Conference Alert: Heavy Oil

“There is always a heavy demand for fresh mediocrity. In every generation the least cultivated taste has the largest appetite.” -- Paul Gauguin (French painter, printmaker, and sculptor, 1848-1903)

Praxis (www.praxis-global.com) is presenting a number of events in 2013, including the 5th Global Heavy Oil Management 2013 Praxis Interactive Technology Workshop, 25 Mar 2013 - 28 Mar 2013, Port of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago

Shown below is a list of other Praxis events listed on its Web.  This might be a site worth bookmarking.

List of News and Events on the Praxis Web

Shutdown and Turnaround Praxis Interactive Workshop | 2nd Global Edition 11 Feb 2013 - 13 Feb 2013, Doha,Qatar Strategic HR Management in Oil & Gas Praxis Interactive Workshop | 2nd Global Edition 11 Feb 2013 - 13 Feb 2013, Dubai,United Arab Emirates 3rd Global Sand Management & Control Praxis Interactive Technology Workshop 2013 25 Feb 2013 - 28 Feb 2013, Cartagena,Colombia Fractured Reservoir Development Praxis Interactive Technology Workshop | 3rd Global Edition 18 Mar 2013 - 20 Mar 2013, Dubai,United Arab Emirates 5th Global Heavy Oil Management 2013 Praxis Interactive Technology Workshop 25 Mar 2013 - 28 Mar 2013, Port of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago Flow Assurance and Production Chemistry Workshop | 3rd Global Edition 08 Apr 2013 - 10 Apr 2013, Istanbul,Turkey Communications in Oil & Gas 2013 Praxis Interactive Technology Workshop 22 Apr 2013 - 24 Apr 2013, Bucharest,Romania Global Procurement and Supply Chain in Oil and Gas 2013 Praxis Interactive Forum 06 May 2013 - 08 May 2013, Dubai,United Arab Emirates 7th Global Produced Water Management Praxis Interactive Technology Workshop 13 May 2013 - 16 May 2013, Curacao,Netherlands Antilles Pipeline Integrity Praxis Interactive Technology Workshop | 3rd Global Edition 20 May 2013 - 22 May 2013, Dubai,United Arab Emirates

source: http://www.praxis-global.com/newsAndEvents.aspx

Writing a Paper in APA (or any other) Format

Writing a Paper in APA (or any other) Format
“Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.” -- Alphonso X 'the Wise' (Spanish King of Castile & Leon 1252-1282; patron of learning. 1221-1284)

Formatting the references you cite in the papers you submit to journals and conferences can be as grueling as writing the paper itself.

Here are a couple of helpful hints on using MS Word that can ease the pain.

Tip #1: Use the right Word template
If you are using the APA Sixth Edition rules, for example, click File, New.  Then search for APA.  Select the appropriate template, and click Download.  The result will be a document preformatted along APA guidelines. 

Tip # 2: Use the Reference tab
Imagine that you want to cite the following article …


///////
Particuology
Volume 10, Issue 4, August 2012, Pages 468–474
Hydrodesulfurization catalyst prepared by urea-matrix combustion method
Dongmei Jiao (a), Yeyong Ma (b), Fahai Cao (c)
a School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, China
b Luoyang Petrochemical Complex of SINOPEC, 1 Zhongyuan Road, Luoyang, China
c Petro-Cyber Works Information Technology Co., Ltd., 192 Eshan Road, Shanghai, China
Source: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2012.01.001
///////

In Word, click the References tab.  In the Style drop down box, select APA Sixth Edition, if that is the style you are following.  In the Insert Citation drop down box, click Add New Source. 

This produces a form with labeled boxes for each of the items of information you need for the particular Type of Source you are citing.  Select the appropriate Type of Source, fill in the form, and click OK.

When you click OK, the cited source will appear in APA approved form within the text of your paper.

Continue adding sources in this way until you are at the end of your paper.

The final step is to create your APA formatted references page.  To do so, click Bibliography, then click Insert Bibliography (see screen shot below).  Magically, every source you inserted during the course of your paper will appear on your References page in accordance with APA rules.

Writing a paper is difficult.  Ease the burden with intelligent use of MS-Word.

