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Natural gas hydrates are solid crystalline substances found in the subsurface. Since gas hydrates are stable at low temperatures and moderate pressures, gas hydrates are found either near the surface in arctic regions or in deep water marine environments where the ambient seafloor temperature is less than 10°C. This work addresses the important issue of geomechanical stability in hydrate bearing sediments during different perturbations. I analyzed extensive data collected from the literature on the types of sediments where hydrates have been found during various offshore expeditions. To better understand the hydrate bearing sediments in offshore environments, I divided these data into different sections. The data included water depths, pore water salinity, gas compositions, geothermal gradients, and sedimentary properties such as sediment type, sediment mineralogy, and sediment physical properties. I used the database to determine the types of sediments that should be evaluated in laboratory tests at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The TOUGH+Hydrate reservoir simulator was used to simulate the gas production behavior from hydrate bearing sediments. To address some important gas production issues from gas hydrates, I first simulated the production performance from the Messsoyakha Gas Field in Siberia. The field has been described as a free gas reservoir overlain by a gas hydrate layer and underlain by an aquifer of unknown strength. From a parametric study conducted to delineate important parameters that affect gas production at the Messoyakha, I found effective gas permeability in the hydrate layer, the location of perforations and the gas hydrate saturation to be important parameters for gas production at the Messoyakha. Second, I simulated the gas production using a hydraulic fracture in hydrate bearing sediments. The simulation results showed that the hydraulic fracture gets plugged by the formation of secondary hydrates during gas production. I used the coupled fluid flow and geomechanical model "TOUGH+Hydrate- FLAC3D" to model geomechanical performance during gas production from hydrates in an offshore hydrate deposit. I modeled geomechanical failures associated with gas production using a horizontal well and a vertical well for two different types of sediments, sand and clay. The simulation results showed that the sediment and failures can be a serious issue during the gas production from weaker sediments such as clays.

No description available.

Purple threeawn (Aristida purpurea Nutt.) is a native bunch grass that is avoided by grazers. It is capable of dominating old cropland and overgrazed pastures, limiting livestock carrying capacity, and degrading wildlife habitat. Traditional management tools have had little impact on threeawn dominance in semiarid regions of the west. Our objectives were to: 1) assess fire and nitrogen treatment effects on threeawn forage quality at various phenological stages to test their potential as pretreatments in a grazing strategy and 2) examine a threeawn-dominated plant community’s response to prescribed fire, nitrogen addition, and clipping. Fire improved threeawn forage quality with greater improvements in early phenological stages. Nitrogen had little effect on forage quality. Fire and nitrogen reduced threeawn while increasing cool season grasses. Light and moderate clipping following fire did not improve the efficacy of fire. Fire appears to an effective preliminary treatment to improve the chance of herbivory.

The mass of carbon trapped in methane hydrates exceeds that in conventional fossil fuel reservoirs. While methane in coarse-grained hydrate-bearing sediments is technically recoverable, most methane hydrates are found in fine-grained marine sediments where gas recovery is inherently impeded by very low gas permeability. Using experimental methods and analyses, this thesis advances the understanding of fine-grained sediments in view of gas production from methane hydrates. The research scope includes: a new approach for the classification of fines in terms of electrical sensitivity, the estimation of the sediment volume contraction during hydrate dissociation, a pore-scale study of gas migration in sediments and the self-regulation effect of surfactants, the formation of preferential gas migration pathways at interfaces during gas production, pressure core technology for the characterization of hydrate bearing sediments without causing hydrate dissociation, and the deployment of a bio-sub-sampling chamber in Japan.

