Perfusion System for Modification of Luminal Contents of Human Intestinal Organoids and Realtime Imaging Analysis of Microbial Populations

Intestinal organoids are 3D cell structures that replicate some aspects of organ function and are organized with a polarized epithelium facing a central lumen. To enable more applications, new technologies are needed to access the luminal cavity and apical cell surface of organoids. We developed a perfusion system utilizing a double-barrel glass capillary with a pressure-based pump to access and modify the luminal contents of a human intestinal organoid for extended periods of time while applying cyclic cellular strain. Cyclic injection and withdrawal of fluorescent FITC-Dextran coupled with real-time measurement of fluorescence intensity showed discrete changes of intensity correlating with perfusion cycles. The perfusion system was also used to modify the lumen of organoids injected with GFP-expressing E. coli. Due to the low concentration and fluorescence of the E. coli, a novel imaging analysis method utilizing bacteria enumeration and image flattening was developed to monitor E. coli within the organoid. Collectively, this work shows that a double-barrel perfusion system provides constant luminal access and allows regulation of luminal contents and luminal mixing.

A Tracer Streamline Practice for Re-Evaluation Waterflood Pattern to Introduce a Cyclic Water Injection Scheme

Waterflood introduces in the oil field a couple of years ago. Several waterflood schemes have been implemented in the fields to get the best incremental oil, such as peripheral injection, pattern waterflood, and etcetera. Many waterflood schemes are not working properly to boost the oil recovery due to unpredicted and unexpected water tide array. Then, the tracer practice started to be used for getting a better picture of the transmissibility reservoir as well as the direction of water pathway. This practice honors the parameters, such pressure, water cut, GOR, and rates. The streamline modeling is used to map the tracer, and it concludes that the selection of location of the injector should be based on the highest oil recovery achieved. Subsequently, the cyclic water injection method is one alternative. Apparently, this approach yields a quantify incremental recovery. This research utilizes the pressure different approach to figure out the route of water in the formation. The inter-well tracer technique in this modeling study is a tool to review communication between injectors and producers in the existing pattern. Many scenario should be tried to find the best options for the new pattern opportunities. In parallel, a innovative scheme of waterflood technique should be implemented too for escalating oil recovery. The stream pathway observes a new potential of the waterflood scheme. It is called "cyclic injection" scheme. The novelty of this approach is the ability to solve the poor sweep efficiency due to improper pathway of water influx in the oil bearing".

Enhanced Oil Recovery by Cyclic Injection of Wettability Alteration Agent for Tight Reservoirs

Low primary recovery factor and rapid production decline necessitates the proposal of enhanced oil recovery methods to mobilize the remaining oil resource of tight reservoirs, especially for oil-wet ones, and wettability alteration by injecting a chemical agent such as a surfactant is a promising option. A discrete-fracture-network-based mathematical model is developed with consideration of the displacement mechanisms and complicated physical-chemical phenomena during EOR by wettability alteration, and this model numerically solved by the fully implicit method. Simulation cases are conducted to investigate the production performance and key factors of cyclic injection of a surfactant. Cyclic injection can significantly improve the production of oil-wet tight reservoirs, and the ultimate recovery factor can be increased by 10 percent. The reason is that a surfactant can alter the wettability of a reservoir from oil wet to medium or even water wet, which triggers spontaneous imbibition and favors oil movement from a matrix into a fracture. Better EOR results can be achieved with decreasing oil viscosity, increasing matrix permeability, or decreasing fracture spacing. Cyclic surfactant injection is applicable to reservoirs with an oil viscosity of less than 7 mPa·s, a matrix permeability bigger than 0.01 mD, or a fracture spacing smaller than 150 m. It is favorable for the wettability alteration method by maintaining capillary pressure and reducing residual oil saturation as much as possible.

Hydrodynamic modeling of field development using enhanced oil recovery methods

This article discusses a digital geological model, the transfer of borehole data to the geological grid, and the modeling of the technology of alternating steam and water injection. Alternating injection involves the cyclic injection of steam and water into an injection well in high-viscosity oil fields. The essence of this technology is that during the steam injection for 2-4 months, the formation warms up, leading to a decrease in viscosity and an increase in oil mobility. Then comes the period of water injection, during which the production of already warmed oil continues and the formation pressure is maintained. For digital geological modeling, the following data were collected, processed and prepared: a list of wells that open the object of modeling, coordinates of wellheads, well altitudinal data, inclinometry of well trajectories, GМS data on wells, analysis of wells drilled with core sampling, and digitized seismic data (structural surfaces on the roof of stratigraphic horizons, parameter maps, contact surfaces, faults, structural maps on the roof of target horizons with faults, isochron maps, velocity maps).

