“It is the framework which changes with each new technology and not just the
picture within the frame.” -- Marshall McLuhan (Canadian communications
theorist Educator, Writer and Social Reformer, 1911-1980)
Serious researchers know that the first step in any new area of research is to
see what has already been done. In other
words, it requires a search of the literature.
As an experienced researcher, you know how to conduct a comprehensive
literature search. But how about your research
assistant?
Save yourself some time and frustration … have your research assistant read the
following article. It is directed at
people in the Information Systems arena, but the basic principles are broadly
applicable.
///////
Excerpts
from:
Informing Science Journal Volume
9, 2006
A Systems
Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review in Support of Information
Systems Research
Yair Levy and Timothy J. Ellis
Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences,
Nova Southeastern University, Florida, USA
levyy@nova.edu ellist@nova.edu
Free Full Text Source: http://www.scs.ryerson.ca/aferworn/courses/CP8101/CLASSES/ConductingLiteratureReview.pdf
Abstract
This paper introduces a framework for conducting and writing an effective
literature review. The target audience for the framework includes information
systems (IS) doctoral students, novice IS researchers, and other IS researchers
who are constantly struggling with the development of an effective
literature-based foundation for a proposed research. The proposed framework
follows the systematic data processing approach comprised of three major
stages: 1) inputs (literature gathering and screening), 2) processing
(following Bloom’s Taxonomy), and 3) outputs (writing the literature review).
This paper provides the rationale for developing a solid literature review
including detailed instructions on how to conduct each stage of the process
proposed. The paper concludes by providing arguments for the value of an
effective literature review to IS research.
What is a Literature Review?
Novice researchers tend to approach the literature review as nothing more than
a collection of summaries of papers or an elaborated annotated bibliography of
multiple research manuscripts. A meaningful literature review is much more …
Webster and Watson defined an effective literature review as one that “creates
a firm foundation for advancing knowledge. It facilitates theory development,
closes areas where a plethora of research exists, and uncovers areas where
research is needed”
An effective and quality literature review is one that is based upon a
concept-centric approach rather than chronological or author-centric approach.
Bem noted that “authors of literature reviews are at risk for producing
mind-numbing lists of citations and findings that resemble a phone book –
impressive case, lots of numbers, but not much plot.”
With the increased use of electronic resources for library services, the speed
at which researchers can find relevant literature increased dramatically.
However, novice researchers should be fully competent in using such electronic
resources in order to produce an effective literature review.
Keyword searching presents a classic cold-start problem for the novice
researcher; how can one identify the applicable keywords for an unknown domain.
The best source for keywords is, of course, the literature base for the domain
and all articles reviewed should be read with an eye for potential keywords.
Locating the first article can, however, be a considerable challenge … The
keyword search should be just the initial, not the main step for a literature
search. A common mistake by novice researchers … is to assume that the keyword
search yields all that is available from the literature.
How to tell when you are done with the literature search? By default, the
literature search process should continuously be done during the course of the
study. As noted previously, the use of backward and forward literature search
techniques should provide additional valid references as the search progresses.
However, it may appear to novice researchers that this process is a never-ending
one. From a practical perspective, one needs to stop the search and move on to
the processing and writing (output) of the literature review. Thus, the
question arises: “At what point should the process of gathering additional
relevant literature end?” Leedy and Ormrod noted that one common rule of thumb
is that the search is near completion when one discovers that new articles only
introduce familiar arguments, methodologies, findings, authors, and studies.
///////
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
What Do Patents & Hindawi Have in Common? They’re Both Free!
“Why can we
remember the tiniest detail that has happened to us, and not remember how many times we
have told it to the same person.” -- François de la Rochefoucauld (French
classical author, leading exponent of the Maxime, 1613-1680)
Two free full text desulfurization items of interest … a patent, and an article from the amazing Hindawi (http://www.hindawi.com/) open access journals database.
