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The concept and a new method for the shielded development of bottom gas hydrates have been proposed, the technological phases and constructive elements of their implementation have been substantiated. The research provides for the realization of the idea suggesting the simultaneous dissociation of the vast areas of a gas hydrate deposit, management of the targeted process of the penetration of methane recovered from gas hydrates into water space and its accumulation under the extensive gas-collecting shield wherefrom it is removed by bottom pipe transportation facilities. To do hydraulic fracturing, a well is drilled into the plane of the junction of the surface of a gas hydrate deposit and the rocks of a roof, the open system of fissures in the rocks of a roof is made through which produced gas is released to a gas-collecting blanket in a water.

Abstract The kinetics of methane hydrate decomposition was studied using a semibatch stirred-tank reactor. The decomposition was accomplished by reducing the pressure on a hydrate slurry in water to a value below the three-phase equilibrium pressure at the reactor temperature. The data were obtained at temperatures from 274 to 283 K and pressures from 0.17 to 6.97 MPa. The stirring rates were high enough to eliminate mass-transfer effects. Analysis of the data indicated that the decomposition rate was proportional to the particle surface area and to the difference in the fugacity of methane at the equilibrium pressure and the decomposition pressure. The proportionality constant showed an Arrhenius temperature dependence. An estimate of the hydrate particle diameters in the experiments permitted the development of an intrinsic model for the kinetics of hydrate decomposition.

Abstract In order to further reduce the impact of climate fluctuations on the typical meteorological year (TMY) database, this paper introduces an ensemble empirical model decomposition method to extract the periodic fluctuation and random fluctuation data from outdoor climate data separately, and to construct a comprehensive description parameter that eliminates the influence of random fluctuation data. An innovative TMY based on the comprehensive description parameter was developed in six selected cities of different climate zones in China. Compared with the existing Chinese TMY development method and outdoor design parameters, it is found that the typical meteorological months (TMMs) of each city and the outdoor design parameters from the improved TMY database have changed to a certain extent. Through the correlation analysis between improved TMY database and the cumulative long-average meteorological data, it reveals that the improved TMY can better describe the local average climatic characteristics. Finally, this paper discusses the impact of the improved TMY on the building heat loss index and outdoor thermal comfort in different building shapes. The results demonstrate that the energy demand and outdoor thermal comfort analysis based on the improved TMY are closer to long-term averaged outdoor climate, and the calculation deviations compared with conventional method are reduced by 1.18%–21.08% and 53.42%–76.82% respectively. This research will refine outdoor climate data for building design and analysis.

As one of the recognized ancillary services, reactive power support and voltage control plays a vital role in power system operation. Due to its importance in maintaining system security, reactive power continues to be procured by most system operators with limited financial compensation mechanisms. In this paper, the market structure for a potential reactive power market is discussed; and an auction-based reactive power market is proposed wherein the system operator is the single buyer. Furthermore, the market power held by reactive power suppliers by virtue of their strategic location in the system, is measured. The impact of reactive power market design on market power is also analyzed.

As efforts to address climate change shift to action at local scales, municipalities are called upon to develop locally specific action plans. Many municipalities lack the resources to develop energy and emissions-reducing policy interventions appropriate to their characteristics. This research synthesises urban form, scenario analysis and energy simulation into a cohesive workflow for evaluating energy and emissions policy interventions across a range of urban forms. A geospatial and census analysis of six cities across British Columbia, Canada, led to the development of seven urban neighborhood patterns. These represent neighborhood forms and densities found in cities of various sizes, densities, forms and climates. To test the approach of an urban built environment model (UBEM), retrofit and infill redevelopment ‘what-if’ scenarios were applied iteratively to two sample patterns comparing the relative efficacy of building technology-improvement policies versus land-use intensification policies. The future ‘what-if’ policy scenarios were spatially tested and validated using relevant policy. The simplified UBEM methods applied to typical patterns and development demonstrates a step towards an accessible and flexible modeling approach. Small and medium-sized municipalities can use this approach to assess and compare potential energy and emissions policy options and outcomes at building and neighborhood scales. 'Practice relevance' A new, simple method has been created for municipalities to understand multiple ‘what-if’ scenarios for reducing energy demand and emissions from buildings. This is based on profiles from census data, geospatial analysis and energy data that characterise urban neighborhood patterns. The approach integrates building-scale and neighborhood-scale energy and greenhouse gas simulations. It can simulate a variety of policy scenarios and strategy interventions in order to show the interactions between and among urban form and retrofit options. This enables planners and decision-makers to compare the relative magnitudes of different interventions at the neighborhood or city level for energy and emissions performance. The model was developed for use by a variety of communities in British Columbia, Canada. There is potential for adapting this method for use in other locations.

