“If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.”
Albert Einstein, Observer, Jan. 15, 1950 / US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)
If …
You are new to Heavy Oil
If …
You are a Heavy Oil expert trying to explain basic concepts to a lay audience (such as your CEO / CFO / CIO)
If …
You head a research team with newly hired young members
Then you will find the Schlumberger HeavyOilInfo (http://www.heavyoilinfo.com/) site very helpful.
Here, for example, are excerpts from one of the articles on the site …
///////
Researching bitumen behavior
Dr. Murray Gray spoke to heavyoilinfo.com to describe the work of the Centre for Oil Sands Innovation at the University of Alberta.
Heading up the Centre for Oil Sands Innovation (COSI) at the University of Alberta, Dr. Murray Gray, and his team, are focused on improving the efficiency, economics, and environmental impact of extracting and upgrading Canadian mineable oil sands resources.
…
Focus on bitumen
The Centre has been operating for about three years and has, to date, been mostly involved with laboratory work. Most of the efforts are focused on bitumen, defined in Alberta as less than 9 degrees API, although the term is commonly applied to liquids below 10 degrees API—part of a continuum of crude oil types.
…
Upgrading—a cyclic business
Like many parts of the oil business, the economics of heavy oil upgrading experiences major ups and downs. In the early 2000s, heavy crude was 30-40% cheaper than conventional oil. The last two years have seen a reduction in the differential market price between Canadian heavy crude and light crudes—down to as little as USD 8-10. Supplies from Mexico and Venezuela into the U.S. have declined, leading to overcapacity in the U.S. upgrading market for heavy crudes. In response, American operators are buying Canadian heavy oil at relatively high prices to fill their spare capacity. Meanwhile, several major projects to expand or build new upgrading plants have been shelved. Future increases in production rates will likely lead to reductions in heavy crude prices. When this happens, the economic base for building new upgraders will return. For upgrading companies, getting the timing right is the key to profitability.
…
Unlocking the molecules
Understanding the structure of heavy oil molecules is key to designing more efficient processes, however their complex physical chemistry remains largely a mystery. Gray suggests that the molecular structure of DNA is relatively simple in comparison to the millions of complex heavy oil components that stick to each other in various different ways. We need to unlock their molecular structure in order to understand features such as the effect of temperature and pressure on phase behavior, viscosity and asphaltene production.
Two primary approaches are currently being used to determine the structure of heavier oil molecules, typically with molecular weights in the range of 500-1500 mol. One—a “top down” approach—is to try to deconstruct the components of the crude. The other approach is to synthesize chemicals then see how they behave. However, as Gray notes, “asphaltenes are not available from a catalog”, so they remain rather a “black box” to science.
…
Developments in nanotechnology have provided new tools that have enabled a revolution in the study of catalysis. Nanotechology has already delivered new catalysts to remove sulfur from petroleum, thereby improving urban air quality. We can now determine how a catalyst does and/or should look atom-by-atom and, if we know the required process, can design the ideal catalyst to achieve the desired result. The quest to reduce carbon dioxide emissions remains challenging, and work is already underway to capture CO2 from upgraders for injection in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects.
…
About Murray Gray
Dr. Murray R. Gray is the scientific director for the Centre for Oil Sands Innovation and holds the NSERC-Imperial Oil Industrial Research Chair in Oil Sands Upgrading and the Canada Research Chair in Oil Sands Upgrading. He is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta. Gray has a BASc from the University of Toronto, MEng from the University of Calgary and PhD from the California Institute of Technology. His research builds on the fundamentals of chemical reaction engineering and mass transfer to understand and control the reactions and properties of oil sands components at the molecular level.
///////
Jean Steinhardt’s Web (http://www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com/) includes a continually changing list of 10 Tips for Really Reliable Research. Take a look … it will be worth your time.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
“Find" vs. “Sort” … How to Organize Your e-Books
“If it is a Miracle, any sort of evidence will answer, but if it is a Fact, proof is necessary” -- Mark Twain (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)
Thanks to a post to the Desulfurization Blog by RT@billsimpson19, I found a search engine that finds open access articles … http://www.knowmade.com/free-fulltext-pdf.html
Produced by KnowMade (http://www.knowmade.com/), it eases the search for free full text articles pertaining to your areas of interest.
As easy as it is to acquire full text articles, organizing your e-Library can be a challenge. Corporate librarians and other information professionals use sophisticated software specifically designed for this task. They require such software because they have to keep up with thousands of resources so that they can serve hundreds or thousands of corporate clients.
As an individual, your requirements may be more modest, but no less important. You can purchase a sophisticated program, but you probably can do just as well by maintaining an Excel spreadsheet.
A key concept in organizing your spreadsheet entries is the difference between “find” and “sort.”
In Excel, the “find all” command makes it easy to find a string of characters, such as an author name, no matter where it appears in the sheet. The “sort” function, while important when manipulating financials, is less useful for bibliographic applications. For one thing, it requires far more columns to be useful for sorting.
Take, for example, the following four articles that resulted from a search in the KnowMade database for “desulfurization” …
///////
Chinese Science Bulletin 2003 Vol. 48 No. 24 2703 2709
Desulfurization metabolite of Rhodococcus erythropolis LSSE8-1 and its related desulfurizational gene fragments
GOU Zhongxuan, LUO Mingfang, LI Xin, XING Jianmin & LIU Huizhou
Laboratory of Separation Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China Correspondence should be addressed to Liu Huizhou (e-mail: hzliu@home.ipe.ac.cn)
Keywords: dibenzothiophene, clone, sequence, biodesulfurization, Rhodococcus erythropolis.
DOI: 10.1360/03wb0089
Abstr act Rhodococcus erythropolis LSSE8-1 is a newly isolated biodesulfurizaion strain from the soil of Chishui gas field, Guizhou Province, China. The analysis of its metabolism product shows that the strain is a kind of biocatalyst able to oxidize dibenzothiophene (DBT) to 2-hydroxydiphenyl (HBP), and therefore the sulfur in DBT is selectively removed. By using DBTO (dibenzothiophene 5,5-dioxide) as substrate, both DBT and HBP are found in the culture, which shows that the reaction from DBT to DBTO 2 is reversible in the cell. While using 0.5 mmol/L DBT as control, 0.01 0.4 mmol/L DBTO 2 2 shows poisonous effect to the cell, which will explain why there is no DBTO accumulation in the process of biodesulfurization. After treatment by lysozme, the plasmid DNA of the strain is isolated by alkaline method to be used as the template of PCR reaction. Three dsz gene fragments of 1.3, 1.0 and 1.2 kb respectively were amplified. Each fragment is ligate with PGEM-T vector, and cloned into E. coli.DH5α. The clone DNA is sequenced and the result shows that dsz related genes are highly conservative. The identities of dszAanddszB with respect to IGTS8 are 100%, and the identity of dszC with that of IGTS8 is 99%.
http://www.scichina.com:8080/kxtbe/fileup/PDF/03ky2703.pdf
///////
Oxidative Desulfurization Using Polyoxometalates
C. Komintarachat and W. Trakarnpruk*
Petrochemistry and Polymer Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn UniVersity, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Oxidative desulfurization of model compounds (benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene, 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene) with hydrogen eroxide/acetic acid using polyoxometalates as catalysts has been studied. The tetrabutylammonium salts of [WO6]192-, [V(VW)O11]404-, [PVWO11]404-, and [PVMo2O10]404-were prepared, and their activities were compared with (VO)2PO. The experimental results show that the highest active catalyst is [V(VW)O11]404-27. The method was also used for the treatment of gas oil. The combination of solvent extraction and alumina adsorption can efficiently separate sulfone products. The resulting oil contained less than 0.055% sulfur, and this corresponds to 90 % removal.
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wtrakarnpruk@yahoo.com
http://www.thaiscience.info/Article%20for%20ThaiScience/Article/4/Ts-4%20oxidative%20desulfurization%20using%20polyoxometalates.pdf
///////
Vol. 45 No. 5 SCIENCE IN CHINA (Series B) October 2002
Isolation and identification of nondestructive desulfurization bacterium
GOU Zhongxuan ( ), LIU Huizhou ( ), LUO Mingfang ( ), LI Shan ( ), XING Jianmin ( ) & CHEN Jiayong ( )
Young Scientist Laboratory of Separation Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China Correspondence should be addressed to Liu Huizhou (email: hzliu@home.ipe.ac.cn)
Abstract A nondestructive desulfurization microorganism has been isolated. The metabolism product analyses show that the strain can be a kind of biocatalyst to oxidize dibenzothiophene (DBT) into 2-hydroxydiphenyl (HBP), therefore the sulfur in DBT is removed selectively. The 16SrRNA information, cell wall analysis, physical, biochemical properties and morphological properties suggest that the isolated strain is Rhodococcus erythropolis. The strain can grow in the basal salts medium (BSM) that DBT concentration is no more than 10 mmol/L, and the optimal DBT concentration for growth is 1 mmol/L, however, the optimal DBT concentration for desulfurization is 0.5 mmol/L. The further research shows that the strain can also desulfur some other organosulfur-containing compounds such as thianaphthene, phenyl sulfide and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT).
Keywords: dibenzothiophene, isolation, identification, biodesulfurization, Rhodococcus erythropolis.
http://www.scichina.com:8081/sciBe/fileup/PDF/02yb0521.pdf
///////
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 47 No. 13 July 2002
Preparation of microbial desulfurization catalysts
XU Ping, , MA Cuiqing, LI Fuli, TONG Mingyou, ZENG Yiyong, WANG Shuning, H. D. Blankespoor
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China;
Fushun Research Institute of Petroleum and Petro-chemicals, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SINOPEC), Fushun 113001, China;
Biology Department, Hope College, MI 49423, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Xu Ping (e-mail: pingxu@sdu.edu.cn)
Abstract A Rhodococcus sp. 1awq, a bacterium isolated from the soil cleaving the C S bond of dibenzothiophene (DBT) via specific pathway, was investigated for cell growth and for its role in desulfurization. Clearly, the end product, 2-hydroxybiphenyl, inhibited the growth of the strain, the synthesis of the desulfurization enzymes, and the activity of the enzymes. The effects of sulfate on the DBT degradation enzymes were examined in the Rhodococcus sp . 1awq growth system with DBT; the sulfate served, concurrently, as the sulfur source. The condition of the resting cells that were used in desulfurization, was also studied. The optimal con-centration of the resting cells and the reaction conditions were determined. It was documented that there is no differ-ence between desulfurization activity for resting cells cultured with sulfate as the sole sulfur source and that with the mixture of DBT and sulfate as the sulfur source.
Keywords: microbe, biodesulfurization, dibenzothiophene (DBT), catalyst.
http://www.scichina.com:8080/kxtbe/fileup/PDF/02ky1077.pdf
///////
I recommend the easier to maintain Find approach. After all, how many times do you need to sort anyway?
Since it remains true that one picture is worth 1,000 words, I have prepared a small spreadsheet called “FindVersusSort” to illustrate the point. The sheet labeled “Find” shows one possible way of formatting the four articles listed above. The sheet labeled “Sort” shows another.
As you will see, preparing your entries for sorting takes a lot more time than preparing them for finding because of the additional columns you need to provide for each author, corporate source, and keyword. And with all that extra effort, you don’t gain that much. Sure you can sort by author name, but if you have seven author columns, it takes a lot of time to get a meaningful sort.
Send an email to research@jeansteinhardtconsulting.com, and I will send you a copy of the Excel spreadsheet FindVersusSort.xls.
Thanks to a post to the Desulfurization Blog by RT@billsimpson19, I found a search engine that finds open access articles … http://www.knowmade.com/free-fulltext-pdf.html
Produced by KnowMade (http://www.knowmade.com/), it eases the search for free full text articles pertaining to your areas of interest.
As easy as it is to acquire full text articles, organizing your e-Library can be a challenge. Corporate librarians and other information professionals use sophisticated software specifically designed for this task. They require such software because they have to keep up with thousands of resources so that they can serve hundreds or thousands of corporate clients.
As an individual, your requirements may be more modest, but no less important. You can purchase a sophisticated program, but you probably can do just as well by maintaining an Excel spreadsheet.
A key concept in organizing your spreadsheet entries is the difference between “find” and “sort.”
In Excel, the “find all” command makes it easy to find a string of characters, such as an author name, no matter where it appears in the sheet. The “sort” function, while important when manipulating financials, is less useful for bibliographic applications. For one thing, it requires far more columns to be useful for sorting.
Take, for example, the following four articles that resulted from a search in the KnowMade database for “desulfurization” …
///////
Chinese Science Bulletin 2003 Vol. 48 No. 24 2703 2709
Desulfurization metabolite of Rhodococcus erythropolis LSSE8-1 and its related desulfurizational gene fragments
GOU Zhongxuan, LUO Mingfang, LI Xin, XING Jianmin & LIU Huizhou
Laboratory of Separation Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China Correspondence should be addressed to Liu Huizhou (e-mail: hzliu@home.ipe.ac.cn)
Keywords: dibenzothiophene, clone, sequence, biodesulfurization, Rhodococcus erythropolis.
DOI: 10.1360/03wb0089
Abstr act Rhodococcus erythropolis LSSE8-1 is a newly isolated biodesulfurizaion strain from the soil of Chishui gas field, Guizhou Province, China. The analysis of its metabolism product shows that the strain is a kind of biocatalyst able to oxidize dibenzothiophene (DBT) to 2-hydroxydiphenyl (HBP), and therefore the sulfur in DBT is selectively removed. By using DBTO (dibenzothiophene 5,5-dioxide) as substrate, both DBT and HBP are found in the culture, which shows that the reaction from DBT to DBTO 2 is reversible in the cell. While using 0.5 mmol/L DBT as control, 0.01 0.4 mmol/L DBTO 2 2 shows poisonous effect to the cell, which will explain why there is no DBTO accumulation in the process of biodesulfurization. After treatment by lysozme, the plasmid DNA of the strain is isolated by alkaline method to be used as the template of PCR reaction. Three dsz gene fragments of 1.3, 1.0 and 1.2 kb respectively were amplified. Each fragment is ligate with PGEM-T vector, and cloned into E. coli.DH5α. The clone DNA is sequenced and the result shows that dsz related genes are highly conservative. The identities of dszAanddszB with respect to IGTS8 are 100%, and the identity of dszC with that of IGTS8 is 99%.
http://www.scichina.com:8080/kxtbe/fileup/PDF/03ky2703.pdf
///////
Oxidative Desulfurization Using Polyoxometalates
C. Komintarachat and W. Trakarnpruk*
Petrochemistry and Polymer Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn UniVersity, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Oxidative desulfurization of model compounds (benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene, 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene) with hydrogen eroxide/acetic acid using polyoxometalates as catalysts has been studied. The tetrabutylammonium salts of [WO6]192-, [V(VW)O11]404-, [PVWO11]404-, and [PVMo2O10]404-were prepared, and their activities were compared with (VO)2PO. The experimental results show that the highest active catalyst is [V(VW)O11]404-27. The method was also used for the treatment of gas oil. The combination of solvent extraction and alumina adsorption can efficiently separate sulfone products. The resulting oil contained less than 0.055% sulfur, and this corresponds to 90 % removal.
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wtrakarnpruk@yahoo.com
http://www.thaiscience.info/Article%20for%20ThaiScience/Article/4/Ts-4%20oxidative%20desulfurization%20using%20polyoxometalates.pdf
///////
Vol. 45 No. 5 SCIENCE IN CHINA (Series B) October 2002
Isolation and identification of nondestructive desulfurization bacterium
GOU Zhongxuan ( ), LIU Huizhou ( ), LUO Mingfang ( ), LI Shan ( ), XING Jianmin ( ) & CHEN Jiayong ( )
Young Scientist Laboratory of Separation Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China Correspondence should be addressed to Liu Huizhou (email: hzliu@home.ipe.ac.cn)
Abstract A nondestructive desulfurization microorganism has been isolated. The metabolism product analyses show that the strain can be a kind of biocatalyst to oxidize dibenzothiophene (DBT) into 2-hydroxydiphenyl (HBP), therefore the sulfur in DBT is removed selectively. The 16SrRNA information, cell wall analysis, physical, biochemical properties and morphological properties suggest that the isolated strain is Rhodococcus erythropolis. The strain can grow in the basal salts medium (BSM) that DBT concentration is no more than 10 mmol/L, and the optimal DBT concentration for growth is 1 mmol/L, however, the optimal DBT concentration for desulfurization is 0.5 mmol/L. The further research shows that the strain can also desulfur some other organosulfur-containing compounds such as thianaphthene, phenyl sulfide and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT).
Keywords: dibenzothiophene, isolation, identification, biodesulfurization, Rhodococcus erythropolis.
http://www.scichina.com:8081/sciBe/fileup/PDF/02yb0521.pdf
///////
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 47 No. 13 July 2002
Preparation of microbial desulfurization catalysts
XU Ping, , MA Cuiqing, LI Fuli, TONG Mingyou, ZENG Yiyong, WANG Shuning, H. D. Blankespoor
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China;
Fushun Research Institute of Petroleum and Petro-chemicals, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SINOPEC), Fushun 113001, China;
Biology Department, Hope College, MI 49423, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Xu Ping (e-mail: pingxu@sdu.edu.cn)
Abstract A Rhodococcus sp. 1awq, a bacterium isolated from the soil cleaving the C S bond of dibenzothiophene (DBT) via specific pathway, was investigated for cell growth and for its role in desulfurization. Clearly, the end product, 2-hydroxybiphenyl, inhibited the growth of the strain, the synthesis of the desulfurization enzymes, and the activity of the enzymes. The effects of sulfate on the DBT degradation enzymes were examined in the Rhodococcus sp . 1awq growth system with DBT; the sulfate served, concurrently, as the sulfur source. The condition of the resting cells that were used in desulfurization, was also studied. The optimal con-centration of the resting cells and the reaction conditions were determined. It was documented that there is no differ-ence between desulfurization activity for resting cells cultured with sulfate as the sole sulfur source and that with the mixture of DBT and sulfate as the sulfur source.
Keywords: microbe, biodesulfurization, dibenzothiophene (DBT), catalyst.
http://www.scichina.com:8080/kxtbe/fileup/PDF/02ky1077.pdf
///////
I recommend the easier to maintain Find approach. After all, how many times do you need to sort anyway?
Since it remains true that one picture is worth 1,000 words, I have prepared a small spreadsheet called “FindVersusSort” to illustrate the point. The sheet labeled “Find” shows one possible way of formatting the four articles listed above. The sheet labeled “Sort” shows another.
As you will see, preparing your entries for sorting takes a lot more time than preparing them for finding because of the additional columns you need to provide for each author, corporate source, and keyword. And with all that extra effort, you don’t gain that much. Sure you can sort by author name, but if you have seven author columns, it takes a lot of time to get a meaningful sort.
Send an email to research@jeansteinhardtconsulting.com, and I will send you a copy of the Excel spreadsheet FindVersusSort.xls.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Book Alert: Shell’s “Signals and Signposts”
“Do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the signal.” -- Dwight David Eisenhower (American 34th President (1953-61). 1890-1969)
Here’s one to add to your e-Book collection … and it’s free. Shell has recently published its latest “Signals and Signposts” report. The company offers it to the public for free download at:
http://www.shell.com/home/content/aboutshell/our_strategy/shell_global_scenarios/signals_signposts/
It is worth downloading and browsing, if only to understand how one major oil company sees its role in the world in the decades to come.
In the words of its Web …
“Three years ago, we made public our Shell Energy Scenarios to 2050. These scenarios addressed the challenges facing the world and influenced our own strategic direction. To ensure we continue playing a constructive and responsible role in the global energy and environmental debate, we must listen to others. We must also continue to share our best understanding of what we believe the future holds.”
“Signals and Signposts” references another Shell report that includes sections labeled “Scramble” and “Blueprints.” You can find the report, also available for download to the public, by Googling® …
shell scramble and blueprints
///////
Visit Jean’s Web for “10 Tips for Really Reliable Research” (http://www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com/) This continually updated list includes an item on CoMoCat. It describes work on thin walled carbon nanotubes by Oklahoma University which show promise as a means of desulfurization.
Here’s one to add to your e-Book collection … and it’s free. Shell has recently published its latest “Signals and Signposts” report. The company offers it to the public for free download at:
http://www.shell.com/home/content/aboutshell/our_strategy/shell_global_scenarios/signals_signposts/
It is worth downloading and browsing, if only to understand how one major oil company sees its role in the world in the decades to come.
In the words of its Web …
“Three years ago, we made public our Shell Energy Scenarios to 2050. These scenarios addressed the challenges facing the world and influenced our own strategic direction. To ensure we continue playing a constructive and responsible role in the global energy and environmental debate, we must listen to others. We must also continue to share our best understanding of what we believe the future holds.”
“Signals and Signposts” references another Shell report that includes sections labeled “Scramble” and “Blueprints.” You can find the report, also available for download to the public, by Googling® …
shell scramble and blueprints
///////
Visit Jean’s Web for “10 Tips for Really Reliable Research” (http://www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com/) This continually updated list includes an item on CoMoCat. It describes work on thin walled carbon nanotubes by Oklahoma University which show promise as a means of desulfurization.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Presentation … How Two Experts Present Themselves on the Web
“Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure.” -- Albert Einstein (German born American Physicist. Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. 1879-1955)
The Web enables many ways to promote your expertise. There is no better way to begin than by seeing how others do it … and then let your imagination take over.
Even if you choose someone else to implement your Web presence, it behooves you to understand the basic concepts. It will help you as you discuss various possibilities with your Web presence expert.
