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By R. A. Salathiel

A new synthetic material has been developed which is highly effective in treating drilling muds to reduce filtration rate. The material is the soluble salt of a very high molecular weight condensation product of sulfonated phenol and formaldehyde (SPIF). Laboratory tests show that SPIF is effective in muds of all salinities varying from fresh water to saturated salt water. Alkaline materials. such as soda ash or caustic and quebracho, may be used in combination with SPIF to advantage, and are essential in muds containing saturated salt water. In a field test where the water used in the mud had a salinity of about one-half that of sea water, SPIF in combination with caustic and quebracho made a very satisfactory mud. SPIF does not ferment. but due probably to additional polymerization a slight decrease in effectiveness is found when it is subjected to high PH and high temperature for a long time. INTRODUCTION Drilling mud is essential in rotary drilling. The influence of variations in the different properties of a mud on its ability to perform the various functions in drilling of wells is thoroughly understood in some cases and poorly understood in others. For instance, the function of mud density in restraining high pressure fluids is simple and well known. On the other hand. while the value of low filtration is widely recognized, it is seldom possible to determine precisely what filtration rate is required for the mud to perform its functions properly. Filtration rate is important because it influences the ease of moving tools in or out of the hole. Filtration rate also affects the stability of the bore hole walls, which are subject to softening and degradation by aqueous filtrate. Difficulties in rotary drilling are often avoided by using low-filtration muds. Treatment of fresh-water muds to provide moderately low filtration rates usually consists of adding chemicals to improve the dispersion of the clays. To provide very low filtration rates, organic colloidal materials are added. Among the materials hat are used in this way are starch, natural gums, and altered celluloses. In muds that contain large amounts of salt or calcium or magnesium ions, the clays are coagulated and, as a consequence, the filtration rate is undesirably high. In such muds organic colloids are of great importance. LIMITATIONS OF PRESENT FILTRATION ADDITIVES Starch and water-soluble gums are widely used as filtration control agents. Starch is the most important material of this kind being used. It has the advantage of relatively low cost. It is effective in promoting low filtration rates, not only in fresh water muds, but also in muds containing large amounts of salts. However, both starch and natural gums are subject to fermentation and must be preserved from damage caused by microbiologic attack. Also, both starch and natural gums tend to increase the mud viscosity undesirably. Furthermore, the quantity of material required may be quite large. This is especially true when substantial amounts of salts are present. In such a case small addition* of starch may increase rather than reduce the filtration rate of the mud. Carboxy-methyl-cellulose, a chemically altered form of cellulose, has some advantages over starch. It is effective in smaller concentrations and does not increase the viscosity as much as

Jan 1, 1952

By K. C. Li

ARSENIC and antimony are always grouped together by chemists, since they are both members of group V of the periodic table of elements and exhibit a general similarity in the formation of compounds. Metallurgists generally think of them as less closely related because they do not have similar uses. In metallurgical operations, especially lead and copper smelting, arsenic tends to go off as a vapor phase and collect as fume in the flues, while antimony tends to remain with the bullion. Broadly speaking, the frequency of occurrence, practical utility and the effects on associated metals of arsenic and antimony are such that the metallurgist is inclined to think of arsenic as a troublesome impurity in ores, but of antimony as a valuable constituent that is recovered either as a byproduct or through the metallurgical treatment of antimony ores. Estimating the world production of arsenic as about 40,000 tons annually, probably not more than about 200 tons yearly is produced and used in metallic form, whereas one half of the approximately 40,000 tons of antimony produced annually is metallic. ARSENIC The modern uses of arsenic differ little from ancient ones. Though it has been known from early times, its poisonous quality is almost the only one that yet finds extensive use. The shift in the past century from its utilization in poisoning people to the poisoning of insects, beginning in 1860, has not only led to a considerable increase in