Na alimentação animal, o sorgo pode ser explorado de diversas formas. Além dos grãos, a planta pode ser oferecida na forma de silagem, rolão, verde ou ainda pastejada; embora o valor nutritivo pode sofrer algumas variações pela presença ou ausência de compostos fenólicos como os taninos condensados. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a composição química-bromatológica, qualidade fermentativa e produção de gases in vitro nas silagens de sorgo granífero adicionados com diferentes níveis de guandu. O estudo foi dividido em dois experimentos. O primeiro estudo (Capítulo 3) avaliou os efeitos da adição de forragem de guandu sobre a composição química-bromatológica e fermentativas da silagem de sorgo granífero. Os tratamentos foram compostos por: T1 - Silagem com 100% de sorgo, T2 - Silagem com 25% de guandu e 75% de sorgo, T3 - Silagem com 50% de guandu e 50% de sorgo, T4 - Silagem com 75% de guandu e 25% de sorgo e T5 Silagem com 100% de guandu. As variáveis estudadas para a composição química e fermentativas das silagens foram: matéria seca (MS), proteína bruta (PB), fibra em detergente neutro (FDN), fibra em detergente neutro (FDA), carboidratos totais (CHOT), matéria mineral (MM), fenóis totais (FT), taninos totais (TT), taninos condensados (TC), pH, capacidade tampão (CT), perdas fermentativas e ácido lático. A adição de guandu promoveu efeito linear (P<0,01) nas silagens para os teores de MS, PB, FDN, FDA, FT, assim como para as perdas fermentativas de MS da silagem. Enquanto para os teores de CHOT, MM e TC verificaram-se respostas quadráticas (p<0,01) entre as silagens. Inclusões de 25, 50 e 75% de guandu, com base na matéria fresca, seriam suficientes para melhorar o valor nutricional assim como para se obter melhor padrão fermentativo da silagem de sorgo. O segundo estudo (Capítulo 4) avaliou a produção total de gases, metano, degradabilidade da MS (DMS) e degradabilidade da MO (DMO) em silagens de sorgo granífero com níveis crescentes de guandu através da técnica in vitro de produção de gases. Foram avaliadas as cinco silagens de sorgo granífero com níveis crescentes (0, 25, 50, 75 e 100%) de guandu utilizados como substratos. Para avaliar o efeito do tanino nas silagens sobre a produção de gases, procedeu-se um bioensaio, no qual os substratos foram incubados na presença de polietileno glicol (PEG), macro molécula capaz de ligar-se aos taninos presente no substrato, liberando os nutrientes para a fermentação; sendo o efeito do tanino medido pelo incremento na produção de gases. Não houve diferença estatística para a produção total de gases e metano para os níveis de inclusão do guandu, entretanto houve diferença significativa para o contraste nível zero e a inclusão do guandu. Para os incrementos também não houve diferença significativa para as variáveis (PG, CH4, DMS e DMO). Por outro lado, houve maior PG e maior incremento para o nível de 25% de guandu com a presença do PEG. Foi encontrado maior emissão de metano e incremento de metano para o nível 50% de guandu, quando comparado com os demais níveis. Houve maior DMS e DMO no substrato com 100% de guandu com a presença do PEG. Concluiu-se que a adição de forragem de guandu na silagem de sorgo aumentou o conteúdo de PB e reduziu os teores de FDN, implicando um melhor valor nutritivo das silagens, contudo os taninos condensados precisariam ser monitorados para futuros experimentos in vivo / In animal nutrition, sorghum can be used in various ways. Besides grain, the plant can be offered as silage, pollard, green or even grazed. Although the nutritional value may undergo some changes by the presence or absence of phenolic compounds such as condensed tannins. The objective of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition, fermentation quality and gas production in vitro in sorghum silage added with different levels of pigeon pea. The study was divided into two experiments. The first study (Chapter 3) evaluated the effects of the addition of pigeon pea grass on the chemical composition and fermentation of sorghum silage. The treatments were: T1 - silage with 100% sorghum, T2 - silage with 25% of pigeon pea and sorghum 75%, T3 - silage with 50% of pigeon pea and sorghum 50%, T4 - silage with 75% pigeon pea and 25% of sorghum and T5 - silage with 100% pigeon pea. The parameters of chemical composition and fermentation of the silage were: dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), total carbohydrates (TCHO), ash, total phenolics (TP), total tannins (TT), condensed tannins (CT), pH, buffer capacity (BC), losses of fermentation and lactic acid. The addition of pigeon pea showed linear effect (P <0.01) in silage for DM, CP, NDF, ADF, TP, as well as the levels of CT and fermentation losses in DM of silage. As for the contents of TCHO, CT and MM there were quadratic responses (p <0.01) among silages. The results observed that, inclusion of 25, 50 and 75% pigeon pea, based on fresh weight, are sufficient to improve the nutritional value and to achieve better fermentation pattern of sorghum silage. The second study (Chapter 4) evaluated the production of gases, methane, DM degradability and degradability of OM in silage sorghum with increasing levels of pigeon pea using the technique of bioassay gas production. Five types of grain sorghum silage with increasing