Here are two examples …
///////
Rush Khan (LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rushkhan)
Dr. Rush Khan has spent much of his career managing Saudi Aramco’s intellectual property. Aramco, like the other majors, is intensely interested in developing desulfurization technologies to help bring high sulfur crude to market in a cost effective manner.
Dr. Khan uses LinkedIn to his advantage by regularly updating his profile. For example, when you follow his LinkedIn profile link, the first thing you see is …
Rush Khan, PhD's Patents
AUTOMATION AND CONTROL OF ENERGY EFFICIENT FLUID CATALYTIC CRACKING PROCESSES FOR MAXIMIZING VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS
United States Patent Application WO/2010/054089 by TAHA, Othman, KHAN, Rashid•Filed May 11, 2009
Inventors: Rush Khan, PhD
With an aim to optimize propylene production, petroleum oil is catalytically cracked by contacting the oil with catalyst mixture consisting of a base cracking catalyst containing an stable Y-type zeolite and small amounts of rare-earth metal oxide, and an additive containing a shape- selective zeolite, in an up-flow type fluid catalytic cracking apparatus having a regeneration zone, a separation...
Flare stack combustion method and apparatus (08-Apr-2008) United States Patent US 7354265
Inventors: Rush Khan, PhD, Mashour
High-pressure air is discharged in the form of jets moving at a high velocity from nozzles mounted on a ring around the interior of the flare stack, placed at a predetermined distance from the flare tip and the portion of the surrounding stack wall downstream of the jets is perforated with air passages to admit atmospheric air. The high-velocity air movement induces a larger volume of air from the...
///////
Dr. Chunshan Song takes a different approach. He uses the Web to educate interested people to the research work performed by his research team.
Among Dr. Song’s areas of expertise are …
Fuel characterization/ development
Fuel desulfurization/ denitrogenation and dearomatization
Ultra-clean transportation fuel
Advanced thermally stable jet fuels
Fuel processing for fuel cells
Hydrogen production
Shape-selective catalysis
Conversion of heavy oils, coal, and waste hydrocarbons
Computational analysis of hydrocarbon reactions and catalysis
CO2 capture/ separation/ utilization
Contact information for Dr. Song …
Chunshan Song
Distinguished Professor of Fuel Science and Professor of Chemical Engineering
Director, EMS Energy Institute
Associate Director, Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment
email: csong@psu.edu
Research Group Web site: http://www.energy.psu.edu/cfc/index.html
source: http://www.eme.psu.edu/faculty/song.html
///////
These are just two of countless examples of the way in which the Internet can help promote progress in the technologies the world requires.
///////
Jean invites you to visit his Web at http://www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com/. His home page lists 10 Tips for Really Reliable Research
The Web enables many ways to promote your expertise. There is no better way to begin than by seeing how others do it … and then let your imagination take over.
Even if you choose someone else to implement your Web presence, it behooves you to understand the basic concepts. It will help you as you discuss various possibilities with your Web presence expert.
Here are two examples …
///////
Rush Khan (LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rushkhan)
Dr. Rush Khan has spent much of his career managing Saudi Aramco’s intellectual property. Aramco, like the other majors, is intensely interested in developing desulfurization technologies to help bring high sulfur crude to market in a cost effective manner.
Dr. Khan uses LinkedIn to his advantage by regularly updating his profile. For example, when you follow his LinkedIn profile link, the first thing you see is …
Rush Khan, PhD's Patents
AUTOMATION AND CONTROL OF ENERGY EFFICIENT FLUID CATALYTIC CRACKING PROCESSES FOR MAXIMIZING VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS
United States Patent Application WO/2010/054089 by TAHA, Othman, KHAN, Rashid•Filed May 11, 2009
Inventors: Rush Khan, PhD
With an aim to optimize propylene production, petroleum oil is catalytically cracked by contacting the oil with catalyst mixture consisting of a base cracking catalyst containing an stable Y-type zeolite and small amounts of rare-earth metal oxide, and an additive containing a shape- selective zeolite, in an up-flow type fluid catalytic cracking apparatus having a regeneration zone, a separation...
Flare stack combustion method and apparatus (08-Apr-2008) United States Patent US 7354265
Inventors: Rush Khan, PhD, Mashour
High-pressure air is discharged in the form of jets moving at a high velocity from nozzles mounted on a ring around the interior of the flare stack, placed at a predetermined distance from the flare tip and the portion of the surrounding stack wall downstream of the jets is perforated with air passages to admit atmospheric air. The high-velocity air movement induces a larger volume of air from the...
///////
Dr. Chunshan Song takes a different approach. He uses the Web to educate interested people to the research work performed by his research team.
Among Dr. Song’s areas of expertise are …
Fuel characterization/ development
Fuel desulfurization/ denitrogenation and dearomatization
Ultra-clean transportation fuel
Advanced thermally stable jet fuels
Fuel processing for fuel cells
Hydrogen production
Shape-selective catalysis
Conversion of heavy oils, coal, and waste hydrocarbons
Computational analysis of hydrocarbon reactions and catalysis
CO2 capture/ separation/ utilization
Contact information for Dr. Song …
Chunshan Song
Distinguished Professor of Fuel Science and Professor of Chemical Engineering
Director, EMS Energy Institute
Associate Director, Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment
email: csong@psu.edu
Research Group Web site: http://www.energy.psu.edu/cfc/index.html
source: http://www.eme.psu.edu/faculty/song.html
///////
These are just two of countless examples of the way in which the Internet can help promote progress in the technologies the world requires.
