8th Intl. Symp. on Sustainable Energy Production: Fossil; Renewables; Nuclear; Waste handling , processing, & storage for all energy production technologies; Energy conservation

Provided that hydrogen can be safely stored and transported at high densities, hydrogen fuel cells would offer highly efficient and completely environmentally friendly solutions for vehicle propulsion. However, neither compressed gas nor liquid hydrogen seems safe enough for everyday use in mobile applications given the risk of accidents and their possible consequences in urban environments related to the high flammability of hydrogen. 

Therefore, approaches consisting in adsorbing hydrogen atoms (i.e., H rather than H₂) appear to offer an excellent solution for its storage in order to propel light and heavy vehicles in urban environments and evidently in between cities. Moreover, compared to solutions based on electric batteries, the ecological and environmental advantage would be obvious.

Among the possible materials for storing hydrogen, graphene (Gr) has been suggested to be one of the most promising materials provided that a significant H/Gr weight ratio (ww%) is achieved. Specifically, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has set a target of 5.5 ww% to be achieved by 2025 as a condition for becoming operational. This goal is however extremely far from what can be achieved presently by direct storage of hydrogen molecules (H₂) even using single graphene monolayers (SLGr) by physical adsorption because this requires extreme temperatures and pressures given the too weak attractive van der Waals forces and the stability of H₂ with respect to its two dissociated atoms (H) and the intrinsic stability of the graphene sp²-carbon resonant network.

In this respect, if possible, a stable chemical adsorption of atomic hydrogen on SLGr appears as the Holy Grail with a theoretical maximum storage capacity of 7.7 ww% for Gr-H atomic adducts and optimal safety conditions and performance. However, generating compact Gr-H adducts from H₂ again requires extreme temperatures and pressures.

On the contrary, hydrogen atoms can easily be produced under mild conditions by electrochemical reduction of common aqueous acidic solutions at the surface of a platinum nanoelectrode placed in straight contact with a SLGr (see adjacent figure) and spread spontaneously on the graphene sheet by reversible adsorption and site to site hopping diffusion at room temperature and atmospheric pressure and without significantly distorting the graphene geometry suggesting a physisorption rather than a covalent bonding [1]. The amount of platinum needed is minimal because it only serves as a catalyst as we were able to demonstrate using dynamic electrochemistry and SERS isotopic Raman spectroscopy. In addition, the process significantly rapid kinetics and its storage capacity (6.6 ww%, viz., more than 85% of the theoretical maximum, being already higher than the target set by DOE [2]) are associated with a substantial stability of the Gr-H layers at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Furthermore, one would not need to proceed through the intermediacy of hydrogen gas for Gr-H reservoir loading, nor for its unloading to feed fuel cells anodes, removing then two important steps. 

The authors would like to acknowledge support from joint sino-french CNRS IRP NanoBioCatEchem. CA thanks Xiamen University for his Distinguished Visiting Professor position.

Oil field discovery is a special profession that uses specific maps on the potential and existing oil fields.  These maps help the study to know the existing oils fields and draw conclusions on possible new exploitable oil fields. Historically these oil fields have been described on paper maps and later in multiple tape records. The tape records have become numerous in such a degree that they can take several floors of a buildings to held and keep them safe. In this paper a new technology has been developed to digitalize all the tape records and save them in compatible databases that makes much easier and efficient their use.     

With the world's population increasing from eight billion currently to approximately nine billion by the year 2040, achieving a healthy lifestyle for all people on earth will depend, in part, on the availability of affordable energy, especially electricity. This presentation considers the various choices, or options, for producing electricity and the consequences associated with each option. The options are fossil, renewable, and nuclear. The consequences associated with these three options are addressed in five different areas: public health and safety, environmental effects, economics, sustainability, and politics. All options are needed, but some options are better than others when compared in the five areas. This presentation is a brief summary of a short course entitled “Energy Choices and Consequences”, which was initially created by the author several years ago and is continuously updated. The presentation will provide updated information through October of 2023.

At the beginning of the production of an oil field, the energy may be high enough to be able of continuing the production only with natural motive force, so at this stage, there is no need for artificial lift. After several years of oil production, the oil reservoir pressure will be depleted, so in this stage, an artificial driving force is needed to continue production. Gas lifting is one of the most effective and cheapest methods of artificial lift techniques that are used to reduce the oil density by mixing the oil with the gas which is injected at the lower part of the production string. This artificial gas lift method uses an external source of high-pressure gas to supplement the formation gas to lift the wellbore fluids. In the gas lift operation, the injection and production wells will be unique, which means that in a single well, the gas will be injected into the oil zone through the tubing, while the oil will be produced through the annulus. This article discusses the gas lift method and its effects on oil production from an oil well.

