Most mature oil reservoirs or fields tend to perform below expectations, owing to high level of associated gas production. This creates a sub-optimal performance of the oil production surface facilities; increasing oil production specific operating cost. In many scenarios oil companies flare/vent this gas. In addition to oil production constraints, associated gas flaring and venting consists an environmental disasters and economic waste. Significant steps are now being devised to utilise associated gas using different exploitation techniques. Most of the technologies requires large associated gas throughput. However, small-scale associated gas resources and non-associated natural gas reserves (commonly referred to as stranded gas or marginal field) remains largely unexploited. Thus, the objective of this thesis is to evaluate techno- economic of gas turbine engines for onsite electric power generation called gas- to-wire (GTW) using the small-scaled associated gas resources. The range of stranded flared associated gas and non-associated gas reserves considered is around 10 billion to 1 trillion standard cubic feet undergoing production decline. The gas turbine engines considered for power plant in this study are based on simple cycle or combustion turbines. Simple cycle choice of power-plant is conceived to meet certain flexibility in power plant capacity factor and availability during production decline. In addition, it represents the basic power plant module cable of being developed into other power plant types in future to meet different local energy requirements. This study developed a novel gas-to-wire techno-economic and risk analysis framework, with capability for probabilistic uncertainty analysis using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method. It comprises an iterative calculation of the probabilistic recoverable reserves with decline module and power plant thermodynamic performance module enabled by Turbomatch (an in-house code) and Gas Turb® software coupled with economic risk modules with @Risk® commercial software. This algorithm is a useful tool for simulating the interaction between disrupted gas production profiles induced by production decline and its effect on power plant techno-economic performance over associated gas utilization economic life. Furthermore, a divestment and make- up fuel protocol is proposed for management of gas turbine engine units to mitigate economical underperformance of power plant regime experienced due to production decline. The results show that utilization of associated gas for onsite power generation is a promising technology for converting waste to energy. Though, associated gas composition can be significant to gas turbine performance but a typical Nigerian associated gas considered is as good as a regular natural gas. The majority of capital investment risk is associated with production decline both natural and manmade. Finally, the rate of capital investment returns decreases with smaller reserves.

A utilização racional da fauna silvestre é um processo benéfico, por resultar em vantagens econômicas e sociais, e ao mesmo tempo auxiliar no processo de conservação das espécies silvestres. Entre as espécies silvestres brasileiras com potencial zootécnico, destaca-se o cateto (Pecari tajacu), um animal que consome diversos tipos de alimentos e que produz carne e couro com elevada demanda nos mercados nacional e internacional, respectivamente. Uma característica desta espécie é a presença de um pré-estômago, onde ocorre fermentação microbiana que confere a esta espécie capacidade para digerir alimentos volumosos. Objetivou-se com o presente trabalho: (i) medir a capacidade digestiva usando doses crescentes de uréia como fonte de nitrogênio não protéico (NNP) na dieta de catetos; (ii) avaliar a eficiência da microbiota do pré-estômago de catetos em proceder à fermentação anaeróbica da dieta, através da técnica de produção de gases para diferentes doses de uréia; (iii) estimar a síntese de nitrogênio microbiano in vitro utilizando o isótopo estável 15N como marcador. O trabalho foi dividido em três capítulos. No primeiro foi utilizado delineamento com distribuição inteiramente aleatória, no qual as possíveis seqüências dos tratamentos (doses de uréia: 0,0; 1,0; 1,5; 2,0 %) foram atribuídas aleatoriamente em cinco ensaios com quatro animais cada. No segundo e terceiro capítulos, o delineamento empregado foi com distribuição inteiramente aleatória em arranjo fatorial 