Details below …
///////
PATENT
Desulfurization of hydrocarbons by Ionic liquids and preparation of ionic liquids (Instituto Mexicano Del Petroleo)
Publication number
US20130118955 A1
Publication type
Application
Application number
US 13/733,173
Publication date
May 16, 2013
DE102009022284A1, US20090288992
Inventors
Natalya Victorovna Likhanova, Rafael Martinez Palou, Jorge Froylan Palomeque Santiago
Original Assignee
Instituto Mexicano Del Petroleo
Abstract
The present invention relates to an improved desulfurization process using an ionic liquid compound of general formula C+A−, where C+ represents an organic cation such as alkyl-pyridinium, di-alkyl imidazolium and tri-alkyl imidazolium; and A− is an anion of halides of iron (III), such as, for example, FeCl4 −. The desulfurization process is also improved when producing the ionic liquid compound by heating the reactants using microwave energy. The ionic liquids can be used to desulfurize hydrocarbon mixtures by a liquid-liquid extraction.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention provides a process for the synthesis of ionic liquids which can be used for the efficient removal of sulfur compounds from hydrocarbon mixtures. The ionic liquids related are insoluble in hydrocarbons but are able to dissolve aliphatic and aromatic sulfur compounds. Thus, the ionic liquids can be used for removal of sulfur compounds by a liquid-liquid extraction process at room temperature and pressure. The invention is also directed to a process for extracting sulfur from a hydrocarbon liquid by contacting the hydrocarbon with the ionic liquid.
More preferably, this invention is related to the synthesis of ionic liquids with general formula C+A−, where C+ is an organic cation preferably but not exclusively alkyl pyridinium, dialkylimidazolium, and trialkylimidazolium, the anion A− is preferably halogen ferrate (III), particularly Cl*FeCl3 − and Br*FeCl3. The invention is also directed to the process for the extraction of sulfur-containing compounds, such as sulfur compound that are present in gasoline and Diesel as contaminant obtained in petroleum refining processes by contacting with the ionic liquids.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The production of gasoline according with the new European Environmental Standards requires that the refiners to lower the sulfur content in gasoline to values that are lower than 50 ppm since 2005. For example in Germany he content of sulfur in gasoline should be lower than 10 ppm. For the case of USA the content of sulfur is limited to lowest than 80 ppm and with average of 30 ppm. In attention to this claims, PEMEX Refining should be produce gasoline with sulfur content between 15 and 30 ppm for the years 2008-2010.
The classic method used for sulfur removal in Refining Processes is the catalytic Hydrodesulfurization (HDS technology) at high temperature and pressure. This method is very costly process that required drastic operation conditions and it is inefficient to reduce aromatic sulfur compounds especially for Mexican heavy crude oil, so is more reasonable the use of alternative desulfurization process. For increasing the efficiency of HDS process some technology modification are required such as the addition of other catalytic bed, more efficient catalyst, higher temperature and pressures and to reduce LHSV to expense of few processing capacity.
New technologic lines have been develop on in several countries in order to resolve this problem (Zaczepinski, S. Exxon, Diesel Oil Deep Desulfurization (DODD) in Handbook of Petroleum Refining Processes, ed. R. A. Meyer, Mc Graw-Hill, NY, 1996, Ch. 8.7), i.e.: the absorption of sulfur compounds over solid absorbents, like IRVAD® process (U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,860, dated Mar. 24, 1998) from Black & Veatch Pritchard Inc.; the process S-Zorb® from Phillips Petroleum (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/ulsd/uls.html), the process Haldor Topsoe (EP 1057879, dated Dec. 6, 2000); and the liquid-liquid extraction with volatile organic solvents (Petrostar Refining, 217 National Meeting, American Chemical Society, Anaheim, Calif., Marzo, 1999). An original process is the oxidative desulfurization with different oxidant agents (Unipure Corp., NPRA Meeting No AM-01-10, Marzo 2001; Sulphco Corp, NPRA Meeting No AM-01-55, March 2001; BP Chemicals UK, Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical (1997) 397-403; UOP LLC, U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,478, dated Jan. 9, 2001; EXXON Research and Engineering Co., U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,440, dated Jun. 8, 1999; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0035306 A1 with publication date of Mar. 21, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,596,914 B2, dated Jul. 22, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,616, dated Jun. 18, 2002 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,940 B1 dated Jun. 11, 2002; Fuel 82 (2003) 4015; Green Chemistry 5 (2003) 639). Recently the extraction of sulfur-containing compounds using liquid-liquid extraction employing ionic liquids have been welcome by scientific community.
