• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.95-104
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• 2018

Biosurfactants or microbial surfactants are surface-active biomolecules that are produced by a variety of microorganisms. Biodegradability and low toxicity have led to the intensification of scientific studies on a wide range of industrial applications for biosurfactants in the field of environmental bioremediation as well as the petroleum industry and enhanced oil recovery. However, the major issues in biosurfactant production are high production cost and low yield. Improving the bioindustrial production processes relies on many strategies, such as the use of cheap raw materials, the optimization of medium-culture conditions, and selecting hyperproducing strains. The present work aims to obtain a mutant with higher biosurfactant production through applying mutagenesis on Bacillus subtilis SPB1 using a combination of UV irradiation and nitrous acid treatment. Following mutagenesis and screening on blood agar and subsequent formation of halos, the mutated strains were examined for emulsifying activity of their culture broth. A mutant designated B. subtilis M2 was selected as it produced biosurfactant at twice higher concentration than the parent strain. The potential of this biosurfactant for industrial uses was shown by studying its stability to environmental stresses such as pH and temperature and its applicability in the oil recovery process. It was practically stable at high temperature and at a wide range of pH, and it recovered above 90% of motor oil adsorbed to a sand sample.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2012

With the decline in discoveries of new oil fields and increasing demand from developing countries it is believed that enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies will play a key role to meet the energy demand in years to come. Based on the recently-published data, this paper discusses current status of global EOR market and technical development trends. The EOR market includes oil produced through various EOR recovery methods, such as thermal recovery, gas injection, chemical injection. Also, EOR methods are addressed screening criteria by reservoir and fluid characteristics including lithology, depth, thickness, and oil properties such as composition and gravity. Finally, the examples of field applied by various EOR methods are discussed with respect to reservoir characteristics and performance.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.606-611
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• 2016

Carbon dioxide injection is a widely known method of enhanced oil recovery (EOR). It is critical for the $CO_2$ EOR that the injected $CO_2$ to reach a condition fully miscible with oil. To reach the miscible point, a certain level of pressure is required, which is known as minimum miscibility pressure (MMP). In this study, a MMP prediction method using a process simulator is proposed. To validate the results of the simulation, those are compared to a slim tube experiment and several empirical correlations of previous literatures. Aspen HYSYS is utilized as the process simulator to create a model of $CO_2$/crude oil encounter. The results of the study show that the process simulator model is capable of predicting MMP and comparable to other published methods.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2013

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology coupled with underground carbon dioxide sequestration is introduced. $CO_2$ can be injected into an oil reservoir in order to enhance oil production rate and $CO_2$ EOR can be turned into CCS in a long term sense. Coupling $CO_2$ EOR with CCS may secure a large scale and consistent $CO_2$ source for EOR, and the $CO_2$ EOR can bring an additional economic benefit for CCS, since the benefit from enhanced oil production by $CO_2$ EOR will compensate costs for CCS implementation. In this paper, we introduced the characteristics of $CO_2$ EOR technology and its market prospect, and reviewed the Weyburn $CO_2$ EOR project which is the first large-scale $CO_2$ EOR case utilizing an anthropogenic $CO_2$ source. We also introduced geotechnical elements for a successful and economical implementation of $CO_2$ EOR with CCS and they were a miscroseismic monitoring during and after injection of $CO_2$, and determination of minimum miscible pressure (MMP) and maximum injection pressure (MIP) of $CO_2$.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2016

$CO_2$-EOR (Carbon Dioxide-Enhanced Oil Recovery), one of the enhanced oil recovery methods, helps to not only enhance the production of oil, but also store carbon dioxide in underground. However, if micro fractures occur when during the injection of $CO_2$, it is difficult to make permanent storage of $CO_2$ in reservoir and can cause contamination of groundwater and soil. Therefore, in this study, we performed microseismic monitoring to investigate the occurrence of fractures during the $CO_2$ injection at the Meruap oil reservoir, Indonesia. To pick the first arrivals of microseismic events, Improved MER (Modified Energy Ratio) method was used. After picking the first arrivals, hodogram analysis was carried out by using the data recorded at three component geophones to calculate the back azimuth of events. Finally, locations of microseismic events were decided by using the results of first arrival picking and hodogram analysis. Estimated locations showed that all microseismic events were occurred at surface and any fracture did not occur around the reservoir. Moreover, by analyzing noise characteristic, we confirmed that almost of picked first arrivals were due to the repetitive mechanical noise.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.481-486
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• 2013

Alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) solution was manufactured by using the domestic surfactants for enhanced oil recovery. Domestic surfactants such as linear alkylbenzene sulfonic acid (LAS) and dioctyl sulfosiuccinate (DOSS) were used. This surfactants were purchased from AK chemtech Co., Ltd. (Korea). LAS and DOSS were blended and the ratio of LAS to DOSS are 1:1 and 2:1. Decane was used as a model compound of the crude oil. Surfactant solution and decane were blended to analyze microemulsion. Brine-oil-surfactant are mixed at varying concentration of brine from 0.8 to 3.6 wt.%. Increasing salinity causes the phase transition of microemulsion from water to middle to oil. Also, by measuring the surface tension and interfacial tension using pendent drop tensiometer and Huh's equation optimal ratio of the ASP solution was determined.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.160-164
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• 2009

• Geosystem Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.344-351
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• 2018

It is reported that the flooding rate in low permeability sandstones is low and the oil recovery is hard to increase after water breakthrough. Understanding characteristics of waterflood is hence important for the recovery improvement. In this work, flooding tests on low permeability sandstones were conducted. The corresponding flooding characteristics were investigated by means of CT scanning and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Effects of irreducible water and different rates were also discussed in detail. Experimental results reveal a piston-like displacement at a low rate in low permeability samples. The saturation profile is steep and almost vertical to the forward direction. The results at a low rate confirm that once water broke through, increasing the flooding rate or flooding time can hardly reduce the remaining oil inside the sample. It is probably due to the high pore-throat ratio proven by rate-controlled mercury. Results also confirm that the presence of initial water enhanced sweep efficiency substantially. On one hand, because water had previously occupied the small pores, the subsequent oil can only invade relatively large pores and became more movable. On the other hand, stable collars can not form due to the steep front, which may suppress the snap-off.

• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
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• v.68
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• pp.24-32
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• 2018

Nanocellulose was surface-functionalized toward the applications in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as a green alternative. The focus of this paper is on the effect of this material based nanofluid (NF) on foam lamella stabilization through studying its bubble breakup dynamics and flow behaviors in constricted mircofluidic devices. The NF stabilized foam produced an improved flow resistance across the capillary largely due to the capillary trapped bubbles at the contraction. The "snap-off" caused the NF stabilized foam to produce finer textured bubbles, which can migrate readily forward to the deep porous media, as revealed by the pressure profiles.

• Proceedings of the Korean Fiber Society Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.165-166
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• 2003

완전히 가수분해 된 폴리비닐알콜(PVA)은 에멜전 안정화와 계면활성이 약하다. $^{1)}$ 하지만 hydrophobically modified PVA는 높은 계면활성을 가지고 있을뿐더러 수용액에서 micelle을 형성할 수 있고 게다가 그의 수용액은 높은 viscosity, shear thinning, thixotropic, less salt sensitive 성질을 가지고 있어 enhanced oil recovery operations, drag reduction, flocculation, super absorbency, latex paints, hydraulic fluids, surface coatings등에 사용될 수 있다. $^{2.3)}$ (중략)