4 X 2, no qual foram utilizados quatro doses de uréia, duas fontes de inóculo (espécie animal: cateto e ovino) e cinco repetições. Os resultados para digestibilidade da MS, PB e FDN não foram influenciados (P>0,05) pelas doses de uréia, contudo, podem ter proporcionado incremento na síntese microbiana melhorando a digestibilidade da fibra. O BN cresceu linearmente com o incremento das doses de uréia (R2 = 0,97), apresentando retenção de 8,95 g dia-1 de N para maior dose e 5,22 g dia-1 de N para a dieta sem uréia, não havendo efeito significativo (P>0,01) para as perdas de N fecal e urinário. No segundo trabalho, houve produção de gases (197 mL g-1 MS) utilizando inóculo de cateto, contudo, não apresentou correlação com os tratamentos. A digestibilidade da MS (MSD), MO (MOD) e FDN (FDND) e a produção de gases em função da MSD, MOD e FDND apresentaram diferença significativa (P<0,01) para os tratamentos, havendo crescimento linear (P>0,01) para digestibilidade de FDN (R2 = 0,50) e regressão linear inversa para produção de gases em função da FDND (R2 = 0,51). A produção de gás metano em função da MS, MO, MSD e MOD utilizando inóculo de cateto, apresentou diferença significativa (P<0,01) para os tratamentos, porém com baixo coeficiente de correlação entre as doses crescentes de uréia. A síntese de nitrogênio microbiano para o inóculo de cateto, não apresentou efeito significativo (P>0,05) para os tratamentos. A produção de nitrogênio amoniacal foi significativa (P<0,01) para as diferentes doses de uréia com ajuste de regressão linear aditiva (R2 = 0,50). A produção de gases mostra que a dieta concentrada foi degradada devido à presença de microrganismos no inóculo de cateto. Estes microrganismos foram capazes de hidrolisar a uréia em amônia e esta, por sua vez, convertida em compostos nitrogenados para síntese microbiana, mostrando a eficiência da fisiologia digestiva deste animal no aproveitamento do NNP. Além disso, os resultados in vivo indicam que o pré-estômago dos catetos foi capaz de utilizar uréia como fonte NNP, podendo substituir parte da proteína dietética em sua alimentação / The rational use of wild fauna is a beneficial process, as it results in economical and social advantages, and at the same time helps in the conservation process of wild species. Among the wild Brazilian species with zootechnical potential, the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) stands out as an animal that consumes several kinds of foods and produces meat and pelt with a high demand in national and international markets, respectively. A characteristic of this species is the presence of a forestomach, where the microbial fermentation occurs, which enables this species to digest coarse roughage. The objective of this study was (i) to measure the digestive efficiency in the using increasing doses of urea as source of non protein nitrogen (NPN) in the collared peccary diet; (ii) to evaluate the efficiency of collared peccary fore-stomach microorganisms in proceed to anerobic fermentation of diet, using the in vitro gas production technique at different urea doses; (iii) to estimate the in vitro microbial nitrogen synthesis using stable isotope 15N as marker.This study is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter, an experimental design with entirely randomized distribution was used where the urea doses (0.0; 1.0; 1.5; 2.0 %) were randomly used in five assays with four animals each. In the second and third chapters, the experimental design used had an entirely randomized distribution, resulting in a 4 x 2 factorial experiment, in which four urea doses, and two sources of inoculum (collared peccary and sheep) and five replications. The DM, CP, and NDF digestibility results were not influenced (P>0.05) by the urea doses, however, they may have increased the microbial synthesis, improving fiber digestibility. The NB increased linearly with the increasing doses of urea (R2 = 0.97), presenting an N retention of 8.95 g day-1, for the highest dose of urea and 5.22 g day-1 for a non urea diet, without significant effect (P>0.01) to the losses of fecal and urinary N. In the second study, there was gas production (197 mL g-1 DM) using the collared peccary inoculums; however there was no correlation with the treatments. The DM (DMD), OM (OMD) and NDF (NDFD) digestibility and gas production as a function of DMD, OMD and NDFD showed a significant difference (P<0.01) for the treatments, showing a linear increase (P>0.01) in NDF