Pop Quiz on Copyright

"Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." - Mark Twain's Notebook, 1902-1903

Posit: You find a PDF version of the following paper delivered at a conference …

///////
Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Volume 19, Number 8 (2012), 3491-3497
Thermophilic desulfurization of dibenzothiophene and different petroleum oils by Klebsiella sp. 13T
Sumedha Bhatia (sumedha.25@gmail.com) and Durlubh K. Sharma (sharmadk@ces.iitd.ernet.in)
Center for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016 India
Free Full Text Source: http://www.springerlink.com/content/r5u65r843m8l2112/
///////

Question:  Can you assume that it is OK to download the file and email it to 20 colleagues?

Answer: No.  Just because anybody else with access to the Internet could find and download the file does not mean that you have the right to redistribute it. 

Question:  But you are not trying to sell it.

Answer: Doesn’t matter.  Without written permission from the owner of the copyright, you can’t do anything except download it for personal use.

Question:  So you can send an email to the author requesting permission to distribute the file, right?

Answer: Depends.  The author may not own the copyright to his or her own article.  The copyright holder may be the journal in which the article appears, or the parent company of the journal in which it appears.

OK, that’s enough to constitute food for thought.  The point is, copyright is a very complicated issue.  It is far more complicated than it should be, as far as I am concerned, and the whole structure is so flimsy that it is teetering on the verge of collapse.  But until it actually disintegrates under its own weight, be very careful about how you use anybody else’s stuff.

Gluttons for punishment can delve deeper into copyright chaos by visiting the Copyright Clearance Center (http://www.copyright.com/)

The Quest for Free Full Text

“Love the quest; marriage the conquest; divorce the inquest” -- Helen Rowland (English-American writer, 1876-1950)

Most of the free stuff I find on the Web by pure chance.  But there is a way to increase the odds of finding free full text articles.

SEARCH TIP: In Google® Scholar, add the following to your search string:
AND filetype:pdf

For example, try this search …
Dibenzothiophene AND filetype:pdf

This is not foolproof.  Many of the items on the results list are not free.  But the strategy reduces the number of links you have to click to find free PDFs like the following:

///////
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 5, May 2012
Microbial Applications For Desulphurization Of Coal: A Review
Diptangshu Mukherjee (1), Ilyas Mohd (2), N.Rao Cheepurupalli (3), Altaf Shaik (4)
1, 2 Environmental Management Division, Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research, Dhanbad-828108, India
3 Department of Geology, Andhra University, Andhra Pradesh
4 Department of Biotechnology, Kakatiya University, Warangal-506003, India
Abstract
Air pollution is a major problem which effects the ecological environment and human health. Coal is widely used fossil fuel for steel, electricity generating plants and other small or large industries. When coal burns it releases sulphur di-oxide (SO2) and causes air pollution in the atmosphere. So, it is believed that sulphur should be removed from coal before burning. Biodesulphurization is an alternative technology to reduce sulphur content in coal and prevent sulphur di-oxide emission in the atmosphere. This technique includes physical, chemical and biological methods. This paper shows the applications and future aspects of microorganisms for removal of sulphur content from coal which is a cost effective, low energy consumption and ecofriendly process.
Free Full Text Source: http://www.ijsrp.org/research_paper_may2012/ijsrp-may-2012-62.pdf
///////

Curiously, the Advanced search form for Google® Scholar does not provide an option to filter by file type.  That’s why you have to add filetype:pdf by hand.

Reviewing the Reviews

“A good review from the critics is just another stay of execution.” -- Dustin Hoffman (American actor, b.1937)

Sometimes all you want is a good article that provides an overview of the developments in a particular technology.  Today’s search tip addresses this need.

SEARCH TIP: in Google® Scholar, add  “review article” to your search string

For example, if you enter the following search string …

Desulfurization OR dibenzothiophene OR thiophene OR hydrodesulfurization AND “review article”

… most if not all of the resulting hits will be review articles.  Here are two of them.