Ionic liquids are known for more than 30 years, but their industrial applications began in the last 10 years (Rogers, R. D.; Seddon, K. R (Eds.), Ionic Liquids: Industrial Applications of Green Chemistry, ACS, Boston, 2002). They are applied as solvents and catalyst in alkylation reactions, polymerization and Diels-Alder cycloaddition. In addition they are employed in electrochemical processes, in supercritical CO2 extraction of aromatic compounds and sulfur compounds in hydrocarbon mixtures. One of the first publications mention the use of ionic liquids for the removal of mercaptans (WO 0234863, dated May 2, 2002). The patented method is based on the use of sodium hydroxide in combination with ionic liquids for the conversion of mercaptans to mercaptures, which were removed using ionic liquids. Peter Wassercheid and coworkers published several papers and patents between 2001 and 2005 about the use of ionic liquids for desulfurization of gasolines (Chem. Comun. (2001) 2494; WO 03037835, with publication date of 2003 May 8; U.S. Publication No. 2005/0010076 A1, published Jan. 13, 2005). In these works the authors employed ionic liquids with C+ being 1,3-dialkylimidazolium or tetralkylammonium, and A− being tetrachloroaluminates or methanesulfonates. By means of a process with several extractions (up to 8 extractions), high extraction of sulfur compounds were achieved using model gasolines. However these kinds of compounds are air and moisture sensitive and a polymerization reaction was observed during the extraction process. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0085156 A1 published May 8, 2003 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,001,504, dated Feb. 21, 2006, also mention the use of ionic liquids, where C+ is an ammonium o fosfonium and quaternary, A− being tetrachloroaluminates for the extraction of sulfur from model gasoline. In the paper published in Energy & Fuels 18 (2004) 1862, the use of ionic liquids containing Copper chloride (I) anion with the same application, and in the papers Ind Eng. Chem. Res. 43 (2004) 614 and Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 46 (2007) 5108-5112) several ionic liquids were evaluated for the extraction of sulfur and nitrogen-containing compounds. More recently, some papers (Energy & Fuels 20 (2006) 2083-2087; Green Chemistry 8 (2006) 70-77; Progress in chemistry 19 (2007) 1331-1344; Green Chemistry 10 (2008) 87-92) also report the use of IL for desulfurization processes. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/00445874 A1, published Mar. 11, 2004, discloses a procedure for desulfurization and denitrogenation of hydrocarbons fractions using a wide family of ionic liquids and alkylations agents with high efficiency in some cases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to the use of ionic liquids containing halogens of Fe (III) as an anion for these purposes, where these compounds presented very high efficiency for extracting sulfur-containing compounds from gasoline, turbosin, diesel and other petroleum fractions. Another important and novel aspect of the invention is the use of microwave irradiation for synthesizing the ionic liquids suitable for use as extracting agents (symmetric and non-symmetric compounds) with a corresponding shorter time and higher yields in the synthesis of these ionic liquids compared to the conventional methods of synthesis.
The invention is also directed to a process for extracting sulfur and sulfur compounds from a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon liquid by contacting the hydrocarbon liquid with an ionic liquid of the invention for sufficient time to extract the sulfur and sulfur-containing compounds, and thereafter recovering the hydrocarbon liquid.
The ionic liquids of the invention comprise a heterocyclic cation and an iron (III) halide. The heterocyclic cation is an imidazolium compound having at least one C1-C10 alkyl group or alkoxy group where the alkyl group and alkoxy group can be linear, branched, substituted or unsubstituted. The heterocyclic cation can be symmetrical or asymmetrical.
Free Full Text Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20130118955
///////
International Journal of Chemical Engineering, Volume 2013, Article ID 951045, 10 pages, http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/951045
Investigation of Influential Parameters in Deep Oxidative Desulfurization of Dibenzothiophene with Hydrogen Peroxide and Formic Acid
Alireza Haghighat Mamaghani, Shohreh Fatemi, andMehrdad Asgari
shfatemi@ut.ac.ir
School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Enghelab Avenue, P.O. Box 11155-4563, Tehran 11155-4563, Iran
Abstract
An effective oxidative system consisting of hydrogen peroxide, formic acid, and sulfuric acid followed by an extractive stage were implemented to remove dibenzothiophene in the simulated fuel oil. The results revealed such a great performance in the case of H2O2 in the presence of formic and sulfuric acids that led to the removal of sulfur compounds. Sulfuric acid was employed to increase the acidity of media as well as catalytic activity together with formic acid. The oxidation reaction was followed by a liquid-liquid extraction stage using acetonitrile as a polar solvent to remove produced sulfones from the model fuel. The impact of operating parameters including the molar ratio of formic acid to sulfur (nF/nS), hydrogen peroxide to sulfur (nO/nS), and the time of reaction was investigated using Box-Behnken experimental design for oxidation of the model fuel. A significant quadratic model was introduced for the sulfur removal as a function of effective parameters by the statistic analysis.