What gives meaning and life to the project is the project management. The basis of project management is the systematic control of time, cost, quantity and quality variables in all phases of the project and achieving an optimal combination of the mentioned components. The project manager, with the help of prominent experts who work on a project in the form of a system, must explore the various relationships between the different activities of the project phases and take into account all the limitations and requirements (technical, economic, human, political, etc.), organize a comprehensive plan for the implementation of the project. If we take a look at the project situation in oil and gas companies, we will see that every year many projects are defined in these companies and a lot of money is allocated to them. Every year, some companies suffers from the prolongation of projects. The non-fulfillment of the goals of the projects imposes a lot of economic and social losses on the oil and gas companies. If we add opportunity costs to these losses, the losses will be much more than these. If these cases are precisely rooted, one of the factors of such a situation is neglecting project management knowledge and not using the tools of this knowledge in these projects. In this paper, Importance of project management and its role in oil and gas industries will be discussed.

If we produce from gas condensate reservoir while its pressure is under dew point pressure, there will be a liquid accumulation area adja cent to the well. These formed condensates cause many problems, including a negative impact on production and productivity. In fact, this destructive effect of condensate is due to the tendency of the reservoir rock to be wet with liquids, which causes the porous media to be blocked by this phase. This negative effect is so destructive that, along with other damage to the reservoir, such as skin factor, its value should be taken into account in the calculations. The research done on this issue has shown that methods can be used to open the path for the passage of gas. The best method to achieve this goal is to reduce capillary pressure, which two methods are suggested for this purpose: reducing the tendency for wetting by liquid and gas miscible injecting to reduce the interfacial tension between gas and condensate, which both of these mechanisms lead to capillary pressure reduction. Such studies need to know and evaluate the behavior of gas and condensate and the petrophysical properties of the reservoir in order to be able to chose the best chemical composition of injected gas into the reservoir. In this paper, condensate blocking problem and its solution for a gas condensate reservoir will be discussed.

The basic characteristics of different feedstock materials to be used as fuel in a gasification process vary with the chemical and physical properties, bulk density, amount of fiber, moisture content etc. Hence the gasification potential of different biomass fuels need to be investigated in terms their suitability, performance and required preparation before gasification. This paper presents results of a preliminary study on the gasification behavior, potential, operational challenges (in terms of stability of operation, bridging, steam accumulation, and clinker formation) and their remedies for gasification of Oil Palm Fronds (OPF) feedstock. A simpler method of determining moisture content of OPF with a direct measurement content of OPF with a direct measurement of the density of a sample was developed. In addition, the equilibrium moisture content of OPF biomass was determined. The axial temperature profile of the downdraft gasifier run on OPF feedstock was found to be in good agreement with literature values and investigation of stability of operation in terms of the dynamic temperature profile of the gasifier with operating time was found to be in the range of ±60 oC/min which was found to be satisfactory compared to literature. The study of variation of syngas heating value with operation time showed that the lower heating value (LHV) of syngas was found to above 4 MJ/Nm3 (4.7 to 5.26 MJ/Nm3) throughout the stable operation time, which indicates satisfactory output comparable with woody biomass.

To initiate oil production from an oil well, a connecting channel is required between the reservoir formations and the wellbore. In cased hole completions, this connecting channel is provided by perforation, and in uncased hole completions, this connecting channel is provided by an open hole through which oil can flow from the oil reservoir formations to the oil well bore. If these formations are permeable with high permeability, oil can flow easily through the sand into production wells. These produced fluids may carry entrained therein sand, particularly when the subsurface formation is unconsolidated. Nevertheless, produced sand is undesirable for many reasons; when it reaches the surface, sand can damage equipment such as valves, pipelines, pumps and separators and for that must be removed from the produced fluids at the surface. Further, the produced sand may partially or completely clog the well, substantially lead to poor performance in wells and, ultimately, inhibiting production, thereby making necessary an expensive work-over. In addition, the sand flowing from the subsurface formation may leave therein a cavity which may result in caving of the formation and collapse of the casing.
One of the challenges faced by oil and gas companies in the wells workover and production operations is the produced sand associated with oil produced. The ability to predict the production of sand for oil wells of a reservoir with the aim of deciding to use different methods of its control is considered a fundamental issue. Therefore, analyzing and examining sand production conditions and choosing the optimal drilling route before drilling a well are very relevant aspects that are not receiving enough attention. Also, in conditions where sand production is unavoidable, it is imperative to choose the right sand control method and wellbore design. For instance, a reliable and adequate prediction of whether the well is sanded or not and the decision whether or not to install packers inside the wellbore is highly important. If the phenomenon of sand production occurs and packers are not installed to prevent sand production, problems will increase along with sand production. In general, the aim of this paper is to review different methods of predicting sand production such as laboratory, field, theoretical and experimental methods that have been used in different parts of the world.