///////
Jean invites you to visit his Web at http://www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com/. His home page lists 10 Tips for Really Reliable Research
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Resource Alert: Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” – Alexander Graham Bell (Scottish born American inventor, 1847-1922)
Even if you are tightly focused on desulfurization research, you will find lots of other resources that pertain, even if only on the fringes. One of those you may want to consider … Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide magazine (http://www.dieselpub.com/)
Here is the table of contents for the January/February 2011 issue …
Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide Table of Contents
January/February 2011
Training & Education
CIMAC Sets Sights On Shanghai - p. 6
Apprenticeship To Success - p. 16
Worldwide Training Program Started By MTU - p. 36
Industry News
Distributed I/O Systems - p. 8
Diesel Switch Approved For Marine Use - p. 13
Intelligent Combustion Monitoring - p. 19
New Accelerometer And Interface Kit From The PCB Group - p. 38
FW Murphy Expands Powerview 101 Flexibility With New Configuration Software - p. 54
Paradox Engineering Opens Office In Singapore - p. 56
Turbocharger Design System Software - p. 60
Emissions Worldview
Recycling Wastewater With Biogas Fuel Cells - p. 10
Power Generation
Allweiler Fuel-Injection Skids For Iraqi Power Plants - p. 12
MAN Introduces New Industrial Gas Turbine - p. 14
Sequencing A Faster Start-Up - p. 18
A Standard Decision On Paralleling - p. 40
Cultivating Biogas-Fueled Power - p. 46
LSA 40 Low-Voltage Alternator - p. 51
Flexibility And Performance - p. 62
Turbine Overhaul & Repair
Laser Precision For Turbine Alignment - p. 20
Siemens Joins Power Diagnostics And Specialty Monitors - p. 33
An Ensemble Cast At Chromalloy - p. 42
World's Best Power Plants
The World's Best Power Plants 2011 - p. 22
Marine Propulsion
A Powerful Defender - p. 37
MAN Powers LNG Carrier - p. 52
Automated And Integrated Control System - p. 57
Two Giants Join In Hercules-C - p. 58
Industry News & Analysis
Update On European Energy Policies - p. 44
Oil & Gas
AEP Joins Effort To Build More Efficient CO2
Compression System - p. 48
Dresser Waukesha Rolls Out New Gen-Set - p. 53
Rail Traction
Saving Fuel Through Speed Control - p. 50
///////
For more information, contact …
Brent Haight
Editor and Publisher
Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide magazine
bhaight@dieselpub.com
///////
If you know someone who ought to follow the Desulfurization Blog, do them a favor … send them the link (http://www.desulf.blogspot.com/
Even if you are tightly focused on desulfurization research, you will find lots of other resources that pertain, even if only on the fringes. One of those you may want to consider … Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide magazine (http://www.dieselpub.com/)
Here is the table of contents for the January/February 2011 issue …
Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide Table of Contents
January/February 2011
Training & Education
CIMAC Sets Sights On Shanghai - p. 6
Apprenticeship To Success - p. 16
Worldwide Training Program Started By MTU - p. 36
Industry News
Distributed I/O Systems - p. 8
Diesel Switch Approved For Marine Use - p. 13
Intelligent Combustion Monitoring - p. 19
New Accelerometer And Interface Kit From The PCB Group - p. 38
FW Murphy Expands Powerview 101 Flexibility With New Configuration Software - p. 54
Paradox Engineering Opens Office In Singapore - p. 56
Turbocharger Design System Software - p. 60
Emissions Worldview
Recycling Wastewater With Biogas Fuel Cells - p. 10
Power Generation
Allweiler Fuel-Injection Skids For Iraqi Power Plants - p. 12
MAN Introduces New Industrial Gas Turbine - p. 14
Sequencing A Faster Start-Up - p. 18
A Standard Decision On Paralleling - p. 40
Cultivating Biogas-Fueled Power - p. 46
LSA 40 Low-Voltage Alternator - p. 51
Flexibility And Performance - p. 62
Turbine Overhaul & Repair
Laser Precision For Turbine Alignment - p. 20
Siemens Joins Power Diagnostics And Specialty Monitors - p. 33
An Ensemble Cast At Chromalloy - p. 42
World's Best Power Plants
The World's Best Power Plants 2011 - p. 22
Marine Propulsion
A Powerful Defender - p. 37
MAN Powers LNG Carrier - p. 52
Automated And Integrated Control System - p. 57
Two Giants Join In Hercules-C - p. 58
Industry News & Analysis
Update On European Energy Policies - p. 44
Oil & Gas
AEP Joins Effort To Build More Efficient CO2
Compression System - p. 48
Dresser Waukesha Rolls Out New Gen-Set - p. 53
Rail Traction
Saving Fuel Through Speed Control - p. 50
///////
For more information, contact …
Brent Haight
Editor and Publisher
Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide magazine
bhaight@dieselpub.com
///////
If you know someone who ought to follow the Desulfurization Blog, do them a favor … send them the link (http://www.desulf.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Cultivating Key Words: “sulfur breakthrough” 2010
“Science keeps down the weed of superstition not by logic, but by rendering the mental soil unfit for its cultivation” -- John Tyndall, prominent 19th century physicist (2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893)
Key word cultivation can be nearly as useful as the actual content of peer reviewed articles. Keep a list of key words that you find during your online research. Here, for example are three articles that appeared as the result of Googling® the following search string …
“sulfur breakthrough” 2010
Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
Article in Press, Accepted Manuscript - Note to users
Selective Adsorption of Dibenzothiophene by Functionalized Metal Organic Framework Sorbents
Fan Shi1, a, Maha Hammoud2, a and Levi T. Thompson, a,
a University of Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
ltt@umich.edu
Received 9 January 2010; revised 23 June 2010; accepted 15 July 2010. Available online 22 July 2010.