Jan 1, 1953

By John Carter Anderson

The theory of a zonal deposition of ores from ascending solutions which were differentiation products of a cooling magma, first propounded by Spurr,l in a measure explained by Lindgren,2 and recently re-emphasized by kemp,3 while perhaps accepted in principle by many mining geologists, so far has not been accepted as capable of practical application in the study and development of ore deposits. From his observations, the writer is convinced that there are laws governing the primary deposition of ores which, when properly worked out, will be of greatest economic value; and that the application of this knowledge to the development of new mines will mark an advance in the mining industry similar to that following the working out and application of the theory of secondary enriehiment. That there has been a tendency to a zonal distribution in the formation of ore deposits, by which the ores of one metal have been precipitated from tile mincralizing solutiolis at a greater distance from the source than those of another, cannot be disputed; and the nature of this zoning in a given deposit or district has been frequently described.4 But that a selection precipitation of the ores of two or more metals, other than lead and zinc, in successive zones may have taken place in a single deposit within limits economically possible of exploration is not generally recognized or admitted.

Jan 1, 1923

By R. W. Heckel, R. A. Tanzilli

ANALYTICAL results have previously been presented for the diffusion-controlled solution of a second phase in a finite medium for planar, cylindrical, and spherical geometries.' These results were obtained by numerical methods using digital computer techniques and are applicable not only to the stage of the problem where the unstable phase shrinks to zero size, but also the subsequent stage where the concentration gradients in the matrix phase become negligible (essentially complete homogenization). It is anticipated that the results of such an analysis may be of use to those workers who are interested in the processes

Jan 1, 1970

By John Carter Anderson

The theory of a zonal deposition of ores from ascending solutions which were differentiation products of a cooling magma, first propounded by Spurr,l in a measure explained by Lindgren,2 and recently re-emphasized by kemp,3 while perhaps accepted in principle by many mining geologists, so far has not been accepted as capable of practical application in the study and development of ore deposits. From his observations, the writer is convinced that there are laws governing the primary deposition of ores which, when properly worked out, will be of greatest economic value; and that the application of this knowledge to the development of new mines will mark an advance in the mining industry similar to that following the working out and application of the theory of secondary enriehiment. That there has been a tendency to a zonal distribution in the formation of ore deposits, by which the ores of one metal have been precipitated from tile mincralizing solutiolis at a greater distance from the source than those of another, cannot be disputed; and the nature of this zoning in a given deposit or district has been frequently described.4 But that a selection precipitation of the ores of two or more metals, other than lead and zinc, in successive zones may have taken place in a single deposit within limits economically possible of exploration is not generally recognized or admitted.

Jan 1, 1923

By L. D. Mullins, H. B. Bradley

Numerous articles have appeared in the literature citing the application of the potentiometric analyzer to cycling operations. Specific information obtainable by a potentiometric analysis, as noted by various investigators, includes: 1. Pattern sweep efficiency for various injection and production rate programs. 2. Injected fluid breakthrough time at production wells. 3. Optimum production and injection rates. 4. Prediction of injection and/or production well locations. 5. History of advance of the in-jected-produced fluid interface. 6. Ultimate life of the reservoir. 7. Ultimate reservoir production. This note describes a procedure for predicting pressure distribution in a gas-condensate reservoir by using the potentiometric analyzer to obtain potential distribution data on an analog model of the reservoir and then applying Muskat's' equations. The method relates the volumetric weighted average datum pressure to the mean potential in the model.