Using hydrogen peroxide with an acid has been widely investigated by several researchers. However, to the best knowledge of the authors, there are few studies which are concerned with optimizing the process parameters. The objective of the present work is to develop an efficient system for oxidative desulfurization of model fuel. ODS of dibenzothiophene (DBT) in n-octane as simulated fuel was performed in the presence of H2O2, formic acid, and H2SO4 as the oxidation system. After the oxidation step, a twostep liquid-liquid extraction with acetonitrile was applied to remove the oxidated sulfur compounds from the model fuel. Influences of operating conditions including H2O2/S molar ratio, acid formic/S molar ratio, oxidation duration time, and mediumaciditywere examined.Theextraction step was carried out at the same conditions in all experiments. Box-Behnken experimental design was implemented as a kind of response surface methodology (RSM) to arrange the experiments and develop amodel to explain the relationships of sulfur removal and the studied parameters and finally optimize the operating conditions.
Free Full Text Source: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2013/951045/abs/
Two free full text desulfurization items of interest … a patent, and an article from the amazing Hindawi (http://www.hindawi.com/) open access journals database.
Details below …
///////
PATENT
Desulfurization of hydrocarbons by Ionic liquids and preparation of ionic liquids (Instituto Mexicano Del Petroleo)
Publication number
US20130118955 A1
Publication type
Application
Application number
US 13/733,173
Publication date
May 16, 2013
DE102009022284A1, US20090288992
Inventors
Natalya Victorovna Likhanova, Rafael Martinez Palou, Jorge Froylan Palomeque Santiago
Original Assignee
Instituto Mexicano Del Petroleo
Abstract
The present invention relates to an improved desulfurization process using an ionic liquid compound of general formula C+A−, where C+ represents an organic cation such as alkyl-pyridinium, di-alkyl imidazolium and tri-alkyl imidazolium; and A− is an anion of halides of iron (III), such as, for example, FeCl4 −. The desulfurization process is also improved when producing the ionic liquid compound by heating the reactants using microwave energy. The ionic liquids can be used to desulfurize hydrocarbon mixtures by a liquid-liquid extraction.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention provides a process for the synthesis of ionic liquids which can be used for the efficient removal of sulfur compounds from hydrocarbon mixtures. The ionic liquids related are insoluble in hydrocarbons but are able to dissolve aliphatic and aromatic sulfur compounds. Thus, the ionic liquids can be used for removal of sulfur compounds by a liquid-liquid extraction process at room temperature and pressure. The invention is also directed to a process for extracting sulfur from a hydrocarbon liquid by contacting the hydrocarbon with the ionic liquid.
More preferably, this invention is related to the synthesis of ionic liquids with general formula C+A−, where C+ is an organic cation preferably but not exclusively alkyl pyridinium, dialkylimidazolium, and trialkylimidazolium, the anion A− is preferably halogen ferrate (III), particularly Cl*FeCl3 − and Br*FeCl3. The invention is also directed to the process for the extraction of sulfur-containing compounds, such as sulfur compound that are present in gasoline and Diesel as contaminant obtained in petroleum refining processes by contacting with the ionic liquids.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The production of gasoline according with the new European Environmental Standards requires that the refiners to lower the sulfur content in gasoline to values that are lower than 50 ppm since 2005. For example in Germany he content of sulfur in gasoline should be lower than 10 ppm. For the case of USA the content of sulfur is limited to lowest than 80 ppm and with average of 30 ppm. In attention to this claims, PEMEX Refining should be produce gasoline with sulfur content between 15 and 30 ppm for the years 2008-2010.
The classic method used for sulfur removal in Refining Processes is the catalytic Hydrodesulfurization (HDS technology) at high temperature and pressure. This method is very costly process that required drastic operation conditions and it is inefficient to reduce aromatic sulfur compounds especially for Mexican heavy crude oil, so is more reasonable the use of alternative desulfurization process. For increasing the efficiency of HDS process some technology modification are required such as the addition of other catalytic bed, more efficient catalyst, higher temperature and pressures and to reduce LHSV to expense of few processing capacity.