levels (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%) of pigeon pea were used as substrates and evaluated by gás production technique. There were no significant differences with and without the presence of PEG within each level using regression, for (GP, CH4 and DMD), but there were significant effect for using of contrast for the variables (GP, CH4 and OMD). No significant difference was observed for the increments for the variables (GP and CH4,). On the other hand GP was more increase in the level of 25% of pigeon pea in the presence of PEG. Compared with the other levels of pigeon pea the level 50% showed higher emissions of methane. In the presence of PEG,DMD and OMD Showed higher percentage on the substrate with 100% of pigeon pea . it can be concluded that ,the addition of pigeon pea in sorghum silage increased the PC content and decreased the NDF, implying a higher nutritive value of silages, but the tannins need to be monitored for future experiments in vivo

O uso da suplementação com levedura viva em equinos tem sido estudado, pelo potencial de redução da produção de lactato no intestino grosso sendo relatado por alguns autores, melhora da digestibilidade aparente da proteína bruta. Porém, o uso de levedura viva protegida ainda não foi relatado para a espécie. O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a digestibilidade aparente dos nutrientes e parâmetros de fermentação intestinal e gástrica com a suplementação de levedura viva e levedura viva protegida em equinos em manutenção. O delineamento experimental foi o quadrado latino duplo balanceado com oito animais, quatro dietas avaliados por quatro períodos de 22 dias cada, sendo 15 dias de adaptação à dieta, 5 dias de coleta de fezes (CTF), 1 dia para coleta de conteúdo gástrico e 2 semanas de intervalo entre os períodos. As médias dos tratamentos foram comparadas através de contrastes ortogonais (C1: controle [CTR] versus levedura [LEV], levedura protegida [PROT] e levedura viva + levedura protegida [L + P]; C2: L + P versus LEV e PROT; C3: LEV versus PROT). O nível de significância do teste utilizado foi a 10%. Não foram observados efeitos para pH nas fezes, concentração sérica de fator tumoral alfa, concentrações de ácido lático e ácidos de cadeia curta nas diferentes dietas. Não foi observado significância para a digestibilidade aparente dos nutrientes da dieta quando se usou levedura viva ou protegida (P=0,0683). Houve aumento das concentrações de ácido acético com o uso de levedura no conteúdo gástrico (P=0,0082). Avaliando a técnica de coleta sugerida, a adaptação realizada para este procedimento de coleta de digesta gástrica apresentou fácil aplicabilidade, com alta tolerância pelos equinos, além de proporcionar perfeita precisão do local de coleta a ser avaliado. A levedura viva e levedura protegida não apresentam efeito quanto a degradabilidade in vitro da matéria seca e da fibra em detergente neutro (P &gt; 0,05). A fermentação com inóculo de fezes possui maiores taxas de produção de gás quando se utiliza feno como substrato e suplementação com levedura viva (P=0,0190). Quando se utiliza de conteúdo gástrico como inóculo, a levedura protegida apresenta menor produção de gases (P=0,0484). / The use of live yeast supplementation in equines has been studied for the potential reduction of lactate production in the large intestine and is reported by some authors to improve the apparent digestibility of crude protein. However, the use of protected live yeast has not yet been reported for the species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the apparent digestibility of nutrients and parameters of intestinal and gastric fermentation with the supplementation of live yeast and protected live yeast in horses. The experimental design was the double balanced latin square with eight animals, four diets evaluated for four periods of 22 days each, being 15 days of adaptation to the diet, 5 days of collection of feces (CTF), 1 day for collection of gastric content and 2 weeks interval between periods. The treatments were compared by means of orthogonal contrasts (C1: control [CTR] versus yeast [LEV], protected yeast [PROT] and live yeast + protected yeast [L + P]; C3: LEV versus PROT). The level of significance of the test used was 10%. No effects were observed for faecal pH, serum concentration of alpha tumor factor, lactic acid concentrations and short chain acids in the different diets. It was no possible to observe a difference significance on apparent digestibility in nutrients of diets when living or protected yeast (P = 0.0683). There was an increase in acetic acid concentrations with the use of yeast in gastric contents (P = 0.0082). Evaluating the suggested collection technique, the adaptation performed for this procedure of gastric digestion was easy to apply, with high tolerance by the horses, besides providing perfect accuracy of the collection site to be evaluated. Live yeast and protected yeast have no effect on the in vitro degradability of dry matter and neutral detergent fiber (P&gt; 0.05). Fermentation with fecal inoculum has higher rates of gas production when hay is used as a substrate and supplementation with live yeast (P = 0.0190). When gastric contents are used as the inoculum, the protected yeast presents lower gas production (P = 0.0484).

