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COALESCENCE
Title: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Phone: (918) 333-8122
IN ORDER TO RECOVER THE OVER 500 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL THAT CANNOT CURRENTLY BE RECOVERED BY CONVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES, IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO DEVELOP MORE EFFICIENT, EFFECTIVE, ECO NOMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTALLY ACCEPTABLE ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY (EOR) METHODS. ONE KEY PROBLEM IS THERAPID, EFFICIENT AND ECONOMICAL CLEANUP OF PROCESS WATER FORREUSE OR DISPOSAL. SUCH PROCESS WATERS ARE OFTEN CONTAMINATED WITH COMPLEX THREE PHASE OIL-WATER-SOLID SUSPENDED PARTICLE/DROPLET SYSTEMS THAT ARE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO SEPARATE BY CURRENT TECHNIQUES. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OFUSING AN ULTRASONIC STANDING WAVE FIELD TO CAUSE COALESENCE OF THE SOLIDS AND EMULSIFIED LIQUID DROPLETS TO ACHIEVE SUCCESSFUL, SIMULTANEOUS SEPARATION OF THE THREE PHASES. THIS WOULD ALLOW AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT SEPARATION AND CLEANUP METHOD AND, IN THE CASE OF EOR PROCESS WATER, WOULD AID IN ALLOWING RECOVERY OF EXISTING OIL CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR USE AND THUS HELP TO REDUCE THE UNITED STATES' DEPENDENCE ONFOREIGN OIL SUPPLIES.
* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *