A semi-analytical model for coupled flow in stress-sensitive multi-scale shale reservoirs with fractal characteristics

A large number of nanopores and complex fracture structures in shale reservoirs results in multi-scale flow of oil. With the development of shale oil reservoirs, the permeability of multi-scale media undergoes changes due to stress sensitivity, which plays a crucial role in controlling pressure propagation and oil flow. This paper proposes a multi-scale coupled flow mathematical model of matrix nanopores, induced fractures, and hydraulic fractures. In this model, the micro-scale effects of shale oil flow in fractal nanopores, fractal induced fracture network, and stress sensitivity of multi-scale media are considered. We solved the model iteratively using Pedrosa transform, semi-analytic Segmented Bessel function, Laplace transform. The results of this model exhibit good agreement with the numerical solution and field production data, confirming the high accuracy of the model. As well, the influence of stress sensitivity on permeability, pressure and production is analyzed. It is shown that the permeability and production decrease significantly when induced fractures are weakly supported. Closed induced fractures can inhibit interporosity flow in the stimulated reservoir volume (SRV). It has been shown in sensitivity analysis that hydraulic fractures are beneficial to early production, and induced fractures in SRV are beneficial to middle production. The model can characterize multi-scale flow characteristics of shale oil, providing theoretical guidance for rapid productivity evaluation.

Evolutionary-assisted reinforcement learning for reservoir real-time production optimization under uncertainty

Production optimization has gained increasing attention from the smart oilfield community because it can increase economic benefits and oil recovery substantially.While existing methods could produce high-optimality results,they cannot be applied to real-time optimization for large-scale reservoirs due to high computational demands.In addition,most methods generally assume that the reservoir model is deterministic and ignore the uncertainty of the subsurface environment,making the obtained scheme unreliable for practical deployment.In this work,an efficient and robust method,namely evolutionaryassisted reinforcement learning(EARL),is proposed to achieve real-time production optimization under uncertainty.Specifically,the production optimization problem is modeled as a Markov decision process in which a reinforcement learning agent interacts with the reservoir simulator to train a control policy that maximizes the specified goals.To deal with the problems of brittle convergence properties and lack of efficient exploration strategies of reinforcement learning approaches,a population-based evolutionary algorithm is introduced to assist the training of agents,which provides diverse exploration experiences and promotes stability and robustness due to its inherent redundancy.Compared with prior methods that only optimize a solution for a particular scenario,the proposed approach trains a policy that can adapt to uncertain environments and make real-time decisions to cope with unknown changes.The trained policy,represented by a deep convolutional neural network,can adaptively adjust the well controls based on different reservoir states.Simulation results on two reservoir models show that the proposed approach not only outperforms the RL and EA methods in terms of optimization efficiency but also has strong robustness and real-time decision capacity.

Relative permeability estimation of oil-water two-phase flow in shale reservoir

Oil-water two-phase flow is ubiquitous in shale strata due to the existence of connate water and the injection of fracturing fluid.In this work,we propose a relative permeability model based on a modified Hagen-Poiseuille(HP)equation and shale reconstruction algorithm.The proposed model can consider the nanoconfined effects(slip length and spatially varying viscosity),oil-water distribution,pore size distribution(PSD),total organic matter content(TOC),and micro-fracture.The results show that the increasing contact angles of organic matters(OM)and inorganic minerals(iOM)increase the relative permeability of both oil and water.As the viscosity ratio increases,the relative permeability of oil phase increases while that of water phase decreases,due to the different water-oil distribution.The effective permeability of both oil and water decreases with the increasing TOC.However,the relative permeability of water phase increases while that of oil phase decreases.The increasing number and decreasing deviation angle of micro-fracture increase the effective permeability of oil and water.However,microfracture has a minor effect on relative permeability.Our model can help understand oil-water twophase flow in shale reservoirs and provide parameter characterization for reservoir numerical simulation.

A new model for predicting irreducible water saturation in tight gas reservoirs

The irreducible water saturation(Swir) is a significant parameter for relative permeability prediction and initial hydrocarbon reserves estimation.However,the complex pore structures of the tight rocks and multiple factors of the formation conditions make the parameter difficult to be accurately predicted by the conventional methods in tight gas reservoirs.In this study,a new model was derived to calculate Swir based on the capillary model and the fractal theory.The model incorporated different types of immobile water and considered the stress effect.The dead or stationary water(DSW) was considered in this model,which described the phenomena of water trapped in the dead-end pores due to detour flow and complex pore structures.The water film,stress effect and formation temperature were also considered in the proposed model.The results calculated by the proposed model are in a good agreement with the experimental data.This proves that for tight sandstone gas reservoirs the Swir calculated from the new model is more accurate.The irreducible water saturation calculated from the new model reveals that Swir is controlled by the critical capillary radius,DSW coefficient,effective stress and formation temperature.

Bifunctional TiO2 Catalysts for Efficient Cr（VI） Photoreduction Under Solar Light Irradiation Without Addition of Acids

Bifunctional TiO2 photocatalysts co-doped with nitrogen and sulfur were prepared by the controlled thermal decomposition of ammonium titanyl sulfate precursor. They have both photocatalytic activity and Brφnsted acidity, and thus are active in the photoreduction of Cr（VI） under solar light irradiation without the addition of acids. The activity is superior to that of Degussa P25 in the acidified suspension at the same pH adjusted by H2SO4.