New technologic lines have been develop on in several countries in order to resolve this problem (Zaczepinski, S. Exxon, Diesel Oil Deep Desulfurization (DODD) in Handbook of Petroleum Refining Processes, ed. R. A. Meyer, Mc Graw-Hill, NY, 1996, Ch. 8.7), i.e.: the absorption of sulfur compounds over solid absorbents, like IRVAD® process (U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,860, dated Mar. 24, 1998) from Black & Veatch Pritchard Inc.; the process S-Zorb® from Phillips Petroleum (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/ulsd/uls.html), the process Haldor Topsoe (EP 1057879, dated Dec. 6, 2000); and the liquid-liquid extraction with volatile organic solvents (Petrostar Refining, 217 National Meeting, American Chemical Society, Anaheim, Calif., Marzo, 1999). An original process is the oxidative desulfurization with different oxidant agents (Unipure Corp., NPRA Meeting No AM-01-10, Marzo 2001; Sulphco Corp, NPRA Meeting No AM-01-55, March 2001; BP Chemicals UK, Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical (1997) 397-403; UOP LLC, U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,478, dated Jan. 9, 2001; EXXON Research and Engineering Co., U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,440, dated Jun. 8, 1999; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0035306 A1 with publication date of Mar. 21, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,596,914 B2, dated Jul. 22, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,616, dated Jun. 18, 2002 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,940 B1 dated Jun. 11, 2002; Fuel 82 (2003) 4015; Green Chemistry 5 (2003) 639). Recently the extraction of sulfur-containing compounds using liquid-liquid extraction employing ionic liquids have been welcome by scientific community.
Ionic liquids are known for more than 30 years, but their industrial applications began in the last 10 years (Rogers, R. D.; Seddon, K. R (Eds.), Ionic Liquids: Industrial Applications of Green Chemistry, ACS, Boston, 2002). They are applied as solvents and catalyst in alkylation reactions, polymerization and Diels-Alder cycloaddition. In addition they are employed in electrochemical processes, in supercritical CO2 extraction of aromatic compounds and sulfur compounds in hydrocarbon mixtures. One of the first publications mention the use of ionic liquids for the removal of mercaptans (WO 0234863, dated May 2, 2002). The patented method is based on the use of sodium hydroxide in combination with ionic liquids for the conversion of mercaptans to mercaptures, which were removed using ionic liquids. Peter Wassercheid and coworkers published several papers and patents between 2001 and 2005 about the use of ionic liquids for desulfurization of gasolines (Chem. Comun. (2001) 2494; WO 03037835, with publication date of 2003 May 8; U.S. Publication No. 2005/0010076 A1, published Jan. 13, 2005). In these works the authors employed ionic liquids with C+ being 1,3-dialkylimidazolium or tetralkylammonium, and A− being tetrachloroaluminates or methanesulfonates. By means of a process with several extractions (up to 8 extractions), high extraction of sulfur compounds were achieved using model gasolines. However these kinds of compounds are air and moisture sensitive and a polymerization reaction was observed during the extraction process. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0085156 A1 published May 8, 2003 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,001,504, dated Feb. 21, 2006, also mention the use of ionic liquids, where C+ is an ammonium o fosfonium and quaternary, A− being tetrachloroaluminates for the extraction of sulfur from model gasoline. In the paper published in Energy & Fuels 18 (2004) 1862, the use of ionic liquids containing Copper chloride (I) anion with the same application, and in the papers Ind Eng. Chem. Res. 43 (2004) 614 and Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 46 (2007) 5108-5112) several ionic liquids were evaluated for the extraction of sulfur and nitrogen-containing compounds. More recently, some papers (Energy & Fuels 20 (2006) 2083-2087; Green Chemistry 8 (2006) 70-77; Progress in chemistry 19 (2007) 1331-1344; Green Chemistry 10 (2008) 87-92) also report the use of IL for desulfurization processes. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/00445874 A1, published Mar. 11, 2004, discloses a procedure for desulfurization and denitrogenation of hydrocarbons fractions using a wide family of ionic liquids and alkylations agents with high efficiency in some cases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to the use of ionic liquids containing halogens of Fe (III) as an anion for these purposes, where these compounds presented very high efficiency for extracting sulfur-containing compounds from gasoline, turbosin, diesel and other petroleum fractions. Another important and novel aspect of the invention is the use of microwave irradiation for synthesizing the ionic liquids suitable for use as extracting agents (symmetric and non-symmetric compounds) with a corresponding shorter time and higher yields in the synthesis of these ionic liquids compared to the conventional methods of synthesis.
The invention is also directed to a process for extracting sulfur and sulfur compounds from a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon liquid by contacting the hydrocarbon liquid with an ionic liquid of the invention for sufficient time to extract the sulfur and sulfur-containing compounds, and thereafter recovering the hydrocarbon liquid.
The ionic liquids of the invention comprise a heterocyclic cation and an iron (III) halide. The heterocyclic cation is an imidazolium compound having at least one C1-C10 alkyl group or alkoxy group where the alkyl group and alkoxy group can be linear, branched, substituted or unsubstituted. The heterocyclic cation can be symmetrical or asymmetrical.