Gas injection in oil reservoirs causes the oil to be directed towards production wells and the amount of oil recovery in the reservoir increases by changing the thermodynamic properties of the reservoir fluid. In this paper, the effect of natural gas injection in a normal oil reservoir has been studied and the changes obtained on the fluid properties of the reservoir due to this injection have been investigated. For this purpose, first, the properties of primary reservoir fluid have been studied. Then, properties of current reservoir fluid which were achieved by PVT tests have been studied. Phase behavior of current reservoir fluid was compared with phase behavior of primary reservoir fluid. It was found that phase behavior of reservoir fluid has been changed due to gas injection into this reservoir.

Although the world and technology have developed from the past to the present, production activities have always maintained their existence and importance since the early times. Over time, the way the activities are carried out and the resources used have changed. In today's world, it can be said that there is a tendency towards cleaner energy sources. The use of these resources provides advantages to both the environment and the user from many perspectives. This paper proposes an energy optimization method based on gradient descent optimization and a multi-input decisive algorithm to help small and medium-sized businesses identify the most efficient energy consumption plan and transition to more sustainable energy sources. Within the scope of this study, resource transformation in bread ovens is taken as a basis. The financial benefits of the transition from traditional methods to new and cleaner sources for the producer and the release to the environment have been examined. According to the findings, although there is a group of people that defends traditional methods in the current situation, the benefits of this transformation in the furnaces for the producer and the buyer are undeniable due to the parameters examined and the regulations in the metropolises. It is predicted that this transformation will be seen more widely in the future.

Transformers, being among the most expensive equipment in networks, necessitate proper utilization, including regular maintenance and the implementation of life-extension techniques when feasible. The aging process of the transformer oil and cellulose paper insulation system produces by-products such as moisture, acids, and sludge, which contribute to the accelerated degradation of transformer insulation. Consequently, removing these by-products through oil regeneration has the potential to significantly extend the lifespan of transformers. Typically, the oil regeneration process involves the percolation of oil through an adsorbent system, followed by filtration and degasification. Various types of sorbents, such as fuller’s earth, alumina, molecular sieves, and silica-kaolin-sand mixtures, are utilized in the regeneration process. Combining the continuous oil regeneration directly at the transformer with the implementation of an online oil condition monitoring system offers numerous benefits and advantages: the combined solution analyses parameters to detect faults early, enabling proactive maintenance and minimizing transformer failure risks. Accurate oil condition data optimizes maintenance planning, reduces downtime, and enhances operational efficiency. Timely detection of oil degradation and faults avoids costly repairs, extends transformer lifespan, and reduces unplanned outages. The continuous filtration, dehydration, and deacidification of the insulation oil keep the transformer in a peak condition. [1]

Deep GHG emission reduction is needed within 3 decades to avoid the worst effects of climate change. At the same time, a more circular economy is to be realized as well. Industry is responsible for a large share of the global GHG emissions and energy and raw material demand is diverse, caused by a wide range of fundamentally different production processes and technologies.

Achieving a net zero or even negative GHG emission industry within 3 decades is therefore a daunting challenge. At the same time, energy efficiency improvement, fundamentally new processes such as biobased chemical industry vs. petrochemical industry, or electrified processes, the use of low carbon energy carriers as green electricity, green hydrogen and biomass, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) and, last but not least, a change to circular value chains with strongly reduced demand for primary materials offer ample opportunities. 

However, what are optimal combinations for each sector over time is a question of daunting complexity, with many interdependencies between the decarbonizing energy system (and energy infrastructure) and industry itself. Speed of innovation and cost decline versus the lifetime of the capital stock in industry is another fundamental set of factors determining optimal pathways. 

The presentation addresses the opportunities for achieving cost effective pathways and what Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment (RDDD) agenda emerges from these insights, including options to achieve negative emissions (e.g. by BECCS options). The outlook for many core industries (such as steel, chemicals and plastics) is that zero or even negative GHG emissions can be achieved with a mix of mentioned options combined with competitive cost levels when compared to future fossil fuel prices. At the same time, a circular economy is realized, while all these future processes are much cleaner compared to their conventional counterparts. 

International collaboration is highly desired to realize such pathways because the R&D and upscaling efforts needed for all key sectors and industry regions are too large for any country alone. Overall however, the transition to a (more than) GHG neutral and circular industry especially offers first of all  a set of interlinked major opportunities.