Analysis of gas transport behavior in organic and inorganic nanopores based on a unified apparent gas permeability model

Different from the conventional gas reservoirs,gas transport in nanoporous shales is complicated due to multiple transport mechanisms and reservoir characteristics.In this work,we presented a unified apparent gas permeability model for real gas transport in organic and inorganic nanopores,considering real gas effect,organic matter(OM)porosity,Knudsen diffusion,surface diffusion,and stress dependence.Meanwhile,the effects of monolayer and multilayer adsorption on gas transport are included.Then,we validated the model by experimental results.The influences of pore radius,pore pressure,OM porosity,temperature,and stress dependence on gas transport behavior and their contributions to the total apparent gas permeability(AGP)were analyzed.The results show that the adsorption effect causes Kn(OM)>Kn(IM)when the pore pressure is larger than 1 MPa and the pore radius is less than 100 nm.The ratio of the AGP over the intrinsic permeability decreases with an increase in pore radius or pore pressure.For nanopores with a radius of less than 10 nm,the effects of the OM porosity,surface diffusion coefficient,and temperature on gas transport cannot be negligible.Moreover,the surface diffusion almost dominates in nanopores with a radius less than 2 nm under high OM porosity conditions.For the small-radius and low-pressure conditions,gas transport is governed by the Knudsen diffusion in nanopores.This study focuses on revealing gas transport behavior in nanoporous shales.

Performance-based fractal fracture model for complex fracture network simulation

The paper presents a novel hydraulic fracturing model for the characterization and simulation of the complex fracture network in shale gas reservoirs. We go beyond the existing method that uses planar or orthogonal conjugate fractures for representing the ＇＇complexity＇＇ of the network. Bifurcation of fractures is performed utilizing the Lindenmayer system based on fractal geometry to describe the fracture propagation pattern, density and network connectivity. Four controlling parameters are proposed to describe the details of complex fractures and stimulated reservoir volume（SRV）. The results show that due to the multilevel feature of fractal fractures, the model could provide a simple method for contributing reservoir volume calibration. The primary-and second-stage fracture networks across the overall SRV are the main contributions to the production, while the induced fracture network just contributes another 20% in the late producing period. We also conduct simulation with respect to different refracturing cases and find that increasing the complexity of the fracture network provides better performance than only enhancing the fracture conductivity.

Antibacterial and anti-biofilm activity of the lipid extract from Mantidis ootheca on Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The aim of this study is to assess the antibacterial and anti-biofilm properties of the lipid extract from Man- tidis ootheca against the gentamycin resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The chemical composition of the lipid extract and its relative proportion were determined using the technique of gas chromatography coupled with mass spec- trometry （GC-MS）. Antibacterial susceptibility tests were performed using a disc diffusion assay and the minimum inhibition concentration （MIC） was determined by way of the agar dilution method. The anti-biofilm test was carried out with crystal violet staining and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. There were 16 compounds detected, and the most abundant components were sesquiterpenoids, monoterpenes, and trace aromatic compounds. The MIC for P. aeruginosa was 4 mg/ml and the eradication effect on preformed biofilms was established and compared with a ciprofloxacin control. The results of our study indicated that a lipid extract from M. ootheca could be used as a topical and antibacterial agent with anti-biofilm activity in the future.

Effectiveness of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids against microbial pathogens

Microorganisms provide both beneficial and harmful effects to human beings. Beneficial effects come from the symbiotic relationship that exists between humans and microbiota, but then several human illnesses have turned some friendly microbes into opportunistic pathogens, causing several microbial-related diseases. Various efforts have been made to create and utilize antimicrobial agents in the treatment and prevention of these infections, but such efforts have been hampered by the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Despite extensive studies on drug dis- covery to alleviate this problem, issues with the toxicity and tolerance of certain compounds and continuous microbial evolution have forced researchers to focus on screening various phytochemical dietary compounds for antimicrobial activity. Linolenic acid and its derivatives （eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid） are omega-3 fatty acids that have been studied due to their role in human health, being important for the brain, the eye, the cardiovascular system, and general human growth. However, their utilization as antimicrobial agents has not been widely appreciated, perhaps due to a lack of understanding of antimicrobial mechanisms, toxicity, and route of administration. Therefore, this review focuses on the efficacy, mechanism, and toxicity of omega-3 fatty acids as alternative therapeutic agents for treating and preventing diseases associated with pathogenic microorganisms.

Nitrogen-doped graphene/carbon nanohorns composite as a high-performance supercapacitor electrode

Nitrogen-doped graphene/carbon nanohorns composite（NGLC） was prepared by one-step co-pyrolysis of graphene oxide, carbon nanohorns（CNHs）, urea, and lignosulfonate. CNHs as spacers were inserted into graphene nanosheets. The introduction of CNHs and the loosened nano-structure of NGLC make it achieve a high specific capacitance of 363 Fg^（-1） at a discharge current density of 1 A g^（-1）, and NGLC exhibits an ultrahigh stability of 93.5% capacitance retention ratio after 5000 cycles. The outstanding comprehensive electrochemical performance of NGLC could meet the need of the future acted as an efficient supercapacitor electrode material.