///////
Applied Petrochemical Research
Volume 1, Numbers 1-4 (2012)
Rashad Javadli (1,2)
javadli@ualberta.ca
Arno de Klerk (1)
Author Affiliations
1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4, Canada
2. ConocoPhillips Canada, Fort McMurray, AB, Canada
Review Article
Desulfurization of heavy oil
Abstract
Strategies for heavy oil desulfurization were evaluated by reviewing desulfurization literature and critically assessing the viability of the various methods for heavy oil. The desulfurization methods including variations thereon that are discussed include hydrodesulfurization, extractive desulfurization, oxidative desulfurization, biodesulfurization and desulfurization through alkylation, chlorinolysis, and by using supercritical water. Few of these methods are viable and/or efficient for the desulfurization of heavy oil. This is mainly due to the properties of the heavy oil, such as high sulfur content, high viscosity, high boiling point, and refractory nature of the sulfur compounds. The approach with the best chance of leading to a breakthrough in desulfurization of heavy oil is autoxidation followed by thermal decomposition of the oxidized heavy oil. There is also scope for synergistically employing autoxidation in combination with biodesulfurization and hydrodesulfurization.
Free Full Text Source: http://www.springerlink.com/content/4k1t37w341213253/

Biotechnology Research InternationalVolume 2012 (2012), Article ID 243217, 20 pagesdoi:10.1155/2012/243217
Review Article
Involvement of the Ligninolytic System of White-Rot and Litter-Decomposing Fungi in the Degradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Natalia N. Pozdnyakova
Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants and Microorganisms, Russian Academy of Sciences, 13 Prospekt Entuziastov, Saratov 410049, Russia
Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are natural and anthropogenic aromatic hydrocarbons with two or more fused benzene rings. Because of their ubiquitous occurrence, recalcitrance, bioaccumulation potential and carcinogenic activity, PAHs are a significant environmental concern. Ligninolytic fungi, such as Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Bjerkandera adusta, and Pleurotus ostreatus, have the capacity of PAH degradation. The enzymes involved in the degradation of PAHs are ligninolytic and include lignin peroxidase, versatile peroxidase, Mn-peroxidase, and laccase. This paper summarizes the data available on PAH degradation by fungi belonging to different ecophysiological groups (white-rot and litter-decomposing fungi) under submerged cultivation and during mycoremediation of PAH-contaminated soils. The role of the ligninolytic enzymes of these fungi in PAH degradation is discussed.
Free Full Text Source: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/btri/2012/243217/abs/
///////

IP: Patents, Trademarks, Copyright & Trade Secrets

“Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.” -- G. K. Chesterton (English born Gabonese Critic, Essayist, Novelist and Poet, 1874-1936)

IP – Intellectual Property – comes in several flavors, as indicated in the title of the following articles.  Both are worth reading if you are new to the topic of IP protection.

///////
An Introduction to Patents, Brands, Trade Secrets Trademarks, and Intellectual Property Rights Issues
William A. Knudson
The Strategic Marketing Institute Working Paper
August 2006
Free Full Text Source: http://productcenter.msu.edu/uploads/files/ippaper%202.pdf
///////
Colorado SBDC Network TRADEMARKS, COPYRIGHTS AND PATENTS
Trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights and patents are all ways to protect your work. This chapter will help you determine which type of registration you need and where it can be registered.
Free Full Text Source: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobheadername2=MDT-Type&blobheadervalue1=inline%3B+filename%3D1%2F63%2F72-73_SBA_2008_Trademarks.pdf&blobheadervalue2=abinary%3B+charset%3DUTF-8&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1224913300972&ssbinary=true
///////

A related concept concerns contractual rights: licensing the right to use someone else’s intellectual property

For example, this article written about LC-Fining and LC-MAX provides examples of several IP rights.

///////
Hydrocarbon Engineering, June 2012,
Clean, green, hydrocracking machine
Dan Torchia, Arun Arora, and Luyen Vo
Chevron Lummus Global
Free Full Text Source: http://www.howebaker.com/images/uploads/technical_articles/clean-green-hydrocracking.pdf
///////

The article itself is protected by copyright.  Interestingly, the copyright owner may be the magazine in which the article is published, rather than either the authors or the Chevron corporation
LC-Fining and LC-MAX are Chevron trademarks
The processes represented by the LC-Fining and LC-MAX trademarks are protected by one or more patents owned by Chevron
Chevron licenses the use of the processes to qualified licensees

How to Write an Abstract: Some Useful Tips

“I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No brush, no paint, no canvas, I just think about it.” -- Stephen Wright (American Actor and Writer, b.1955)

A good abstract can help you advertise your research talent beyond the community of experts that share your interest.

At the end of this post is a before and after abstract writing exercise.  You might also want to check out a couple of the following sources for helpful abstract writing hints.

