Effect of Characteristic Time on Scaling of Breakthrough Time Distribution for Two-Phase Displacement in Percolation Porous Media

Transport in Porous Media - Determining the time of breakthrough of injected water is important when assessing waterflood in an oil reservoir. Breakthrough time distribution for a passive tracer...     

Potential analytical applications of lysenin channels for detection of multivalent ions

Transmembrane protein transporters possessing binding sites for ions, toxins, pharmaceutical drugs, and other molecules constitute excellent candidates for developing sensitive and selective biosensing devices. Their attractiveness for analytical purposes is enhanced by the intrinsic amplification capabilities shown when the binding event leads to major changes in the transportation of ions or molecules other than the analyte itself. The large-scale implementation of such transmembrane proteins in biosensing devices is limited by the difficulties encountered in inserting functional transporters into artificial bilayer lipid membranes and by the limitations in understanding and exploiting the changes induced by the interaction with the analyte for sensing purposes. Here, we show that lysenin, a pore-forming toxin extracted from earthworm Eisenia foetida, which inserts stable and large conductance channels into artificial bilayer lipid membranes, functions as a multivalent ion-sensing device. The analytical response consists of concentration and ionic-species-dependent macroscopic conductance inhibition most probably linked to a ligand-induced gating mechanism. Multivalent ion removal by chelation or precipitation restores, in most cases, the initial conductance and demonstrates reversibility. Changes in lipid bilayer membrane compositions leading to the absence of voltage-induced gating do not affect the analytical response to multivalent ions. Microscopic current analysis performed on individual lysenin channels in the presence of Cu²⁺ revealed complex open–closed transitions characterized by unstable intermediate sub-conducting states. Lysenin channels provide an analytical tool with a built-in sensing mechanism for inorganic and organic multivalent ions, and the excellent stability in an artificial environment recommend lysenin as a potential candidate for single-molecule detection and analysis.     

Fabrication of porous Ni–YSZ anodes by PSH-PIM

This paper has investigated the fabrication process of porous Ni–YSZ anodes by the powder injection molding method, in which a powder space holder (PSH) is used. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) has been used as a PSH for mixing with NiO–YSZ powders. For this study, five kinds of feedstock containing 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% PMMA by volume were prepared. The thermoplastic binder used for the process had a fixed 35 vol.%, and the powder loads formed the remaining 65, 55, 45, 35, and 25 vol.% of the feedstock. After molding and debinding, the parts were sintered at 1,500 °C. The obtained results showed that increasing the PMMA portion of the feedstock and reducing its powder load causes the viscosity of the feedstock to decrease. The amount of shrinkage of the samples containing 0–30% PMMA showed an almost linear increase with the increase of the PMMA content, and for the samples with 40% PMMA, this increase of shrinkage was higher. The amount of porosity in the samples having 0–30% PMMA increased with the rise in the PMMA content, but in the samples containing 40% PMMA, the amount of porosity decreased, such that it was less than that of the samples with 30% PMMA. The electrical conductivity and flexural strength of all the samples were also studied in this work.     

Vapor-liquid and liquid-liquid equilibrium properties of ethane + methanol system at ambient temperature

The liquid-liquid and vapor-liquid equilibrium data for the binary system of ethane + methanol were measured at ambient temperature over a wide range of pressures using a designed PVT apparatus. The experimental liquid-liquid and vapor-liquid equilibrium data were compared with the modeling results obtained using the Peng Robinson and Soave-Redlich-Kwong equations of state.     