Free Full Text Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20130118955
///////
International Journal of Chemical Engineering, Volume 2013, Article ID 951045, 10 pages, http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/951045
Investigation of Influential Parameters in Deep Oxidative Desulfurization of Dibenzothiophene with Hydrogen Peroxide and Formic Acid
Alireza Haghighat Mamaghani, Shohreh Fatemi, andMehrdad Asgari
shfatemi@ut.ac.ir
School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Enghelab Avenue, P.O. Box 11155-4563, Tehran 11155-4563, Iran
Abstract
An effective oxidative system consisting of hydrogen peroxide, formic acid, and sulfuric acid followed by an extractive stage were implemented to remove dibenzothiophene in the simulated fuel oil. The results revealed such a great performance in the case of H2O2 in the presence of formic and sulfuric acids that led to the removal of sulfur compounds. Sulfuric acid was employed to increase the acidity of media as well as catalytic activity together with formic acid. The oxidation reaction was followed by a liquid-liquid extraction stage using acetonitrile as a polar solvent to remove produced sulfones from the model fuel. The impact of operating parameters including the molar ratio of formic acid to sulfur (nF/nS), hydrogen peroxide to sulfur (nO/nS), and the time of reaction was investigated using Box-Behnken experimental design for oxidation of the model fuel. A significant quadratic model was introduced for the sulfur removal as a function of effective parameters by the statistic analysis.
Using hydrogen peroxide with an acid has been widely investigated by several researchers. However, to the best knowledge of the authors, there are few studies which are concerned with optimizing the process parameters. The objective of the present work is to develop an efficient system for oxidative desulfurization of model fuel. ODS of dibenzothiophene (DBT) in n-octane as simulated fuel was performed in the presence of H2O2, formic acid, and H2SO4 as the oxidation system. After the oxidation step, a twostep liquid-liquid extraction with acetonitrile was applied to remove the oxidated sulfur compounds from the model fuel. Influences of operating conditions including H2O2/S molar ratio, acid formic/S molar ratio, oxidation duration time, and mediumaciditywere examined.Theextraction step was carried out at the same conditions in all experiments. Box-Behnken experimental design was implemented as a kind of response surface methodology (RSM) to arrange the experiments and develop amodel to explain the relationships of sulfur removal and the studied parameters and finally optimize the operating conditions.
Free Full Text Source: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2013/951045/abs/
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Find That Elusive Title
“Ideas are elusive, slippery things. Best to keep a pad of paper and a pencil
at your bedside, so you can stab them during the night before they get away.”
-- Earl Nightingale (US motivational writer and author, 1921-1989)
PTQ- Petroleum Technology Quarterly (http://www.eptq.com/) offers consistently high value articles written by experts in specific areas. Usually the articles conclude with a list of cited references. Typically, the citations do not include the title of the referenced article. Without the title, you may not want to take the time and money to locate and read the referenced article.
Today’s tip: Copy the citation and paste it into a Google® search. Usually, this will take you to a source that does include the article’s title.
Here is an example …
Cross, C. (2013, Q 4). High-acid crude processing enabled by unique use of computational fluid dynamics. Petroleum Technology Quarterly, pp. 39-49
The cited references in this PTQ article include the following cite …
Derungs W A, Corrosion, 1956, 12, (12), 41
To find the title …
Google®: Derungs W A, Corrosion, 1956, 12, (12), 41
You will find a more complete citation in ...
Naphthenic Acid Corrosion Review
Derungs, W.A., "Naphthenic Acid Corrosion – An Old Enemy Of The Petroleum Industry", Corrosion, 12(2), 41(1956).
source: http://www.setlaboratories.com/nac/tabid/79/Default.aspx.
With the title, you have more information to decide whether it is worth your effort to find and read the cited article.
By the way, following the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com) requires no effort … and yields big benefits.
PTQ- Petroleum Technology Quarterly (http://www.eptq.com/) offers consistently high value articles written by experts in specific areas. Usually the articles conclude with a list of cited references. Typically, the citations do not include the title of the referenced article. Without the title, you may not want to take the time and money to locate and read the referenced article.
Today’s tip: Copy the citation and paste it into a Google® search. Usually, this will take you to a source that does include the article’s title.
Here is an example …
Cross, C. (2013, Q 4). High-acid crude processing enabled by unique use of computational fluid dynamics. Petroleum Technology Quarterly, pp. 39-49
The cited references in this PTQ article include the following cite …
Derungs W A, Corrosion, 1956, 12, (12), 41
To find the title …
Google®: Derungs W A, Corrosion, 1956, 12, (12), 41
You will find a more complete citation in ...