Abstract
The adsorption of organosulfur compounds directly from liquid fuels has potential advantages over hydrodesulfurization processes including higher efficiencies and lower costs. A series of sorbents was prepared by decomposing Mo(CO)6 onto MOF-5, and evaluated for the selective adsorption of dibenzothiophene from solutions containing i-octane, naphthalene and/or benzene. The resulting materials had Mo loadings up to 20 wt%, surface areas in excess of 1800 m2/g and pore size distributions that were very similar to those for the parent MOF-5. Other than features for MOF-5, there was no evidence of crystalline domains larger than 50 nm in the x-ray diffraction patterns, although, Mo(CO)6 typically decomposes into Mo carbide and/or oxycarbide species under the conditions employed. These materials possessed strong affinities for the adsorption of dibenzothiophene in the absence and presence of the types of aromatic compounds typically found in transportation fuels. Sulfur uptakes at breakthrough approached 0.5 mmolS/g which corresponded to surface coverages of 4%. With further development, these materials could be used to remove sulfur from gasoline, diesel and military logistics fuels.
Keywords: adsorptive desulfurization; Mo carbide functionalized MOF-5; dibenzothiophene
Corresponding author.
1 NETL, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236.
2 A123 Systems, 3850 Research Park Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108.
///////
Fuel
Volume 89, Issue 11, November 2010, Pages 3218-3225
Supported silver adsorbents for selective removal of sulfur species from hydrocarbon fuels
Sachin Naira and Bruce J. Tatarchuk, a,
a Department of Chemical Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
tatarbj@auburn.edu
Received 9 February 2010; revised 23 April 2010; accepted 9 May 2010. Available online 20 May 2010.
Abstract
Dispersed silver oxides on supports such as TiO2, γ-Al2O3 and SiO2 were observed to be effective desulfurizing agents for refined fuels at ambient conditions. TiO2 was determined to be the most stable support for silver oxide. Ag (4 wt%)/TiO2 demonstrated a saturation sulfur capacity of 6.3 mgS/g for JP5 fuel containing 1172 ppmw sulfur. This high affinity for sulfur translated to one sulfur heterocycle associated with every two surface Ag atoms in the sorbent even in the presence of a 160-fold excess of other aromatics found in the fuel. A unique attribute of these sorbents was that they were thermally regenerable at 450 °C using air as a stripping medium over multiple cycles. Desulfurization characteristics also varied with fuel composition. Variation in desulfurization performance between JP5, JP8 and a light fraction JP5 were established and associated with the differences in sulfur composition of these fuels. The effects of surface area, porosity and crystal structure of the sorbent on sulfur capacity are also presented.
Keywords: Desulfurization; Sulfur sorbent; Oxygen chemisorption; Refined fuels
///////
Microporous and Mesoporous Materials
Volume 127, Issue 3, February 2010, Pages 190-197
Low temperature H2S dry-desulfurization with zinc oxide
Hector F. Garcesa, 1, , Hugo M. Galindob, Luis J. Garcesc, Jennifer Huntd, 2, , Aimee Moreyb and Steven L. Suiba, b, ,
aUniversity of Connecticut, Institute of Materials Science, 97 North Eagleville Rd., Storrs, CT 06269-3136, United States
bUniversity of Connecticut, Department of Chemistry, 55 North Eagleville Rd., Unit 3060, Storrs, CT 06269-3060, United States
cInstituto de Química, Universidad de Antioquia, Apartado Aéreo 1226, Medellín, Colombia
dFuel Cell Energy, Inc., United States
Received 18 May 2009; revised 8 July 2009; accepted 18 July 2009. Available online 5 August 2009.
hector.garces@uconn.edu
jhunt@fce.com
steven@uconn.edu
Abstract
A commercially available zinc oxide with a bimodal micro- and mesopore size distribution was investigated as a desulfurizing sorbent in a fixed-bed reactor at low temperatures from 60 to 400 °C. Fresh and sulfided materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET specific surface area, pore volume, SEM/EDX, TGA/DSC and in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD). The sorbent’s sorption capacity at breakthrough increased with the sulfidation temperature reaching 87% of the theoretical value for desulfurization at 400 °C. A deactivation model that considers the activity of the solid reactant was used to fit the experimental data. Good agreement between the experimental breakthrough curves and the model predictions was obtained.
Keywords: Zinc oxide adsorbent; H2S; Deactivation model; Sulfur breakthrough; Dry-desulfurization
///////
Here are the key words identified by the indexers of the above articles …
Keywords: Zinc oxide adsorbent; H2S; Deactivation model; Sulfur breakthrough; Dry-desulfurization
Keywords: Desulfurization; Sulfur sorbent; Oxygen chemisorption; Refined fuels
Keywords: adsorptive desulfurization; Mo carbide functionalized MOF-5; dibenzothiophene
You may find other equally significant key words in the text of each article. List them, save them, and Google® them from time to time. This will help you keep on top of developments that affect your area of research.
