MRI RAPID: Deepwater Oil/Gas Well Blowout Simulator to Study Oil/Gas Dispersion and Mitigate Gas Hydrate Formation in the Gulf Oil Spill

这项核磁共振快速研究将组装一个实验室规模的油气井井喷模拟仪器，用于解决与水和天然气水合物地层中的石油/天然气扩散有关的关键问题，如在墨西哥湾(GOM)石油/天然气井喷中遇到的问题。由于GoM漏油需要快速的恢复反应，PI寻求建立一个模拟设备来研究在遏制漏油的过程中天然气水合物的形成，这一直是一个令人担忧的问题，因为他们快速形成和堵塞补救设备。深水油气井井喷(DOGWB)将在6个月的时间内尽快组装(设计、制造和调试)。这一新仪器将与过去二十年来PIS实验室开发的颗粒力和聚集度测量工具相结合，以模拟和缓解井喷造成的水合物堵塞。一旦组装完成，DOGWB仪器将使PI能够：(A)确定作为温度、压力、流速、分散剂/表面活性剂浓度和机械混合的函数的石油/天然气分散/液滴演化，以及(B)在遏制GOM漏油期间减少天然气水合物的形成。这项研究在改善对深水油气井井喷的理解方面具有潜在的变革性，有助于发展应对努力和加强遏制努力。这项研究提供了一种新的方法，结合了卡尔加里大学使用了30年的成功仪器设计(后来被拆卸和丢弃)，并结合了科罗拉多矿业学院(CSM)的先进知识库进行了几次实质性的修改。这一改进的仪器将能够在水合物形成条件下研究水中的油气气泡，模拟最近的GOM深水油井井喷。这个RAPID将补充最近在水合物研究中获得的另一个资助的CSM RAPID(CBET-1042732)。该仪器将提供独特的实验能力，研究现场条件下流经水柱的石油/天然气羽流。这将使新的以实验为基础的科学和工程开发油气扩散和水合物减缓一般深水油气井井喷发生在不同地区/油田在温度、压力(深水深度)、流量和流体成分范围内。这些信息可导致制定新的准则，以减轻深水油井/气井井喷对环境的影响，并通过最大限度地减少水合物形成和堵塞围堵系统及相关结构的不利影响来遏制漏油。此外，油滴/水滴破碎/团聚的研究结果也将加深对乳化/分散科学的理解。鉴于最近发生的墨西哥湾漏油事件，这一信息是及时和关键的。

This MRI RAPID research will assemble a laboratory-scale oil/gas well blowout simulator instrument, which will be used to address critical issues related to oil/gas dispersion in water and gas hydrate formation as those encountered in an oil/gas blowout in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) oil spill. Due to the quick recovery response necessary for the GoM oil spill, the PIs seek to build a simulation apparatus to study the gas hydrate formation in the containment of the oil leak, which has been a constant source of concern due to their rapid formation and plugging of remediation equipment. The Deepwater Oil/Gas Well Blowout (DOGWB) will be assembled (designed, fabricated, and commissioned) as quickly as possible in the timeframe of 6 months. This new instrument will be combined with particle force and aggregation measurement tools developed in the laboratory of the PIs over the last two decades, to model and provide mitigation of hydrate plugs from blowouts. Once assembled, the DOGWB instrument will allow the PIs to: (a) determine oil/gas dispersion/droplet evolution as a function of temperature, pressure, flow velocity, dispersant/surfactant concentration, and mechanical mixing, and (b) mitigate gas hydrate formation during containment of the GoM oil spill. This research is potentially transformative in improving the understanding of deep-water oil/gas well blowouts to help develop response efforts and enhance containment efforts. This research provides a new approach and combines a 30-year old successful instrument design used at the University of Calgary (since dismantled and discarded), with several substantial modifications incorporating the advanced knowledgebase at Colorado School of Mines (CSM). This improved instrument will enable the study of oil and gas bubbles in water at hydrate formation conditions simulating the recent GoM deepwater oil well blowout. This RAPID will complement another recently funded CSM RAPID (CBET-1042732) that was awarded in hydrate research. The instrument will provide unique experimental capabilities to study oil/gas plumes flowing through a water column at field conditions. This will enable new experimentally-based science and engineering on the development of oil/gas dispersion and hydrate mitigation in general deep-water oil/gas well blowouts occurring in different regions/fields under a range of temperature, pressure (deepwater depths), flow rates, and fluid compositions. This information can lead to the generation of new guidelines for mitigating the environmental impacts of deepwater oil/gas well blowouts, and containing oil spills by minimizing the adverse effects of hydrate formation and blockage of the containment system and associated structures. Moreover, the results obtained on oil/water droplet breakup/agglomeration will also further the understanding in emulsion/dispersion science. This information is timely and critical in light of the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill.