valves
The gate valve is one of the more commonly accessible vales. As the hand wheel is turned the threaded stem is turned this causes the gate to move along the thread pitch. The size of the hand wheel and the thread pitch determines the ease of which the valve is opened. The direction the had … Continue reading Gate Valves
Continuous Catalyst Regeneration (CCR)
A chemical process in the refinery used to convert refinery naptha, which is of low octane levels to high octane reformates, which are components of high octane gasoline (high octane petrol). The process re-arranges or re-structures the hydrocarbon molecule in the naptha feedstock. In the some cases it can break the molecules up. The overall … Continue reading Continuous Catalyst Regeneration (CCR)
Merox
This is an acronym for mercaptan oxidation. This is a proprietary process developed by Universal Oil Products (UOP). It is used by oil refineries and gas processing plants to remove mercaptans from the LPG, propanes, butanes, light naptha, kerosene, and jet fuel by converting then to liquid hydrogen disulfides. The process requires an alkaline environment. … Continue reading Merox
Visbreaker
A visbreaker is a processing unit in an oil refinery whose purpose is to reduce the quantity of residual oil produced in the distillation of crude oil. It also helps to increase the yield of more valuable middle distillates. The visbreaker thermally cracks the large hydrocarbons molecules by furnace heating to reduce the viscosity. This … Continue reading Visbreaker
Alkylation
This process is the transfer of an alkyl group from one molecule to another. In the context of oil refining it refers to the alkylation of isobutene with olefins.In a standard oil refining process isobutane is alkylated with low molecular weight alkenes, in the presence of strong acid catalyst either sulphuric or hydrofluoric acid; the … Continue reading Alkylation
Catalytic Cracking
CRACKING This is the process of breaking down complex long chained molecules into simpler short chained ones. In the oil industry this typically results in the breakdown of organic compounds such as kerogens or heavy hydrocarbons into smaller lighter hydrocarbon molecules. The process usually involves the breaking of the carbon bonds of the longer molecule. … Continue reading Catalytic Cracking
Continuous Distillation
A form of distillation whereby the process continues without interruption. The process produces at least 2 output fractions; one volatile and the other a bottom/residuum fraction. When heated the vapour above the liquid varies in composition from the liquid composition. As the mixture is heated the compounds with lower boiling points rise to the top … Continue reading Continuous Distillation
Microsoft Speech Recognition
To activate or launch the program simply navigate to the accessories then ease of access folder. Within the ease of access folder you will see the speech recognition application. However to properly calibrate the speech recognition system you need to navigate to the control panel and select the speech recognition button. From there you will … Continue reading Microsoft Speech Recognition
Steam Jacketed Process Line
This is used when it becomes necessary to keep an internal process at a particular temperature or physical state. The system has two main components an internal process line and an outer line that envelopes the process line. The process line in usually smaller and this is used to allow the free flow of a … Continue reading Steam Jacketed Process Line
LED Current Limiter Resistance Calculator
The total voltage in the system by Kirchoff’s law would be equal to the summation of the voltage drops across the diode and the resistor. Also by Kirchoff’s law the current flowing through the diode is the same flowing through the resistor and the circuit. As the system is in series this is even simpler. … Continue reading LED Current Limiter Resistance Calculator