Jan 1, 1958

By Sherwin F. Kelly

NEW trend in geophysics has been uncovered in these depression years, made evident through the thinning cloak of commercial activity, which, in better times, would have completely obscured it. I refer to the increasing use of these methods for geological investigations by federal and state geological surveys. This is a trend that has been gathering momentum not alone in the United States, but abroad as well. Thus, in Poland, the Geological Survey has been playing an increasing role in geophysical work since 1927, and now has- its own geophysical department. The government petroleum producing organization of Argentina has its Geophysical Commission; Brasil boasts a completely equipped geophysical department in its Mineral Production Service; the government of Chile has contracted with commercial companies for geophysical surveys; Peru is planning an intensive program of geophysical prospecting in its petroliferous regions; and Canada has, for several years, cooperated with

Jan 1, 1935

By Charles H. Hopkins, J. M. Lohr

A commercial development requiring a suitable alloy or alloys for sealing into various grades of glass made it desirable to have a more exact knowledge of the expansion characteristics of the nickel-iron alloys than appeared in the published literature. The expansion of the more common types of glass under consideration varies from 2.7 to 10.4 X 10-6 per degree Centigrade, over the range 20" to 400' C. For reference, the t,hermal expansion curves of several types of glass used for sealing by the lamp and tube industries are given (Figs. 1 and 2). This paper covers a detailed investigation of the thermal expansion of a series of nickel-iron alloys in which the nickel content varies from 30 to 70 per cent. Particular stress is laid on the alloys that contain between 40 and 55 per cent Ni.

Jan 1, 1939

By Charles H. Hopkins, J. M. Lohr

A commercial development requiring a suitable alloy or alloys for sealing into various grades of glass made it desirable to have a more exact knowledge of the expansion characteristics of the nickel-iron alloys than appeared in the published literature. The expansion of the more common types of glass under consideration varies from 2.7 to 10.4 X 10-6 per degree Centigrade, over the range 20" to 400' C. For reference, the t,hermal expansion curves of several types of glass used for sealing by the lamp and tube industries are given (Figs. 1 and 2). This paper covers a detailed investigation of the thermal expansion of a series of nickel-iron alloys in which the nickel content varies from 30 to 70 per cent. Particular stress is laid on the alloys that contain between 40 and 55 per cent Ni.

Jan 1, 1939

By Bahrein Petroleum Company

In Comodoro Rivadavia, well 8. 132, drilled in zone No. 2, has discovered between 5205 and 5297 ft., the dcepest pool yct found in this field. The oil production in Bahrein for the year 1939 totaled 7,588,554 bbl., a decline of 709,444 bbl. from the 1939 production of 8,297,998 bbl. The production for the first seven months of 1939 remained fairly constant, the daily average by months during this period ranging between 20,000 and 22,000 bbl. per day. The daily average rose in August to the year's high of 23,800 bbl. per day, then dropped gradually to the year's low of 18,787 bbl. per day for November. The daily average for the year was 20,791 bbl. At the end of 1939 there were 59 wells producing and 8 wells drilling.

Jan 1, 1940

By Bahrein Petroleum Company

In Comodoro Rivadavia, well 8. 132, drilled in zone No. 2, has discovered between 5205 and 5297 ft., the dcepest pool yct found in this field. The oil production in Bahrein for the year 1939 totaled 7,588,554 bbl., a decline of 709,444 bbl. from the 1939 production of 8,297,998 bbl. The production for the first seven months of 1939 remained fairly constant, the daily average by months during this period ranging between 20,000 and 22,000 bbl. per day. The daily average rose in August to the year's high of 23,800 bbl. per day, then dropped gradually to the year's low of 18,787 bbl. per day for November. The daily average for the year was 20,791 bbl. At the end of 1939 there were 59 wells producing and 8 wells drilling.

Jan 1, 1940

Recognizing the fact that the problems of the committee named by the Board to prepare the "official ticket" for officers and Directors of the Institute are various and difficult; and desiring to assist this committee by setting forth some of the principles that should guide the committee and some of the qualifications that should be required of candidates, the following instructions are formulated and the Secretary is directed to publish them in MINING AND METALLURGY concurrently with the publication of the names of each newly appointed Nominating Committee and to send a copy to each member of the Committee. Each year the Nominating Committee is to select "official" candidates for eight places, as follows:, (1) President and Director (2) Vice-President and Director (3) Vice-President and Director (4) Director (5) Director (6) Director (7) Director (8) Director