///////
University of North Carolina College of Arts & Sciences
How to write abstracts
Source: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/abstracts/
///////
Philip Koopman, Carnegie Mellon University
"Now that the use of on-line publication databases is prevalent, writing a really good abstract has become even more important than it was a decade ago. Abstracts have always served the function of "selling" your work. But now, instead of merely convincing the reader to keep reading the rest of the attached paper, an abstract must convince the reader" to purchase a copy of the article
"Writing an efficient abstract is hard work, but will repay you with increased impact on the world by enticing people to read your publications"
Source: http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html
///////
Emerald Insight
How to... write an abstract
Source: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/guides/write/abstracts.htm?part=1#2
///////

ABSTRACT WRITING EXERCISE
Here is an interesting article I found on the Web.  The original abstract, reproduced below, is OK, but not great.

Microchim Acta (2012) 179:123–130
Synthesis of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer particles for selective adsorption and separation of dibenzothiophene
H. Li :W. Xu (*) : X. Ma : B. Jiang : L. Liu :W. Huang
Department of Environment, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People’s Republic of China
xwz09@ujs.edu.cn
N. Wang
Entry-exit inspection quarantine bureau, Zhenjiang 212000, People’s Republic of China
D. Niu :W. Yang : Z. Zhou
Department of Material science & engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People’s Republic of China
Free Full Text Source: http://www.springerlink.com/content/m35318n3l0627774/

Original abstract:
We report on the synthesis of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (m-MIPs) for the selective adsorption and separation of dibenzothiophene (DBT) from oil solution. The m-MIPs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared analysis, transmission electron microscopy, surface area and porosity analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometry. Batch mode adsorption studies were carried out to investigate the adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms and selective recognition. The adsorption kinetics were modeled with the pseudofirst- order and pseudo-second-order kinetics, and the adsorption isotherms were fitted with Langmuir and Freundlich models. The m-MIPs can selectively recognize DBT over similar compounds. Static adsorption experiments showed that the m-MIPs display excellent recognition capacity, selective affinity for DBT, and superparamagnetism in presence of an external magnetic field.

I think I can do better.

New and, in my opinion, improved, abstract
Organic sulfur compounds in fuel oil cause air pollution and acid rain, resulting in serious diseases of human respiratory system.  In response, governments around the world have restricted the amount of acceptable sulfur content present in fuels to very low limits.  The conventional method of sulfur removal is hydrodesulfurization.  This process, however, is unable to remove refractory sulfur compounds such as dibenzothiophene (DBT) and its derivatives to the ultra low levels required by new environmental regulations.  Molecular imprinting provides a new choice for adsorption and separation of dibenzothiophene.  Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) possess the advantages of easy and cheap preparation, low cost, mechanical and chemical stability.  Recent attempts have been made to coat the thin MIP shells at the nanoparticle level, providing easy template removal, high adsorption capacity, low mass transportation resistance, and fast adsorption kinetics.  The mag-MIPs are prepared by encapsulating inorganic magnetic particles with organic polymer, combining the advantages of high recognition properties of MIP and the handling convenience of magnetic separation.  Magnetic separation can be performed directly in crude samples.  Consequently, prepared mag-MIPs are promising multifunctional candidates for the adsorption and separation process.  We have developed a relatively rapid and convenient method to adsorb and separate dibenzothiophene in oil solution.  Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were employed as magnetic materials and synthesized by the coprecipitation method.  Silica particles with stable chemical properties, firm physical structure and high mechanical strength were selected as protective molecules to effectively stabilize the iron oxides.  Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were embedded in the silica particles, and then coated with a thin MIPs film, which was obtained using dibenzothiophene as a template, 4- vinylpyridine as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a cross-linker, and azodiisobutyronitrile as the initiator. The resultant magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers were systematically characterized by Fourier transform infrared analysis, transmission electron microscopy, surface area and porosity analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometer.  In addition, adsorption properties such as equilibrium, kinetics, thermodynamics and selective recognition were demonstrated by batch mode adsorption experiments.
///////

The second version includes sufficient technical information to let an expert know whether or not he or she wants to read the whole article.  At the same time, it has enough non-technical information to inform both the interested layman and the researcher whose expertise lies elsewhere.

Suppose the technology described in the paper were to be featured on a program like National Public Radio’s Science Friday (www.npr.org) program, for example.  Which of the above abstracts do you think would be more helpful to the NPR staffer assigned to research the topic?