digestibility (R2 = 0.50) and inverse linear regression for gas production as a function of NDFD (R2 = 0.51). The methane gas production as a function of DM, OM, DMD, and OMD using peccary fore-stomach inoculum showed significant difference (P<0.01) for the treatments, but with a low correlation coefficient between increasing doses of urea. The microbial nitrogen synthesis for the peccary inoculum did not show significant effect (P<0.01) for the treatments, in contrast, the production of ammoniacal nitrogen was significant (P<0.01) at different urea doses with an adjustment of additive linear regression (R2 = 0.50). The gas production showed that concentrated diet was degraded because of microorganisms presents in the collared peccary inoculum. These microorganisms present in the inoculum could hydrolyse the urea in ammonia and this, in its turn, is converted into nitrogen compounds for microbial synthesis, showing the efficiency of this animal´s digestive physiology in NPN use. Furthermore, in vivo results show that the pre-stomach of the collared peccary was capable to use urea as source NPN, thus could substitute part of the dietary protein in his/her feeding

A utilização racional da fauna silvestre é um processo benéfico, por resultar em vantagens econômicas e sociais, e ao mesmo tempo auxiliar no processo de conservação das espécies silvestres. Entre as espécies silvestres brasileiras com potencial zootécnico, destaca-se o cateto (Pecari tajacu), um animal que consome diversos tipos de alimentos e que produz carne e couro com elevada demanda nos mercados nacional e internacional, respectivamente. Uma característica desta espécie é a presença de um pré-estômago, onde ocorre fermentação microbiana que confere a esta espécie capacidade para digerir alimentos volumosos. Objetivou-se com o presente trabalho: (i) medir a capacidade digestiva usando doses crescentes de uréia como fonte de nitrogênio não protéico (NNP) na dieta de catetos; (ii) avaliar a eficiência da microbiota do pré-estômago de catetos em proceder à fermentação anaeróbica da dieta, através da técnica de produção de gases para diferentes doses de uréia; (iii) estimar a síntese de nitrogênio microbiano in vitro utilizando o isótopo estável 15N como marcador. O trabalho foi dividido em três capítulos. No primeiro foi utilizado delineamento com distribuição inteiramente aleatória, no qual as possíveis seqüências dos tratamentos (doses de uréia: 0,0; 1,0; 1,5; 2,0 %) foram atribuídas aleatoriamente em cinco ensaios com quatro animais cada. No segundo e terceiro capítulos, o delineamento empregado foi com distribuição inteiramente aleatória em arranjo fatorial 4 X 2, no qual foram utilizados quatro doses de uréia, duas fontes de inóculo (espécie animal: cateto e ovino) e cinco repetições. Os resultados para digestibilidade da MS, PB e FDN não foram influenciados (P>0,05) pelas doses de uréia, contudo, podem ter proporcionado incremento na síntese microbiana melhorando a digestibilidade da fibra. O BN cresceu linearmente com o incremento das doses de uréia (R2 = 0,97), apresentando retenção de 8,95 g dia-1 de N para maior dose e 5,22 g dia-1 de N para a dieta sem uréia, não havendo efeito significativo (P>0,01) para as perdas de N fecal e urinário. No segundo trabalho, houve produção de gases (197 mL g-1 MS) utilizando inóculo de cateto, contudo, não apresentou correlação com os tratamentos. A digestibilidade da MS (MSD), MO (MOD) e FDN (FDND) e a produção de gases em função da MSD, MOD e FDND apresentaram diferença significativa (P<0,01) para os tratamentos, havendo crescimento linear (P>0,01) para digestibilidade de FDN (R2 = 0,50) e regressão linear inversa para produção de gases em função da FDND (R2 = 0,51). A produção de gás metano em função da MS, MO, MSD e MOD utilizando inóculo de cateto, apresentou diferença significativa (P<0,01) para os tratamentos, porém com baixo coeficiente de correlação entre as doses crescentes de uréia. A síntese de nitrogênio microbiano para o inóculo de cateto, não apresentou efeito significativo (P>0,05) para os tratamentos. A produção de nitrogênio amoniacal foi significativa (P<0,01) para as diferentes doses de uréia com ajuste de regressão linear aditiva (R2 = 0,50). A produção de gases mostra que a dieta concentrada foi degradada devido à presença de microrganismos no inóculo de cateto. Estes microrganismos foram capazes de hidrolisar a uréia em amônia e esta, por sua vez, convertida em compostos nitrogenados para síntese