Com o objetivo de estudar o uso de inóculo de fezes em substituição do conteúdo ruminal de bubalinos na técnica in vitro de produção de gases, este presente trabalho comparou as avaliações realizadas em três ensaios. Foram utilizados três bubalinos da raça Mediterrâneo, machos, adultos, castrados, fistulados no rúmen com média de peso vivo de 450 (± 18,7) kg. Estes animais receberam uma dieta basal, composta de silagem de milho (70%) e concentrado (30%). Estes animais foram os doadores dos 2 tipos de inóculos, que foram conteúdo ruminal (CR) e fezes. O primeiro ensaio realizado foi com alimentos concentrados: grão de milho, farelo de soja, farelo de trigo e farelo de algodão; o segundo ensaio foi com leguminosas forrageiras: alfafa (Medicago sativa L. ), estilosantes pioneiro (Stylosanthes macrocephala cv. Pioneiro), soja perene (Neonotonia wightii) e leucena (Leucaena leucocephala); e o terceiro e último ensaio foi realizado com gramíneas forrageiras: capim braquiarão (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu), capim buffel (Cenchrus ciliaris L. cv. Biloela), estrela africana (Cynodon plectostachyus) e capim mombaça (Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. Mombaça). Os valores médios obtidos de produção potencial de gases em cada ensaio foram menores (P&lt;0,05) para as amostras fermentadas com inóculos de fezes que com conteúdo ruminal, sendo respectivamente, para concentrados (140,23 e 194,08 mL.g-1MS), gramíneas (161,99 e 230,25 mL.g-1MS) e leguminosas (141,78 e 170,70 mL.gm-1MS). Conclui-se que inóculos de fezes não apresentam condições satisfatórias para substituição do inóculum com conteúdo ruminal para uso na técnica de produção in vitro de gases. / In order to study the use of faeces as inoculum as alternative for buffalo rumen contents in the in vitro gas production technique, the present work evaluations of three tests. We used three Mediterranean buffalos, male, adult, neutered, fistulated in the rumen, with an average live weight of 450 (± 18.7) kg. These animals received a basal diet composed of corn silage (70%) and concentrated (30%). These buffalo were the donors of the two types of inocula, rumen content (CR) and faeces. The first test was carried out with concentrate foods: corn grain, soybean meal, wheat bran and cottonseed meal, the second test was with legumes: alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. ), Pioneiro estilo (Stylosanthes macrocephala cv. Pioneiro) , perennial soybean (Neonotonia wightii) and leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) and the third and last test was carried out with grasses: Marandu grass (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu), buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris L. cv. Biloela), African Star grass (Cynodon plectostachyus) and Mombasa grass (Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. Mombasa). The average values of potential production of gas in each test were lower (P&lt;0.05) for samples fermented with an inoculum of faeces with rumen contents, being respectively, for concentrates (140.23 and 194.08 mL.g-1MS), grasses (161.99 and 230.25 mL.g-1MS) and legumes (141.78 and 170.70 mL.g-1MS). It follows that fecal inoculum unsatisfactory condition for replacing the inoculum with rumen technique for use in the in vitro production of gases technique.