Jan 1, 1939

By Ira Joralemon

THE sampling of disseminated copper deposits has been described often but the method of combining assays, to give the true shape and value of the orebody as it will be mined has received less attention. As the ore mined during five or ten years at several of the great disseminated properties has averaged materially lower in grade than the published estimates, the question of the sampling and estimating of these orebodies seems timely. In this paper, attention is given particularly to factors that may cause errors in the final estimate. Sampling of diamond-drill holes, churn-drill holes, and underground workings is briefly described in the first part of the paper; then the method of combining assays to give the average grade and tonnage that will be mined is taken up in some detail. The necessity of study of the geology of the deposit and of probable costs is emphasized. Finally, the methods of calculating tonnages are outlined. DIAMOND-DRILL SAMPLING There are three main requisites for accurate diamond-drill sampling. First, the core should be removed and the hole cleaned out at the beginning of every sampling interval, usually 5 ft. (1.5 m.). After the rods are let down, water should be run through them until it becomes clear. The water must be clear before drilling starts. In this way the material knocked down from the sides of the hole by the descending rods is washed away, instead of being left to salt the sludge, sample.

Jan 2, 1922

Jan 1, 1946

By M. W. BERNEWITZ

DURING my recent extended visit to Australia and New Zealand, these notes on oil and gas prospecting in that part of the world were compiled from recent reports-press and government, from conversation with one of the financial leaders in the search for oil, and from personal observation of operations of the principal importers, blenders, and distributors of oil products; also from the astonishing testimony given by them to the Petrol Commission. Australia and New Zealand have practically no petroleum production beyond a few thousand gallons a year from wells in the latter Dominion. Everything is imported, Table 1. showing the quantities for 1929-30 in Australia and for 1930 in New Zealand,

Jan 1, 1934

By Charles H. White

METHODS in colorimetry are based on the assumption that the intensity of the color of a definite volume of solution is directly proportional to the quantity of the color-producing substance' present. In the preparation and examination of colored solutions there are three ways in which the depth of color may be varied. These variables are; (1) the quantity of the coloring matter, (2) the quantity of the solvent, or the dilution, and (3) the thickness or depth of that portion of the solution examined. With these three variables as a basis, three general methods in colorimetry have been devised, all of which have been used in the determination of carbon in steel. In the first method, the quantity of the solution is kept the same for both the unknown steel and the standard, and the sections compared are of equal thickness, while the quantity of the standard is varied until the color obtained is of the same intensity as that produced by a definite quantity of the unknown steel. In laboratories where this method is used there is pre¬pared and kept for permanent use a series of solutions with varying amounts of the standard, representing the percentages of carbon from the lowest to the highest demanded in that laboratory. These standard solutions are kept in bottles, or test-tubes of equal diameter, and are arranged in series from the faintest to the most intense color, so that it is a simple matter to find the place of the unknown steel in the series, when the solution is of a definite volume and is contained in a tube of the same diameter as the standard tubes. In the second method, equal quantities of the standard and of the unknown steel are dissolved, the standard is diluted to a definite volume, and the solution of the unknown steel is di-