Theoretical and experimental data on the concentrations of methane in different phase states in the porous structure of coals from the Donets Basin are reported. On the saturation of coal samples with methane, the natural conditions of the occurrence of methane in coal beds were simulated for the equilibrium coal–gas system. The amounts of methane dissolved in a solid matrix and adsorbed on the pore surfaces of coal matter were measured by broad-band NMR spectroscopy. The values obtained did not exceed 20% of the total methane absorbed by the sample in an equilibrium state at a pressure of 10 MPa. Sorbed methane was the predominant phase state only upon the opening of a high-pressure chamber after the emission of methane from filtration channels.

Editors Note Editor's note: The Canadian International Petroleum Conference held June 4 - 8, 2000, featured a Graduate Student Presentation Competition as part of the Petroleum Society's tradition at the Annual Technical Meeting. Graduate students from respected universities across North America competed in these sessions. The objective of the competition was to give participants the opportunity to present highlights of their work to petroleum industry experts from around the world. The presentations were judged on technical content, applicability, and overall presentation quality. Judges included Dr. Nick Mungan, Mungan Petroleum Consultants Ltd.; Dr. Don Towson, IRAP; and Dr. Norman Freitag, Saskatchewan Research Council. A "Best Graduate Student Presentation Award" and two runner-up awards were presented by Don Mallory, chair of the Student Competition, shown here with the 1st Place presentation author, Graziella Grech of the University of Calgary. On behalf of the Petroleum Society, the JCPT is pleased to present Ms. Grech's award winning presentation. Abstract A multi-offset Vertical Seismic Profiling (VSP) experiment was carried out in the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Southern Alberta, Canada. The purpose of this survey was to determine whether the dipping shale strata in the study area exhibit seismic velocity anisotropy, and to obtain an estimate of the error in the imaged location of the target underneath these shales if anisotropy is not taken into account during seismic data processing. Traveltime inversion of the first arrival data from the multioffset VSP has revealed that the shales exhibit velocity anisotropy of about 10%. For a target depth of about 3,000 m and moderate dips of 30 ° to 50 ° in the anisotropic overburden, this may lead to a lateral shift in the imaged location of the target of up to 300 m in the up-dip direction of overlying bedding. The anisotropic parameters derived from this study will also be used in the anisotropic prestack depth migration of the VSP and surface seismic data. FIGURE 1: Interbedded thin layers of sandstone and shale found in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Due to anisotropy, the velocity parallel to bedding (V90) is higher than the velocity perpendicular to bedding (V0). This class of anisotropy is termed Transverse Isotropy. (Photo courtesy D. Spratt) (Available in full paper) Introduction Vertical Seismic Profiling (VSP) and surface seismic data are used to image and locate hydrocarbon targets in the subsurface. It is well established that these depth images depend on the accuracy of the velocity model(1,2). If rocks overlying the target are anisotropic, and if this property is not accounted for during velocity model building and depth imaging, then the final image will be incorrect, hence increasing the risk of dry holes. It is therefore important to determine which formations exhibit seismic velocity anisotropy and quantify their parameters for use during seismic imaging. Seismic Velocity Anisotropy Seismic velocity anisotropy is the change in velocity with the direction in which it is measured. In rocks, it can be caused by the alignment of mineral grains, cracks and crystals in a preferred direction, and by the consecutive layering of thin beds.

This paper presents different Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) methods belonging to different classes as well as two overviews. The first was about the procedures used in the test and evaluation of MPPTs. The second is an overview of Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) MPPTs and improved MPPTs. Conventional MPPTs such as Perturb and Observe (P&O), Hill Climbing (HC) and Incremental Conductance (InCond); Improved MPPTs (are the modified versions of conventional MPPTs) such as Improved Incremental Conductance (Improved-InCond) and intelligent MPPTs such as FLC have been implemented and tested under two different levels of irradiance and temperature. A detailed description about the hardware and software implementation platforms (designed and built in our laboratory) is provided. Based on measured data, the MPPTs under consideration have been evaluated and compared in terms of different criteria, showing the advantages and disadvantages of each one. The comparison results showed that Improved-InCond gives a fast convergence to the MPP(Maximum Power Point). Whereas, FLC is able to adapt to the variation of irradiance and temperature levels. Thereby, a good performance is obtained wherein the MPP is reached in a short time as well as the power ripples are very small.

Abstract The global steel production has been growing for the last 50 years, from 200 Mt in 1950s to 1 240 Mt in 2006. Iron and steel making industry is one of the most energy-intensive industries, with an annual energy consumption of about 24 EJ, 5% of the world's total energy consumption. The steel industry accounts for 3%–4% of total world greenhouse gas emissions. Enhancing energy efficiency and employing energy saving/recovering technologies such as coke dry quechning (CDQ) and top pressure recovery turbine (TRT) can be short-term approaches to the steel industry to reduce greenhouse gas emission. The long-term approaches to achieving a significant reduction in CO2 emissions from the steel industry would be through developing and applying CO2 breakthrough technologies for iron and steel making, and through increasing use of renewable energy for iron and steel making. Thus, an overview of new CO2 breakthrough technologies for iron and steel making was made.