In recent years, enhanced oil recovery techniques have received much attention in the oil industry. Enhanced oil recovery methods can be divided into three major categories: thermal processes which include steam flooding, steam stimulation, and in-situ combustion; chemical processes which include surfactant-polymer injection, polymer flooding, and caustic flooding; and miscible displacement processes which include miscible hydrocarbon displacement, carbon dioxide injection of large amounts of rather expensive fluids into oil bearing reservoir formations. Commercial application of any enhanced oil recovery process relies upon economic projections that show a decent return on the investment. Because of high chemical costs, it is important to optimize enhanced oil recovery processes to provide the greatest recovery at the lowest chemical injection cost.The aim of this book is to develop an optimal control theory for the determination of operating strategies that maximize the economic attractiveness of enhanced oil recovery processes. The determination of optimal control histories or operating strategies is one of the key elements in the successful usage of new enhanced oil recovery techniques. The information contained in the book will therefore be both interesting and useful to all those working in petroleum engineering, petroleum management and chemical engineering.

Systems that evolve with time occur frequently in nature and modelling the behavior of such systems provides an important application of mathematics. These systems can be completely deterministic, but it may be possible too to control their behavior by intervention through "controls". The theory of optimal control is concerned with determining such controls which, at minimum cost, either direct the system along a given trajectory or enable it to reach a given point in its state space. This textbook is a straightforward introduction to the theory of optimal control with an emphasis on presenting many different applications. Professor Hocking has taken pains to ensure that the theory is developed to display the main themes of the arguments but without using sophisticated mathematical tools. Problems in this setting can arise across a wide range of subjects and there are illustrative examples of systems from fields as diverse as dynamics, economics, population control, and medicine. Throughout there are many worked examples, and numerous exercises (with solutions) are provided.

The use of microorganisms and their metabolic products to stimulate oil production is currently receiving renewed interest worldwide. This technique involves the injection of selected microorganisms into the reservoir and the subsequent stimulation and transportation of their in situ growth products, in order that their presence will aid in further reduction of residual oil left in the reservoir after secondary recovery is exhausted. Although unlikely to replace conventional microbial enhanced oil recovery, this unique process seems superior in many respects. Self-duplicating units, namely the bacteria cells, are injected into the reservoir and by their in situ multiplication they magnify beneficial effects.This new approach to enhancement of oil recovery was initiated in 1980 and the first results were published in the proceedings of two international conferences. This book evolved from these conferences, and was designed to encompass all current aspects of microbial enhanced oil recovery: the development of specific cultures, increase of the population for field application, various methods for field applications and the results, and the environmental concerns associated with this newly developed technology. It provides a comprehensive treatise of the subject, and is arranged to show the laboratory development of microbes suited to microbial enhanced oil recovery and the perpetuation of the special cultures in a petroleum reservoir. Thus, this book has specific usefulness in the laboratory, the oilfield and the classroom. Although not written as a text book, it can be used as a reference volume for graduate studies in enhanced oil recovery.

Written by foremost experts in the field, and formulated with attention to classroom use for advanced studies in reservoir characterization and processes, this book reviews and summarises state-of-the-art progress in the field of enhanced oil recovery (EOR). All of the available techniques: alkaline flooding; surfactant flooding; carbon dioxide flooding; steam flooding; in-situ combustion; gas injection; miscible flooding; microbial recovery; and polymer flooding are discussed and compared. Together with Volume I, it presents a complete text on enhanced recovery technology and, hence, is an almost indispensible reference text.This second volume compliments the first by presenting as complete an analysis as possible of current oilfield theory and technology, for accomplishment of maximum production of oil. Many different processes have been developed and field tested for enhancement of oil recovery. The emerging philosophy is that no single process is applicable to all petroleum reservoirs. Each must be treated as unique, and carefully evaluated for characteristics that are amenable to one or two of the proven technologies of EOR. This book will aid the engineer in field evaluation and selection of the best EOR technology for a given oilfield. Even the emerging technology of microbial applications to enhance oil recovery are reviewed and explained in terms that are easily understood by field engineers.The book is presented in a manner suitable for graduate studies. The only addition required of teachers is to supply example problems for class work. An appendix includes a reservoir mathematic model and program for general application that can also be used for teaching.

The book presents, in a systematic manner, the optimal controls under different mathematical models in fermentation processes. Variant mathematical models – i.e., those for multistage systems; switched autonomous systems; time-dependent and state-dependent switched systems; multistage time-delay systems and switched time-delay systems – for fed-batch fermentation processes are proposed and the theories and algorithms of their optimal control problems are studied and discussed. By putting forward novel methods and innovative tools, the book provides a state-of-the-art and comprehensive systematic treatment of optimal control problems arising in fermentation processes. It not only develops nonlinear dynamical system, optimal control theory and optimization algorithms, but can also help to increase productivity and provide valuable reference material on commercial fermentation processes.

This volume is concerned with many aspects of petroleum microbiology and biochemistry, all with strong commercial applications. Worldwide research on the major topic, MEOR (Microbially Enhanced Oil Recovery) is comprehensively covered under experimental work, field applications and modeling. The challenge of formulating a complete in situ MEOR system (microorganisms, nutrient package, and other amendments) is explored together with the future needs in the design and execution of this new biotechnology.

This conference was instituted to examine field activities in Microbial Enhancement of Oil Recovery. The U.S. Department of Energy has sponsored several field projects and the details from some of these were presented, as well as a few from industry. The balance of the program was concerned with new developments in research.Today's oil production technology leaves one third to one half of the original oil in place in the reservoir at abandonment of secondary recovery (waterflooding). This leaves a very large target for microbial enhanced oil recovery which was shown by the research papers of this conference to be capable of producing up to 50% of the residual oil. The field trials show that the normal projected oil production decline curve can be reversed, or leveled off by microbial enhancement of oil recovery.This conference has shown that a variety of applications are possible to correct oilfield problems as well as to enhance oil recovery. Among these is the suppression of hydrogen sulfide production which alone is a tremendous advance because of the large quantity of sour oil production. If hydrogen sulfide production can be curtailed it would increase the value of the produced oil, decrease it toxicity, and largely decrease it corrosiveness. All of these would be welcome both in the field and at the petroleum refinery where special precautions must be taken to process sour crude oil.Another very important discovery is the ability of certain bacteria to eliminate paraffin deposition around the producing well and in the tubulars. This is a welcome improvement for many producers who have considerable difficulty in controlling paraffin deposition.