Gas injection, the fastest growing tertiary oil recovery technique, holds the promise of significant recoveries from those depleted oil reservoirs around the world which fall into a pressure range of (50-200) bar mainly. However, its application with the usual techniques is restricted by the need for various surface facilities such as enormous gas supply and storage. The only surface facility that downhole gasification of hydrocarbons (DHG) requires, on the other hand, is a portable electricity generator. DHG consists in producing inert gases, H2, CO, CO2 and CH4 through the steam reforming reaction of a part of the produced oil in a gasifier-reformer reactor positioned alongside the producer well in the reservoir. The gases, mainly H2 -the most effective displacing gas among produced gases- are injected into a gas cap above the oil formation, to increase oil recovery through a gas displacement drive mechanism. So far, DHG has only been tested under laboratory conditions using methane, pentane/reservoir gas and naphtha/reservoir gas as feedstock at conditions of reservoir pressure up to 130 bar. The studies varied reaction temperature, steam to carbon (S/C) ratio, catalyst types and catalyst loading in the gasifier-reformer reactor of a small pilot scale rig. These experimental studies demonstrated that pressure is one of the main factors influencing the effectiveness of the DHG process. From this starting point, the present investigation was directed at extending the pressure range up to 160 bar in the gasifier-reformer reactor using a naphtha fraction as feedstock in order to investigate whether the conversion and H2 concentration in produced dry gas can be maintained at acceptable levels under conditions of high pressure. To this end, experimental studies were carried out within the laboratory using the existing DHG rig on the small pilot scale, which was successfully commissioned and revamped for the purposes of this study. Initially, the investigation focused on exploring operating conditions, namely, steam to carbon (S/C) ratio, length of the gasifier-reformer reactor tube/ catalyst loading and the relative performance of two different catalysts. Subsequently, experiments on shutdown/start up cycles followed by variation of temperature were performed to simulate the effect of sudden electrical disruptions that usually occur in field operations. Experimental results using naphtha at pressure from 80 to 160 bar at 650 ºC, S/C= 6 achieved total feedstock conversion, no coke deposits and, most importantly, high H2 concentration in the produced dry gas (56-63 vol. % plus other gases). The best result was obtained with a crushed HiFUEL R110 catalyst (40-60 wt. % of NiO/CaO.Al2O3) and a reactor tube length of 72 cm, but the results with a C11-PR catalyst (40 wt. % of NiO/MgO.Al2O3) and a reactor tube length of 30 cm were similarly favourable. These results were supported by results of a numerical DHG model which indicated total feedstock conversion and values of H2 around 67 vol. % (using n-heptane as model surrogate). The results suggest that the DHG process is technically feasible at the pressure values studied, perhaps up to 200 bar where there are many hundreds of depleted, light oil reservoirs, especially in North America and other parts of the world below that pressure value.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects total natural gas output in the EU to decrease from 216 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/year) in 2006 to 90 bcm/year in 2030. For the same period, EU demand for natural gas is forecast to increase rapidly. In 2006 demand for natural gas in the EU amounted to 532 bcm/year. By 2030, it is expected to reach 680 bcm/year. As a consequence, the widening gap between EU production and consumption requires a 90% increase of import volumes between 2006 and 2030. The main sources of imported gas for the EU are Russia and Norway. Between them they accounted for 62% of the EU’s gas imports in 2006. The objective of this thesis is to assess the potential future levels of gas supplies to the EU from its two main suppliers, Norway and Russia. Scenarios for future natural gas production potential for Norway and Russia have been modeled utilizing a bottom-up approach, building field-by-field, and individual modeling has been made for giant and semi- giant gas fields. In order to forecast the production profile for an individual giant natural gas field a Giant Gas Field Model (GGF-model) has been developed. The GGF-model has also been applied to production from an aggregate of fields, such as production from small fields and undiscovered resources. Energy security in the EU is heavily dependent on gas supplies from a relatively small number of giant gas fields. In Norway almost all production originates from 18 fields of which 9 can be considered as giant fields. In Russia 36 giant fields account for essentially all gas production. There is limited potential for increased gas exports from Norway to the EU, and all of the scenarios investigated show Norwegian gas production in decline by 2030. Norwegian pipeline gas exports to the EU may even be, by 2030, 20 bcm/year lower than today’s level. The maximum increase in exports of Russian gas supplies to the EU amount to only 45% by 2030. In real numbers this means a mere increase of about 70 bcm In addition, there are a number of potential downside factors for future Russian gas supplies to the European markets. Consequently, a 90% increase of import volumes to the EU by 2030 will be impossible to achieve. From a European energy security perspective the dependence of pipeline gas imports is not the only energy security problem to be in the limelight, the question of physical availability of overall gas supplies deserves serious attention as well. There is a lively discussion regarding the geopolitical implications of European dependence on imported gas from Russia. However, the results of this thesis suggest that when assessing the future gas demand of the EU it would be of equal importance to be concerned about diminishing availability of global gas supplies.