Naphthenic Acid Corrosion Review
Derungs, W.A., "Naphthenic Acid Corrosion – An Old Enemy Of The Petroleum Industry", Corrosion, 12(2), 41(1956).
source: http://www.setlaboratories.com/nac/tabid/79/Default.aspx.
With the title, you have more information to decide whether it is worth your effort to find and read the cited article.
By the way, following the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com) requires no effort … and yields big benefits.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Wiki for Calls for Papers
“Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily
available, they will create their own problems.” -- Scott Adams
(American Cartoonist, b.1957)
Are you a researcher seeking a publishing venue? Here is a site that might be worth exploring …
///////
WikiCFP
A Wiki for Calls for Papers
WikiCFP is a semantic wiki for Calls For Papers in science and technology fields. There are about 30,000 CFPs on WikiCFP. Over 100,000 researchers use WikiCFP each month.
http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/
///////
Example:a search for “petroleum” results in …
NAHE 2014 – Newest Advances in Hydrocarbon Engineering, March 6, 2014, Angiers, France
Submission deadline:
December 17, 2013
Check it out. And tell your friends and colleagues to check out the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com)
Are you a researcher seeking a publishing venue? Here is a site that might be worth exploring …
///////
WikiCFP
A Wiki for Calls for Papers
WikiCFP is a semantic wiki for Calls For Papers in science and technology fields. There are about 30,000 CFPs on WikiCFP. Over 100,000 researchers use WikiCFP each month.
http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/
///////
Example:a search for “petroleum” results in …
NAHE 2014 – Newest Advances in Hydrocarbon Engineering, March 6, 2014, Angiers, France
Submission deadline:
December 17, 2013
Check it out. And tell your friends and colleagues to check out the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com)
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Conference Alert: Sulphur 2013
“The trouble with
talking too fast is you may say something you haven't thought of yet.” -- Ann
Landers (American Advice columnist, 1918-2002)
The Sulphur 2013 International Conference & Exhibition, 04 - 07 November 2013 - InterContinental Miami, USA is coming up fast. According to the Conference Web …
///////
“Sulphur 2013 will bring together representatives from a wide variety of disciplines within the industries which produce and use sulphur and sulphuric acid from all over the world. The three day programme will review the status of the world sulphur and sulphuric acid industries and markets and their prospects. Showing alongside the conference will be a large scale exhibition of products, technology, equipment and literature for the sulphur and sulphuric acid industries.”
source: http://www.crugroup.com/events/sulphur/
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Thanks to an email alert from Hydrocarbon Engineering (http://www.energyglobal.com/magazines/latestissue/hydrocarbon-engineering.aspx). The current issue includes a Sulphur Show preview.
The Sulphur 2013 International Conference & Exhibition, 04 - 07 November 2013 - InterContinental Miami, USA is coming up fast. According to the Conference Web …
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“Sulphur 2013 will bring together representatives from a wide variety of disciplines within the industries which produce and use sulphur and sulphuric acid from all over the world. The three day programme will review the status of the world sulphur and sulphuric acid industries and markets and their prospects. Showing alongside the conference will be a large scale exhibition of products, technology, equipment and literature for the sulphur and sulphuric acid industries.”
source: http://www.crugroup.com/events/sulphur/
///////
Thanks to an email alert from Hydrocarbon Engineering (http://www.energyglobal.com/magazines/latestissue/hydrocarbon-engineering.aspx). The current issue includes a Sulphur Show preview.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Technology + Finance
“I finally know
what distinguishes man from the other beasts: financial
worries” -- Jules Renard (French Writer, 1864-1910)
Today’s Tip: Use patent databases in tandem with financial databases … and teach your colleagues to do the same
I found the following patent, which seemed interesting enough to explore the patent’s assignee, MEG Energy Corp. in Hoover’s (www.hoovers.com), a Dun & Bradstreet database. The information you find about a company in a financial database can help determine how likely the patent is to be worth studying.
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Pub. No.: WO/2013/106897 International Application No.: PCT/CA2012/000049
Publication Date: 25.07.2013 International Filing Date: 17.01.2012
Low Complexity, High Yield Conversion Of Heavy Hydrocarbons
Applicants: MEG ENERGY CORP. [CA/CA]; 11th Floor 520 - 3rd Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta T2P 0R3 (CA)
Abstract:
A process for producing pipeline-ready or refinery-ready feedstock from heavy hydrocarbons using a high-performance solvent extraction process with high local solvent-to-process fluid ratios yet maintaining low overall solvent- to-process fluid ratios, by first performing mild thermal cracking on the heavy hydrocarbons and then separating asphaltene-rich fractions from a resulting thermally affected fluid so that the high solvent-to-oil ratio portion of the process acts only on those asphaltene-rich fractions, and producing a dry, solid asphaltene as an end-product.
source: http://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/WO2013106897
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Here’s what I found in Hoover’s …
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MEG Energy Corp.
