Rehab M. El-Maghraby

Depleted oil reservoirs are attractive targets for CO₂ sequestration and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), but three-phase CO₂ trapping efficiency relies on the spreading coefficient. This study investigates the impacts of brine salinity on the three-phase spreading coefficient and subsequent geological storage security. We evaluated the interfacial tensions of distinct crude oils across a wide salinity gradient (0 - 200,000 ppm NaCl) using the pendant drop method. Results revealed a strong negative correlation (r=-0.980, p<0.0001) between oil-water interfacial tension and spreading stability. While lighter crudes exhibit a non-monotonic (V-shaped) interfacial tension trajectory governed by polar active fractions, extreme salinity universally dominates via the salting-out effect. Thermodynamic scaling to supercritical CO₂ (scCO2) reservoir conditions demonstrates that hypersaline brines force the spreading coefficient into the negative regime (S<0). This negative spreading destabilizes intermediate oil films, forcing their retraction into isolated lenses. Consequently, hypersaline conditions disrupt the protective double-capillary seal and reduce residual trapping capacity. We conclude that operators must prioritize low-to-moderate salinity reservoirs for co-optimized EOR-CCS operations or employ alternative strategies like Carbonated Water Injection (CWI) to bypass capillary failure.

Carbon Capture and Utilization is one the potential solution to mitigate global warming. In this study, aqueous ammonia is used for capturing CO2 from flue gases, the produced slurry is then utilized for urea production. In this work, modification is conducted to the original solid controlled formation chilled ammonia process. During this, ammonium carbonate slurry is produced, which can play a crucial part as intermediate element in urea synthesis. Process stream integration and waste energy utilization are considered in many points, in addition to, urea revamp to accommodate this modification. The proposed modification is simulated in Aspen Plus using extended thermodynamics model. Due to this modification and process integration, the regeneration section and effluent treatment section were completely removed which greatly decreased energy consumption. It is found that, energy consumption in the solid controlled formation process decreased by 23.4%. Moreover, through the proposed energy integration with the urea production plant, a zero-energy consumption is reached together with an increase in urea production by 8 t/hr. This also has an environmental impact as the amount of associated CO2 emissions decreased by 6% which affected the carbon footprint of the plant. Our work is in agreement with the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals; goals number 2, 7 and 13. Utilizing carbon dioxide emissions initiated a transformative shift in industrial practices in alignment with sustainability requirements.

Optimizing Heat exchangers networks is vital for all oil processing facilities. There are various methods developed for optimizing heat exchangers networks. Aspen energy analyzer is one of the most important software in optimizing and retrofitting Heat exchangers network. In this article the heat exchangers network of an oil processing facility was simulated on Aspen HYSYS and Aspen energy analyzer (AEA). The performance of the network was highly deviated from Minimum energy requirements. It was 776% greater than minimum energy requirements for this network. Area of heat exchangers from the old design in plant was included in the calculations by adjusting the economic parameters for the simulated case on AEA. Including old area in calculations prevented overestimating the cost of the retrofitting process. Adjusting case economic parameters has succeeded in including area available from old Heat exchanger network in calculations. Six retrofitting valid designs were produced; the design with best payback period was selected. Energy savings in the selected retrofitted design was 600% of base design and payback period was 0.72 years.

Because of their great water repellency, Superhydrophobic coatings have a major impact on a variety of industrial applications. The current study’s key originality is the development of low-cost, stable, superhydrophobic, and corrosion-resistant composite coatings. In the present work, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/Al₂O₃ composite coatings were produced using the spray technique to investigate the wettability and corrosion behavior of the coated materials for industrial and civil applications. PVDF was mixed with various concentrations of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles, and the mixture was sprayed onto steel, aluminum, and glass substrates. The wettability and morphology of the coated surfaces were investigated using the sessile droplet method and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The corrosion resistance of bare substrates was compared to that of those coated with PVDF alone and those coated with PVDF/Al₂O₃ nanoparticles using Tafel polarization techniques. The force of adhesion between the coat and the substrates was measured in pounds per square inch. A nanoindentation test was also used to measure the hardness of the coating layer. The PVDF/Al₂O₃ coated steel showed a significantly higher water contact angle and lower contact angle hysteresis, reaching 157 ± 2° and 7 ± 1°, respectively, compared to the coated aluminum and glass substrates. Corrosion test results showed that the superhydrophobic PVDF/Al₂O₃ coatings had a much higher corrosion protection efficiency for steel and aluminum than that of the PVDF ones. The PVDF/Al₂O₃ coated substrates showed moderate but still acceptable adhesion between the coating layer and the substrates. Moreover, the PVDF/Al₂O₃ coatings had much better mechanical properties than the PVDF only coatings. Such type of coating could be a promising candidate for possible industrial and civil applications.

During the production of ethylene dichloride, the entrainment of catalyst particles out of the bed is considered a problematic issue that affects the conversion of the hydrogen dichloride and causes repeated unit shut down. In this study the effect of the various operating conditions was measured; the fluidizing gas flowrate, the bed parameters, the reaction conditions, and the static design parameters such as the internal orifice diameter of the distributer. A simulation model was built using Mat Lab and Aspen Plus software. The results from both models were compared with the sample analysis data obtained from the laboratory. It was found that when the entering gas flow rate reached 2570.4 m3/hr, the bubble diameter of the fluidizing gas reached maximum value, and hence, the entrainment of catalyst particles was at the lowest quantity of about 8.2 Kg/m2.s. In addition, it was found that as the pressure drop through the orifice of the distributer decrease the entrainment of solids increase until an orifice diameter of 1 cm is reached, hence, the lowest rate of entrainment of catalyst particles is achieved. at such conditions the highest conversion of ethylene and HCL into Ethylene dichloride could be reached.

We performed core flooding experiments on Indiana limestone using the porous plate method to measure the amount of trapped CO₂ at a temperature of 50 °C and two pressures: 4.2 and 9 MPa. Brine was mixed with CO₂ for equilibration, then the mixture was circulated through a sacrificial core. Porosity and permeability tests conducted before and after 884 h of continuous core flooding confirmed negligible dissolution. A trapping curve for supercritical (sc)CO₂ in Indiana showing the relationship between the initial and residual CO₂ saturations was measured and compared with that of gaseous CO₂. The results were also compared with scCO₂ trapping in Berea sandstone at the same conditions. A scCO₂ residual trapping end point of 23.7% was observed, indicating slightly less trapping of scCO₂ in Indiana carbonates than in Berea sandstone. There is less trapping for gaseous CO₂ (end point of 18.8%). The system appears to be more water-wet under scCO₂ conditions, which is different from the trend observed in Berea; we hypothesize that this is due to the greater concentration of Ca²⁺ in brine at higher pressure. Our work indicates that capillary trapping could contribute to the immobilization of CO₂ in carbonate aquifers.