///////
Jean Steinhardt invites you to invite him to join your LinkedIn network. View his profile at www.linkedin.com/in/jeansteinhardtresearch
Key word cultivation can be nearly as useful as the actual content of peer reviewed articles. Keep a list of key words that you find during your online research. Here, for example are three articles that appeared as the result of Googling® the following search string …
“sulfur breakthrough” 2010
Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
Article in Press, Accepted Manuscript - Note to users
Selective Adsorption of Dibenzothiophene by Functionalized Metal Organic Framework Sorbents
Fan Shi1, a, Maha Hammoud2, a and Levi T. Thompson, a,
a University of Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
ltt@umich.edu
Received 9 January 2010; revised 23 June 2010; accepted 15 July 2010. Available online 22 July 2010.
Abstract
The adsorption of organosulfur compounds directly from liquid fuels has potential advantages over hydrodesulfurization processes including higher efficiencies and lower costs. A series of sorbents was prepared by decomposing Mo(CO)6 onto MOF-5, and evaluated for the selective adsorption of dibenzothiophene from solutions containing i-octane, naphthalene and/or benzene. The resulting materials had Mo loadings up to 20 wt%, surface areas in excess of 1800 m2/g and pore size distributions that were very similar to those for the parent MOF-5. Other than features for MOF-5, there was no evidence of crystalline domains larger than 50 nm in the x-ray diffraction patterns, although, Mo(CO)6 typically decomposes into Mo carbide and/or oxycarbide species under the conditions employed. These materials possessed strong affinities for the adsorption of dibenzothiophene in the absence and presence of the types of aromatic compounds typically found in transportation fuels. Sulfur uptakes at breakthrough approached 0.5 mmolS/g which corresponded to surface coverages of 4%. With further development, these materials could be used to remove sulfur from gasoline, diesel and military logistics fuels.
Keywords: adsorptive desulfurization; Mo carbide functionalized MOF-5; dibenzothiophene
Corresponding author.
1 NETL, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236.
2 A123 Systems, 3850 Research Park Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108.
///////
Fuel
Volume 89, Issue 11, November 2010, Pages 3218-3225
Supported silver adsorbents for selective removal of sulfur species from hydrocarbon fuels
Sachin Naira and Bruce J. Tatarchuk, a,
a Department of Chemical Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
tatarbj@auburn.edu
Received 9 February 2010; revised 23 April 2010; accepted 9 May 2010. Available online 20 May 2010.
Abstract
Dispersed silver oxides on supports such as TiO2, γ-Al2O3 and SiO2 were observed to be effective desulfurizing agents for refined fuels at ambient conditions. TiO2 was determined to be the most stable support for silver oxide. Ag (4 wt%)/TiO2 demonstrated a saturation sulfur capacity of 6.3 mgS/g for JP5 fuel containing 1172 ppmw sulfur. This high affinity for sulfur translated to one sulfur heterocycle associated with every two surface Ag atoms in the sorbent even in the presence of a 160-fold excess of other aromatics found in the fuel. A unique attribute of these sorbents was that they were thermally regenerable at 450 °C using air as a stripping medium over multiple cycles. Desulfurization characteristics also varied with fuel composition. Variation in desulfurization performance between JP5, JP8 and a light fraction JP5 were established and associated with the differences in sulfur composition of these fuels. The effects of surface area, porosity and crystal structure of the sorbent on sulfur capacity are also presented.
Keywords: Desulfurization; Sulfur sorbent; Oxygen chemisorption; Refined fuels
///////
Microporous and Mesoporous Materials
Volume 127, Issue 3, February 2010, Pages 190-197
Low temperature H2S dry-desulfurization with zinc oxide
Hector F. Garcesa, 1, , Hugo M. Galindob, Luis J. Garcesc, Jennifer Huntd, 2, , Aimee Moreyb and Steven L. Suiba, b, ,
aUniversity of Connecticut, Institute of Materials Science, 97 North Eagleville Rd., Storrs, CT 06269-3136, United States
bUniversity of Connecticut, Department of Chemistry, 55 North Eagleville Rd., Unit 3060, Storrs, CT 06269-3060, United States
cInstituto de Química, Universidad de Antioquia, Apartado Aéreo 1226, Medellín, Colombia
dFuel Cell Energy, Inc., United States
Received 18 May 2009; revised 8 July 2009; accepted 18 July 2009. Available online 5 August 2009.
hector.garces@uconn.edu
jhunt@fce.com
steven@uconn.edu
Abstract
A commercially available zinc oxide with a bimodal micro- and mesopore size distribution was investigated as a desulfurizing sorbent in a fixed-bed reactor at low temperatures from 60 to 400 °C. Fresh and sulfided materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET specific surface area, pore volume, SEM/EDX, TGA/DSC and in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD). The sorbent’s sorption capacity at breakthrough increased with the sulfidation temperature reaching 87% of the theoretical value for desulfurization at 400 °C. A deactivation model that considers the activity of the solid reactant was used to fit the experimental data. Good agreement between the experimental breakthrough curves and the model predictions was obtained.
Keywords: Zinc oxide adsorbent; H2S; Deactivation model; Sulfur breakthrough; Dry-desulfurization
///////
Here are the key words identified by the indexers of the above articles …
Keywords: Zinc oxide adsorbent; H2S; Deactivation model; Sulfur breakthrough; Dry-desulfurization
Keywords: Desulfurization; Sulfur sorbent; Oxygen chemisorption; Refined fuels
Keywords: adsorptive desulfurization; Mo carbide functionalized MOF-5; dibenzothiophene
You may find other equally significant key words in the text of each article. List them, save them, and Google® them from time to time. This will help you keep on top of developments that affect your area of research.
///////
Jean Steinhardt invites you to invite him to join your LinkedIn network. View his profile at www.linkedin.com/in/jeansteinhardtresearch
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)