A new type of viscoelastic amphoteric surfactants (amidoamine oxide) has been examined as a diverting agent during acidizing treatment. Rheological properties of viscoelastic surfactants are a function of surfactant concentration, acid additives, pH, temperature and shear rate. A HPHT rheometer was used to test the effect of common acid additives and organic acids/chelating agents on the apparent viscosity of amidoamine oxide-based acids. The compatibility and thermal stability of surfactants with corrosion inhibitor were also investigated. Rotating disk apparatus was used to examine the kinetic studies of surfactant-based acids with limestone. The results show that the apparent viscosity of surfactant solutions prepared in deionized water, live acid, and spent acid was found to be a function of temperature. Apparent viscosity of live surfactant-based acids was also found to be a function of HCl concentration. Most of acid additives could adversely affect the rheological properties of spent acids. Compatibility tests should be done prior the field application. Cryo-TEM studies show the changes of rod-like micelle structures with the addition of additives. The reaction between surfactant-based acid and limestone was found to be mass transfer limited at 170 degrees F.

Detoxification of chlorinated organic compound is an important and urgent issue in water remediation nowadays. Trichloroethylene (TCE), as a model compound in this study, has been proved to be degraded effectively by bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) in solution phase. In this study, Fe/Pd bimetallic NPs were synthesized in poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) functionalized polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) microfiltration membranes. TCE dechlorination with these bimetallic NPs was conducted under different pH values and different metal loadings to study the role of corrosion on reaction rates. One-dimensional mathematical model with pseudo first-order reaction kinetic was introduced to discuss the TCE dechlorination profile in membrane system. Reduction reaction in pores is affected by several parameters including NP loading and size, TCE diffusivity, void volume fraction and surface-area-based reaction rates. This model result indicated that modification is needed to correct the reaction rate obtained from bulk solution in order to represent the actual efficiency of NPs on reduction reaction. In addition, TCE dechlorination mainly occurred near NPs’ surface. Second part of model indicated that reduction mechanism with TCE adsorption-desorption behavior could be used to discuss dechlorination with a high TCE concentration.

En l’espace d’une dizaine d’années, les jets de plasma froid à pression atmosphérique ont su s’imposer comme un outil pertinent pour les applications biomédicales. La simplicité de conception et d’utilisation de ces dispositifs, combinée à leurs facultés de produire des espèces réactives (NO, OH, O …), ont significativement contribué au développement rapide du domaine. Beaucoup d’efforts ont été entrepris dans le développement de diagnostics quantitatifs, pour mesurer la production des espèces réactives dans la plume plasma d’un jet donné. Toutefois, la diversité des géométries de décharge, des sources d’alimentations électriques ou des conditions d’utilisation, rendent les comparaisons d’un jet à l’autre, difficiles. Cette thèse a porté sur l’étude du jet de plasma froid à pression atmosphérique développé au GREMI, le Plasma Gun (hélium, impulsion de tension microseconde). Nous avons étudié les mécanismes de décharge susceptibles de considérablement affecter la production d’espèces réactives, dans des conditions approchantes d’applications biomédicales. La thèse s’articule en trois chapitres principaux : l’étude de la modification de l’écoulement de l’hélium par plasma (par strioscopie) ; l’étude de la propagation du plasma dans le capillaire diélectrique (étude expérimentale et numérique de la dynamique de propagation rapide du plasma et de l’évolution du champ électrique en mélange hélium-azote) ; l’étude de l’interaction du plasma avec une cible conductrice (mesures dans le capillaire et dans la plume de l’évolution spatiale et temporelle de la concentration des métastables de l’hélium, corrélées à des mesures du champ électrique). Ce dernier point est en particulier représentatif de tout jet plasma en condition traitement biomédical in vivo et tend à faire une distinction fondamentale avec les mécanismes de décharge du jet plasma dit « libre », sans obstacle entravant la plume plasma. / Over the past ten years, the cold atmospheric pressure plasma jets (CAPPJ) became useful devices for biomedical applications. Their relatively simple design and use, combine with their ability to produce reactive species (NO, OH, O, …), led to a rapid research growth in this field. A lot of studies have been devoted to quantitative diagnostics development for the reactive species production measurements in the plasma plume. However, it is difficult to compare one jet with another because of the huge variety of discharge geometries, electric power supplies or operating conditions. This thesis deals with the study of the CAPPJ developed in GREMI, the Plasma Gun (helium feeded, microsecond voltage pulse). We have studied discharge mechanisms which strongly impact the reactive species production in near target biomedical application conditions. This study is divided in three parts : the study of helium flow modifications induced by the plasma (strioscopy visualization); the study of plasma propagation inside dielectric capillary (experimental and numerical study of fast plasma propagation dynamic and electric field evolution for helium-nitrogen mixtures); the study of conductive target-plasma interaction (space and time resolved measurements inside the capillary and the plasma plume of helium metastable production, correlated with electric field evolution). The conductive target contact concerns any in vivo biomedical treatments. CAPPJ in front of such a conductive target leads to fundamentally different discharge mechanisms compare to the free jet case.