“Lately it's occurred to me what a long strange trip it's been.”
-- The Grateful Dead
Some of the greatest experts in any particular field are either dead or
retired. To find experts who are still
active, add a date restriction to your key word search.
For example, after searching the two following key phrases in Ebsco’s Academic
Search Premier database …
Academic Search
Premier: "heavy crude" OR "heavy oil"
I restricted the results to the following date range …
2012-2013
Here are a couple of results, including the bios that were attached to each
article …
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Hydrocarbon Processing, 00188190,
Sep2012, Vol. 91, Issue 9
Upgrade heavy oil more cost-efficiently
Cabrera, C. A., Silverman, M. A.
Abstract
Heavy petroleum resources are becoming significantly more important as the
availability of light, sweet crude oil continues to decline (FIG. 1). Heavy-oil
resources are difficult to extract, transport and refine. Producers are focused
on heavy-oil regions around the world, such as Venezuela, the Amazon basin and
Canada's oil sands. A new technology can be used in the field to economically
upgrade and significantly improve the properties of heavy oil by reducing
viscosity, increasing gravity and removing contaminants (FIG. 2). The authors
discuss the economic drivers and benefits now available with this new method.
CARLOS A. CABRERA is the executive chairman of
Ivanhoe Energy, a publicly traded oil and gas company. Prior to his appointment,
he served as the founding president and CEO of the National Institute of Low
Carbon and Clean Energy (NICE) based in Beijing, China. Mr. Cabrera was also a
35-year employee with UOP, holding posts as the president/CEO and then
chairman. He is a distinguished associate to the world energy consulting firm
FACTS and serves on the board of directors of GEVO, a publicly traded
biotechnology company, and the Gas Technology Institute, a US-based leading
research, development and training organization. Mr. Cabrera has been given
many awards, including being inducted into the University of Kentucky
Engineering Hall of Distinction and the Honeywell Corp. 2008 Senior Leadership
Award. He earned a BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of
Kentucky and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
DR. MICHAEL SILVERMAN is executive vice
president and chief technology officer of Ivanhoe Energy. Dr. Silverman joined
Ivanhoe in 2007 from Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) and is responsible for all
technical aspects of Ivanhoe Energy's proprietary heavy oil upgrading process
-- HTL (heavy-to-light). This includes interfacing with leading engineering
firms in the design of commercial HTL installations, technology development and
intellectual property management. Dr. Silverman has almost 30 years of
experience in technology development and management, including the
commercialization and marketing of new technologies, and is a leading expert in
the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) processes. Prior to joining KBR, Dr. Silverman
was the manager of technology development for Stone & Webster, Inc. His
earlier experience included the management of fluid catalytic cracking for
Tenneco Oil Co., and an assistant professorship in chemistry at Rutgers
University.
International Journal Of Energy And
Environment, Volume 3, Issue 6, 2012 pp.949-960
Comparative study on sulphur reduction from heavy petroleum
- Solvent extraction and microwave irradiation
approach
Abdullahi Dyadya Mohammed1, Abubakar Garba Isah1, Musa Umaru1, Shehu
Ahmed1,
Yababa Nma Abdullahi2
1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B
65, Minna, Nigeria.
2 National Petroleum Investment Management Services (Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation),
Lagos, Nigeria.
Abstract
Sulphur- containing compounds in heavy crude oils are undesirable in refining
process as they affect the quality of the final product, cause catalyst
poisoning and deactivation in catalytic converters as well as causing corrosion
problems in oil pipelines, pumps and refining equipment aside environmental
pollution from their combustion and high processing cost. Sulphur reduction has
being studied using microwave irradiation set at 300W for 10 and 15minutes and
oxidative- solvent extraction method using n- heptane and methanol by 1:1, 1:2
and 1:3 crude- solvent ratios after being oxidized with hydrogen peroxide, H2O2
oxidants. Percentage sulphur removal with n- heptane solvent by 1:1 and 1:2 are
81.73 and 85.47%; but extraction using methanol by different observed ratios
gave less sulphur reduction. Indeed when microwave irradiated at 300W for 10
and 15minutes, 53.68 and 78.45% reduction were achieved. This indicates that
microwave irradiation had caused oxidation by air in the oven cavity and
results to formation of alkyl radicals and sulphoxide from sulphur compound in
the petroleum. The prevailing sulphur found in the crude going by FT-IR results
is sulphides which oxidized to sulphoxide or sulphones. It is clear that
sulphur extraction with heptane is more efficient than microwave irradiation
but economically due to demands for solvent and its industrial usage microwave
irradiation can serve as alternative substitute for sulphur reduction in
petroleum. Sulphur reduction by microwave radiation should be up- scaled from
laboratory to a pilot plant without involving extraction column in the
refining.