Calgary, AB Canada
Toronto MEG
520 3rd Ave. Sw, 11th Fl.
Calgary T2P 0R3 AB
Canada
Phone: +1-403-770-0446
Fax: +1-403-264-1711
http://www.megenergy.com
The snowy Athabasca oil sands of northern Alberta are a real day at the beach for MEG Energy. The company produces 26,000 barrels per day of bitumen, a tar-like form of crude oil, from its property at Christina Lake. The 850-sq.-mi. property is undergoing an expansion to increase production by another 35,000 barrels per day. MEG Energy also owns a 100% working interest in 32 sq. miles of undeveloped land in Surmont, located about 30 miles from Christina Lake, as well as 750 sq. mi. of oil sands leases in other properties across the region. Altogether the company reports 1.9 billion barrels of proved plus probable reserves. MEG Energy was founded in 1999 and went public in 2010, raising $700 million in its IPO.
source: Hoover's (www.hoovers.com)
///////
Today’s Tip: Use patent databases in tandem with financial databases … and teach your colleagues to do the same
I found the following patent, which seemed interesting enough to explore the patent’s assignee, MEG Energy Corp. in Hoover’s (www.hoovers.com), a Dun & Bradstreet database. The information you find about a company in a financial database can help determine how likely the patent is to be worth studying.
///////
Pub. No.: WO/2013/106897 International Application No.: PCT/CA2012/000049
Publication Date: 25.07.2013 International Filing Date: 17.01.2012
Low Complexity, High Yield Conversion Of Heavy Hydrocarbons
Applicants: MEG ENERGY CORP. [CA/CA]; 11th Floor 520 - 3rd Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta T2P 0R3 (CA)
Abstract:
A process for producing pipeline-ready or refinery-ready feedstock from heavy hydrocarbons using a high-performance solvent extraction process with high local solvent-to-process fluid ratios yet maintaining low overall solvent- to-process fluid ratios, by first performing mild thermal cracking on the heavy hydrocarbons and then separating asphaltene-rich fractions from a resulting thermally affected fluid so that the high solvent-to-oil ratio portion of the process acts only on those asphaltene-rich fractions, and producing a dry, solid asphaltene as an end-product.
source: http://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/WO2013106897
///////
Here’s what I found in Hoover’s …
///////
MEG Energy Corp.
Calgary, AB Canada
Toronto MEG
520 3rd Ave. Sw, 11th Fl.
Calgary T2P 0R3 AB
Canada
Phone: +1-403-770-0446
Fax: +1-403-264-1711
http://www.megenergy.com
The snowy Athabasca oil sands of northern Alberta are a real day at the beach for MEG Energy. The company produces 26,000 barrels per day of bitumen, a tar-like form of crude oil, from its property at Christina Lake. The 850-sq.-mi. property is undergoing an expansion to increase production by another 35,000 barrels per day. MEG Energy also owns a 100% working interest in 32 sq. miles of undeveloped land in Surmont, located about 30 miles from Christina Lake, as well as 750 sq. mi. of oil sands leases in other properties across the region. Altogether the company reports 1.9 billion barrels of proved plus probable reserves. MEG Energy was founded in 1999 and went public in 2010, raising $700 million in its IPO.
2012
Profitability
|
|||||
MEG
Energy
|
Cenovus
|
Suncor
|
Industry
Median
|
Market
Median1
|
|
Gross
Profit Margin
|
81.87%
|
24.93%
|
53.26%
|
56.06%
|
33.78%
|
Pre-Tax
Profit Margin
|
-9.51%
|
6.50%
|
12.19%
|
11.17%
|
9.75%
|
Net
Profit Margin
|
-9.59%
|
3.02%
|
7.17%
|
3.90%
|
6.65%
|
Return
on Equity
|
-2.38%
|
5.23%
|
7.02%
|
3.08%
|
10.86%
|
Return
on Assets
|
-1.42%
|
2.20%
|
3.62%
|
1.40%
|
2.04%
|
Return
on Invested Cap
|
-2.98%
|
1.19%
|
4.50%
|
2.05%
|
5.97%
|
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