Assessment of use of concentrated solar power technology for steam generation and subsequent injection in a Colombian oil field: an application of solar EOR

In this article, a Colombian field was chosen which is located in Puerto Nare, Antioquia where there is a good location to install Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), which consists of concentrating heat through the sun, to generate steam and supply it and also be able to do this without the absence of solar irradiation, through this article the LCOE calculation will be evidenced by the System Advisor Model (SAM) simulator taking into account different factors, obtaining a value of 0.4kW /$, which tells us which is quite profitable. Therefore, this energy is viable for the implementation in the cyclical injection of steam to the Colombian TECA field, where it is desired to predict the calculation of the production rate through an analytical model and calculate the heat losses, to know the proper steam temperature for cyclic injection.

Fines Migration Behavior During Cyclic Injection and Production of Underground Gas Storage Wells

Different injection and production pressure modes for underground gas storage have great differences on the permeability of formation rocks. In this paper, core flow experiments are designed and carried out to simulate the real pressure gradient of the injection and production in underground gas storage, and these experiments are carried out under in-situ stress conditions. The permeability and turbidity of core outlet were monitored during the experiment. The experimental results show that under different injection-production pressure modes, the permeability changes and the turbidity at the core outlet changes. It was observed by scanning electron microscope that there were fines on the fracture wall after the experiment. Analysis shows that fine migration is the main reason for the change of permeability under different injection-production pressure modes.

Evaluation of Energy Storage Potential of Unconventional Shale Reservoirs Using Numerical Simulation of Cyclic Gas Injection

Compressed air energy storage (CAES) stores energy as compressed air in underground formations, typically salt dome caverns. When electricity demand grows, the compressed air is released through a turbine to produce electricity. CAES in the US is limited to one plant built in 1991, due in part to the inherent risk and uncertainty of developing subsurface storage reservoirs. As an alternative to CAES, we propose using some of the hundreds of thousands of hydraulically fractured horizontal wells to store energy as compressed natural gas in unconventional shale reservoirs. To store energy, produced or “sales” natural gas is injected back into the formation using excess electricity and is later produced through an expander to generate electricity. To evaluate this concept, we performed numerical simulations of cyclic natural gas injection into unconventional shale reservoirs using cmg-gem commercial reservoir modeling software. We tested short-term (diurnal) and long-term (seasonal) energy storage potential by modeling well injection and production gas flowrates as a function of bottom-hole pressure. First, we developed a conceptual model of a single fracture stage in an unconventional shale reservoir to characterize reservoir behavior during cyclic injection and production. Next, we modeled cyclic injection in the Marcellus shale gas play using published data. Results indicate that Marcellus unconventional shale reservoirs could support both short- and long-term energy storage at capacities of 100–1000 kWe per well. The results indicate that energy storage in unconventional shale gas wells may be feasible and warrants further investigation.

Cyclic Injection to Enhance Hydraulic Fracturing Efficiency: Insights from Laboratory Experiments

In hydraulic fracturing applications, there is substantial interest to reduce the formation breakdown pressure. Previous research results show that the cyclic injection method can be used to reduce that pressure. In this study, we conducted laboratory hydraulic fracturing experiments to apply cyclic injection to reduce the breakdown pressures of very tight and strong sandstones. Experimental results show that using cyclic injection the average breakdown pressure was reduced by 18.9% in very tight sandstones and by 7.18% in normal sandstones. This indicates that the effect of cyclic injection is more significant for stronger and tighter rocks. The experiments also reveal that the rock tensile strength plays a more important role in the formation breakdown pressure with a rock strength factor of 2.85. This suggests that the breakdown pressure is higher than expected. In addition, we empirically related the breakdown pressure reduction and the injection pressure amplitude to the number of injection cycles. The curve fitting results imply that the effect of cyclic injection is more important if the number of cycles or the injection pressure amplitude is increased. Based on the results of this research, the in-situ formation breakdown pressure can be reduced by applying the cyclic injection method, and the breakdown pressure reduction is more significant as the number of cycles increases.