Abdullahi D. Mohammed (dyamoh@futminna.edu,ng ) is Research
Scholar at School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Chemical Engineering
Department, Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria. He is a corporate
member of Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (NSChE), member American
Society of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the proposed Hydrogen and Fuel Cell
Association in Nigeria (HAFCAN) to be affiliate to IAHE- TNV- World Hydrogen
Energy Trust. He has completed M. Sc (Chemical Engineering) from Ahmadu Bello
University Zaria, Nigeria in the year 2010 and earned B.Eng (Chemical
Engineering) from Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria in year 2002.
Engr. Mohammed has authored several publication, among which are “Upgrading
Heavy Crude Oil Potentials through Microwave Assisted Distillation”, “Biocide
Injection as means of internal corrosion control of Oil Pipeline (a case study
of Mobil Producing Nigeria)”, “Effect of Microwave Irradiation on Heavy
Petroleum- Diesel distillate yield,”.
Abubakar G. Isah (ag_isah@futminna.edu.ng) is an Academic Staff of the Federal University
of Technology, Minna, He backed his B. Eng, M. Eng (Hons) in Chemical
Engineering at Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria. He is a
corporate member Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and Council for Regulation
of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). He is at present writing up his PhD after
undertaking a one year research as an MPhil Student at the University of
Birmingham, UK under the sponsorship of the prestigious Education Trust Fund
(ETF) Abuja. His research interests are: Alternative energy source and process
energy integration & optimization. He is the author of publication “Feed
Quality and its Effect on the Performance of the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit
(A Case Study of Port-Harcout Refinery Company, Nigeria)”.
Musa Umar (umar.musa@futminna.edu.ng) is a scholar at the Federal University of
Technology, Minna, Nigeria and a member of Nigerian Society of Chemical
Engineers (NSChE). He earned a National Diploma (Chemical Engineering) in 1997
from Federal Polytechnic Bida, B. Eng (Chemical Engineering) in 2006 from
Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria and M. Eng (Chemical
Engineering) (in View) from the same University. His major research fields are
on “Sustainable Energy Development & Utilization, Environmental Engineering
and Material Science”. He authored the article “Optimization and Kinetics of
Biodiesel Production from Nigerian Jatropha Curcas oil”.
Shehu Ahmed (nmaabdullahi_2006@yahoo.com) is a
Research Technologist at School of Engineering and Engineering Technology,
Chemical Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology Minna,
Nigeria. He has earned Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate (Chemical
Engineering) in 1998 from Federal Polytechnic Bida, Nigeria, and Post Graduate
Diploma in Education (PGDE) in 2006 from NTI/COE affiliate to Usman Danfodio
University Sokoto, Nigeria. He is an Associate Member of Nigerian Society of
Chemical Engineers (NSChE) and Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
Yababa Nma Abdullahi is a Process Engineer and
Superintendent Resources Evaluation at National Petroleum Investment Management
Services (NNPC) Lagos, Nigeria. He earned Higher National Diploma (HND)
certificate 2001 in Chemical/Petroleum Engineering at Institute of Lobaratory
Technology Ibadan, affiliate to University of Port Harcourt Nigeria; and Post
Graduate Diploma in Chemical Engineering (PGDE) in 2011 from Federal University
of Technology Minna, Nigeria. He is a member of National Institute for Science
Laboratory Technologist Association (NISLT) Ibadan, Nigeria.
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By the way, I am still active … visit me at LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeansteinhardtresearch)
and invite me to join your network.
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