Pore-Level Observation of Free Gravity Drainage of Oil in Fractured Porous Media

This work presents results from two sets of experiments conducted to study, in pore level, the role of fracture aperture and tilt angle on the stability of liquid bridges and the shape of a front during free gravity drainage process. Glass micromodels of two different aperture sizes were used to monitor the mechanism of gravity drainage of air?Ccrude oil system, rotating around a bottom corner to create different tilting angles. Oil content within the matrix blocks was determined as a function of time using a series of images obtained during the experiments, from which net drainage rate from the upper and lower matrix blocks is calculated. Liquid bridges are more frequent but less stable at early time of drainage. The liquid bridges, which have widths as thin as 50 ??m, can resist instability to maintain continuity. Liquid bridges formed in stacks with higher tilt angles are more stable, enhancing oil drainage from the upper matrix block and causing higher recoveries. Quantitative analysis of the results shows that a wider fracture aperture increases the oil production rate, but reduces the ultimate recovery. Furthermore, stacks with higher tilt angles present larger ultimate recoveries and smaller production rates. The front geometry in the lower block deviates from linearity due to formation of liquid bridges in the middle fracture. The results of this work can be helpful to better understand the interaction between fractures and matrix blocks.     

Improvements on bed‐shear stress formulation for pier scour computation

This paper introduces an improved formula for the bed‐shear stress by applying the vorticity effect and its application in a 3D flow and sediment model to estimate scouring around bridge piers. Up to now, the sediment transport formulae used for computing pier scour were developed based on the general scouring in unobstructed flow. The capability for numerical models to predict local scour around bridge piers was severely restricted by the sediment transport formulae. The new formula introduced in this paper can take into account vortices that affect the local scour process by adding some terms into the classic bed‐shear stress equation. The 3D numerical model system used in this study consists of three modules: (a) an unsteady hydrodynamic module; (b) a sediment transport module; and (c) a Fation module. The hydrodynamic module is based on the 3D RANS equations. The sediment transport module is comprised of semi empirical models of suspended load and non‐equilibrium bed load. The bed‐deformation module is based on the mass balance for sediment. The model was used to simulate pier scour in tree different test cases: (1) a circular pier; (2) a square pier; and (3) a rectangular pier, by applying the ordinary sediment equation and the newly introduced sediment equation. Results of both numerical simulations were compared against laboratory measured data and also in case 1 with result of Olsen and Melaaen (J. Hydraul. Eng. 1993; 119 (9):1048–1054). Comparisons show that the new sediment formula could predict the scour more accurately than the ordinary one. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of cis and trans Fe2+ populations in 2M1 muscovite by Mössbauer spectroscopy

Specimens of muscovite from Siluro-Devonian Appalachian granites of the Gander zone in New Brunswick were studied by ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, microprobe analysis and X-ray powder diffractometry. Chemical compositions, corresponding structural formulae and powder patterns indicate that they are dioctahedral true micas of 2M₁ polytype. Mössbauer spectroscopy shows that these muscovites fall into two groups having distinct spectra, despite an absence of systematic differences in their chemical compositions, X-ray patterns, unit-cell parameters, and Fe³⁺/Fe_total ratios. In the first group, two distinct and well-resolved ^viFe²⁺ spectral contributions occur whereas, in the second group, a single but broader ^viFe²⁺ contribution occurs. All spectra from both groups have ^viFe³⁺ contributions. These observations are confirmed by quadrupole splitting distribution (QSD) analyses of the spectra. Spectra from the first group clearly show a bimodal distribution of quadrupole splittings for Fe²⁺, with a dominant contribution at ~3.0 mm/s and a minor one at ~2.1 mm/s. In the second group, the spectra show a broad unimodal distribution of QSDs for Fe²⁺. We attribute the 3.0 and 2.1 mm/s QSD components to Fe²⁺ in cis and trans octahedral sites, respectively. Muscovites from our second group may have Fe²⁺ in both cis and trans sites but these cannot be resolved, as is usually the case, for example, with trioctahedral micas. In group one, cis/trans populations provide measures of the degree of cation order and of the density of vacancies on the cis sites. Simple models based on average unit cell site dimensions are found not to hold. Local effects seem to dominate, with Fe²⁺ showing no systematic preference for cis or trans sites.