microbiana, mostrando a eficiência da fisiologia digestiva deste animal no aproveitamento do NNP. Além disso, os resultados in vivo indicam que o pré-estômago dos catetos foi capaz de utilizar uréia como fonte NNP, podendo substituir parte da proteína dietética em sua alimentação / The rational use of wild fauna is a beneficial process, as it results in economical and social advantages, and at the same time helps in the conservation process of wild species. Among the wild Brazilian species with zootechnical potential, the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) stands out as an animal that consumes several kinds of foods and produces meat and pelt with a high demand in national and international markets, respectively. A characteristic of this species is the presence of a forestomach, where the microbial fermentation occurs, which enables this species to digest coarse roughage. The objective of this study was (i) to measure the digestive efficiency in the using increasing doses of urea as source of non protein nitrogen (NPN) in the collared peccary diet; (ii) to evaluate the efficiency of collared peccary fore-stomach microorganisms in proceed to anerobic fermentation of diet, using the in vitro gas production technique at different urea doses; (iii) to estimate the in vitro microbial nitrogen synthesis using stable isotope 15N as marker.This study is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter, an experimental design with entirely randomized distribution was used where the urea doses (0.0; 1.0; 1.5; 2.0 %) were randomly used in five assays with four animals each. In the second and third chapters, the experimental design used had an entirely randomized distribution, resulting in a 4 x 2 factorial experiment, in which four urea doses, and two sources of inoculum (collared peccary and sheep) and five replications. The DM, CP, and NDF digestibility results were not influenced (P>0.05) by the urea doses, however, they may have increased the microbial synthesis, improving fiber digestibility. The NB increased linearly with the increasing doses of urea (R2 = 0.97), presenting an N retention of 8.95 g day-1, for the highest dose of urea and 5.22 g day-1 for a non urea diet, without significant effect (P>0.01) to the losses of fecal and urinary N. In the second study, there was gas production (197 mL g-1 DM) using the collared peccary inoculums; however there was no correlation with the treatments. The DM (DMD), OM (OMD) and NDF (NDFD) digestibility and gas production as a function of DMD, OMD and NDFD showed a significant difference (P<0.01) for the treatments, showing a linear increase (P>0.01) in NDF digestibility (R2 = 0.50) and inverse linear regression for gas production as a function of NDFD (R2 = 0.51). The methane gas production as a function of DM, OM, DMD, and OMD using peccary fore-stomach inoculum showed significant difference (P<0.01) for the treatments, but with a low correlation coefficient between increasing doses of urea. The microbial nitrogen synthesis for the peccary inoculum did not show significant effect (P<0.01) for the treatments, in contrast, the production of ammoniacal nitrogen was significant (P<0.01) at different urea doses with an adjustment of additive linear regression (R2 = 0.50). The gas production showed that concentrated diet was degraded because of microorganisms presents in the collared peccary inoculum. These microorganisms present in the inoculum could hydrolyse the urea in ammonia and this, in its turn, is converted into nitrogen compounds for microbial synthesis, showing the efficiency of this animal´s digestive physiology in NPN use. Furthermore, in vivo results show that the pre-stomach of the collared peccary was capable to use urea as source NPN, thus could substitute part of the dietary protein in his/her feeding

This diploma thesis deals with FEM analysis and optimization of carriage for top drive system of drilling rig Bentec 350 AC and it is defined as a development contract for company MND Drilling & Services a.s. Intensive drilling leads to damages and repeated occurrence of fatigue cracks on carriage especially along edges of welded ribs in their heat-affected zone. The aim of this thesis is to draft construction improvements of carriage which leads to elimination of damages. Realization of this modifications depends on correct definition of boundary conditions, analysis of damage occurrence as well as verification of carriage drafts with finite element method.

Single cell proteins such as that of edible filamentous fungal biomass are considered as a promising sustainable source of animal feed supplementation. Filamentous fungi can be cultivated on different organic substrates including volatile fatty acids (VFAs) such as acetic, propionic, and butyric acids. These VFAs can be generated through the famous waste valorisation approach of anaerobic digestion (AD) as intermediate metabolites. This project investigates a sustainable approach for the production of animal feed supplementation through cultivation of fungal biomass on waste derived VFAs along with the in vitro analysis of fungal biomass digestibility as ruminant feed. In this regard, optimum conditions for the production of Aspergillus oryzae biomass on different VFAs effluents derived from anaerobic digestion process of food waste plus chicken manure (FWCKM) and potato protein liquor (PPL) at different pH, nitrogen sources, and feed mixture was studied. Accordingly, analyses showed that PPL has the highest biomass yield with 0.4 (g biomass/g consumed VFAs) based on the volatile solids (VS) by adjusting pH to 6.2. Furthermore, the digestibility of the produced fungal biomass is analysed by using three different in vitro digestion methods including Tilley and Terry (TT) method, Gas Production Method (GPM), and Nylon Bag Method (NBM) and the results are compared with the conventional feed (silage and rapeseed meal). Results obtained from different digestibility methods illustrate that different A. oryzae fungal biomass had approximately 10-15 % higher dry matter digestibility fraction compared to silage and rapeseed meal (reference feeds). Hence, these results revealed that A. oryzae fungal biomass can grow on VFAs effluents and produce protein-rich fungal biomass while this biomass has better digestibility compared to conventional feeds and confirmed the initial hypothesis of the study.

Hydraulic fracturing operations utilized for shale gas production result in the generation of a large volume of flowback and produced water that contain suspended material, salts, hydrocarbons, metals, chemical additives, and naturally-occurring radioactive material. The water is impounded at drilling sites or treated off-site, resulting in significant generation of residual solids. These are either buried on site or are disposed in lined landfills. The objective of this study was to determine the levels of heavy metals and other elements of concern that will leach from these residual solids when placed in typical disposal environments. For this purpose, laboratory leaching experiments were employed wherein representative samples were brought into contact with a liquid to determine the constituents that would be leached by the liquid and potentially released into the environment. The samples used included sludge resulting from the physicochemical treatment of process water (TS), sludge solidified with cement kiln dust (SS), raw solids obtained by gravity separation of process water (RS), and drilling mud (DM). The samples were subjected to both single extraction (i.e. Shake Extraction Test, SET) and multiple extraction (i.e. Immersion Test, IT) leaching tests. For the shake extraction test, samples were mixed with a specific amount of leaching solution without renewal over a short time period. In the immersion test, samples were immersed in a specific amount of leaching solution that was periodically renewed over a longer period of time. For both these tests, analyses were performed on the filtered eluate. The tests were performed as per standards with modifications. Distilled de-ionized water, synthetic acid rain (pH ~ 4.2), weak acetic acid (pH ~ 2.88), and synthetic landfill leachate were used as leaching solutions to mimic specific disposal environments. Alkali metals (Li, K, Na), alkaline earth metals (Ba, Ca, Mg, Sr) and a halide (Br), which are typically associated with Marcellus shale and produced waters, leached at high concentrations from most of the residual solids sample. The SS sample, due to its stabilization with CKD, had a lower extraction efficiency as compared to the unconsolidated TS and RS samples. In EF 2.9 and EF SLL, the leaching took place under acidic conditions, while for EF DDI and EF 4.2, the leaching occurred in alkaline conditions. EF 2.9 and EF SLL were determined to be the most aggressive leaching solutions, causing the maximum solubility of most inorganic elements. Thus, high amounts of most EOCs may leach from these residual solids in MSW landfills disposed under co-disposal conditions. Agitation, pH and composition of the leaching solution were determined to be important variables in evaluating the leaching potential of a sample. The results of this study should help with the design of further research experiments being undertaken to develop environmentally responsible management/disposal strategies for these residual solids and also prove useful for regulatory authorities in their efforts to develop specific guidelines for the disposal of residuals from shale gas production operations. / Master of Science

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