This contribution is based on extensive advanced system analysis modelling work on regional, national and international level, combined with rigorous analysis of process analysis and insights in technological learning of a wide range of mitigation options.

Addressing the emerging global challenge of Climate Change, the global energy transition to renewable energy sources is imperative. It brings forth the genesis of the energy transition driven by renewable energy sources. It has been clearly understood that energy transition over the years has taken place in a variety of forms. Some are considered under the framework of time-line, long-term or short-term energy transition, while others focus on the shift of market fuel, and fuel source, some are driven by end-use devices or prime movers, technology change, and other socio-technical factors. Certain specific factors influence and finally determine the process of the energy transition. All countries worldwide demand energy for economic growth, and therefore energy security is critical for all nations. The objectives of the paper are firstly to examine various types of energy transition. Secondly, to investigate the role of renewables in the global energy transition, examining the parameters such as a share in the primary energy demand, installed capacity, etc. Thirdly, identify the factors that affect determine the deployment of renewable energy such as energy imports, R&D funds, energy prices etc. [1]. Fourthly, to examine the role of renewables in contributing to energy security by computing a Renewable Energy Security Index (RESI) by deploying the methodology of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method [2]. The renewable energy security index has been improving over the period 2000-2018 and is significantly correlated with all four aspects of energy security availability, accessibility, acceptability, and affordability [3]. Consequently, the economies across all nations should adopt appropriate pathways of the energy transition towards renewable energy sources not only to achieve energy security but also energy efficiency.

With the increasing demand for crude oil, oil producing countries are trying to increase production. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods play an important role in increasing oil production. Among the methods, advanced or smart water injection performs better due to its low cost and high efficiency. One of the methods of increasing oil recovery that has received a lot of attention is smart water injection, which tries to improve its effectiveness by changing the salinity and ions of the injected water. The most important issue in producing crude oil from carbonate oil reservoirs is the phenomenon of oil remaining in the pores of reservoir rock. One of the methods used to increase production efficiency in carbonated reservoirs is smart water injection in order to change the wettability of carbonate reservoir rock which is one of the important parameters in increasing oil recovery; especially in these reservoirs, which have often oil- wet reservoir rock. If we be able to change wettability of reservoir rock from oil-wet to water-wet, production efficiency and oil recovery from the reservoir will be increased. The smart water solution is nothing more than adding a small amount of salt to the water. There are many salts in nature, all of which are formed by acid-base reactions. The salt produced from the acid-base reaction is a neutral compound and releases its ions when dissolved in water. Active ions have a great effect on reducing the interfacial tension between water and oil, as well as the wettability of the reservoir rock. This principle is the main reason for using smart water as an effective material for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Clay minerals have different effects such as reducing effective porosity and permeability on the petrophysical properties of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Also, the presence of clay in parts of the well causes instability of the well wall. For this reason, the study and understanding of clay is very important in petroleum studies. Clay minerals have many industrial uses due to their special characteristics. The role of this mineral in the engineering behavior of building materials and rock mechanics cannot be ignored. The type and abundance of this mineral is very important in the petroleum industry and causes many problems in this industry. Although water based drilling has been widely accepted in recent years due to its cheapness, ease and no damage to the environment, the effect of water on the swelling of clay minerals (clay hydration) causes many problems in drilling operations. Also, the migration of fine clay particles is another destructive effect of these minerals in the petroleum industry. Although this mineral has many problems in the petroleum industry, its presence plays a role in the processes of oil formation, its preservation, hydrocarbon composition, and it can be useful as a catalyst in various stages of oil refining. In this paper, importance of clay minerals in the petroleum industry has been discussed. 

Well testing operation of gas condensate reservoirs is one of the complex issues in reservoir engineering. Performing this operation requires precision sampling and laboratory analysis and if these things are not followed, the obtained results will be uninterpretable. The reason for the complexity of well testing for gas condensate reservoirs can be related to phase changes, condensate remaining in finer pores, the two-phase flow of gas and liquid, phase redistribution in and around the well, and finally, re-evaporation of condensate into the gas phase. In such conditions, it has been observed that the graph of the derivative of pressure in terms of time in the gas condensate reservoirs after transition from the dew point looks like scattered and cannot be interpreted. Now, considering these conditions, the exact reason for this phenomenon should be understood and the suitable corrections should be found for the application of these data or, if necessary, a suitable technique for performing well testing operations on gas condensate reservoirs should be designed. Methods which can normally be taken for this purpose is using of mathematical relations that provide the appropriate virtual pressure for the purposed gas condensate, considering the geological and petrophysical properties of the formation and PVT properties and equations of state for reservoir fluid. In this paper, Well Test and its application for a gas condensate reservoir will be discussed.