Sep 1, 1906

Jan 1, 1946

By A. M. Rowe, I. H. Silberberg

A computer program was written to predict the phase behavior generated by the enriched-gas-drive process. This program is based, in part, on a new concept of convergence pressme, which is then used to select vapor - liquid equilibrium ratios (K-factors) for performing a series of flash calculations. The results of these calculations are the equilibrium vapor and liquid phase compositions which define the phase envelopes. The program was used to predict phase envelopes for 11 different hydrocarbon systems on which published experimental data were available. The predicted and experimental results compare favorably. INTRODUCTION The reservoir engineer is frequently faced with the problem of predicting what will happen if gas is injected into a reservoir. One aspect of this, general problem is predicting the phase changes that will occur when a non-equilibrium gas displaces a reservoir fluid. In particular, a "dry" gas, upon displacing a volatile oil, will pick up intermediate components from the oil. On the other hand, a "wet" gas, containing a high concentration of intermediates, will lose some of these components to a relatively low-gravity, non-eouilibrium1- crude. It is this latter Drocess. occurring in the enriched-gas displacement, which is treated in this paper. In the past, these phase changes have been determined experimentally and the results incorporated into various modifications of the Buckley-Leverett analysis.112 Such experimental work is time consuming, and the results are sensitive to numerous experimental errors. With the wide availability of high-speed digital computing equipment and numerous correlations pertaining to the vapor-liquid equilibria of hydrocarbon systems, it is now practical to calculate such phase behavior. This paper describes a computer program for performing these calculations. THE ENRICHED GAS DISPLACEMENT PROCESS Experimental results have shown that oil recovery can be significantly increased by enriching the displacing gas with intermediate hydrocarbon c0m~onents.3 The essential features of the phase behavior generated by this enriched-gas-drive process are commonly illustrated with ternary diagrams such as Fig. 1.4 In this figure, Gas D, which contains a high concentration of intermediate hydrocarbons with respect to the undersaturated Crude A, is injected into the reservoir. When D contacts A, gas goes into solution until the oil becomes saturated (Point. B). Further contacting of Gas D and saturated Oil B results in a Mixture C which separates into Vapor Y(c) and Liquid X(c). Liquid X(c) is contacted by additional Gas O, resulting in Mixture E which separates into Vapor Y(e) and Liquid X(e). Repeated contacts of the liquid by the injected gas will eventually result in Liquid X(4 of maximum enrichment existing in equilibrium with Gas Y(d). The equilibrium tie-line X(4 Y(4, when extended, passes through the Point D representing the enriched injection gas. For systems of more than three components, the predicted equilibrium states are dependent upon not only reservoir temperature and pressure, but also the compositions of the crude oil and injected gas. If the gas is sufficiently enriched, a miscible displacement is generated. Line If is tangent to the phas,e envelope at the critical point (Point Z) and represents the limiting slope of the tie-lines as the critical state is approached. Point 1 therefore represents the minimum enrichment of injection gas required to generate a miscible displacement. Point G represents the minimum enrichment required for initial miscibility of the injection gas with Crude A. Accra has presented a method to be used for prediction of oil recovery by the enriched gas displacement process.l To develop the phase behavior data needed, he designed the experimental procedure described in the following quotation from his paper: The original liquid was contacted by a volume of displacing gas and allowed to come to equi-

Jan 1, 1966

By V. F. Hollister

Although it is apparent that porphyry copper deposits may have formed in the Andean orogen from Permian time onward, commercial deposits thus far developed appear to have Cenozoic ages only. Following Chilean usage, the porphyry deposits are divided into either (1) a stockwork or (2) a tourmaline breccia model. As indicated by evidence cited in the paper, stockwork-type deposits tend to be related to major strike-slip structures which may be either transcurrent or transverse faults related to plate movements, while the tourmaline breccia type may more frequently form independently of regional faults. Stockwork types may be conjugate fractures that intersect and ramify as a network of veins and veinlets, cutting altered rock, and genetically related to a major regional fault, or in other cases they may reflect the intersection of two large fault structures. Circular fracture patterns may more rarely occur in stockwork deposits in response to a specific intrusion. Tourmaline breccia types are characterized by circular and radial fractures genetically connected in some way with touramline breccia pipe development or an intrusive piercement that preceded it. Each structural model contains mineralized intrusions which have a close time-space relationship to ore, and in each model mineral paragenesis is similar, regardless of age or location in the plate. Also, each model contains the same type of alteration halos (phyllic, argillic, propylitic) as are developed in intrusive centers in porphyry copper deposits found in North America. The potassic zone is exposed best in the older deposits. Examples of each type of deposit are illustrated, demonstrating the feature evolved.

Jan 1, 1975

By C. W. Washburne

FORMER studies of sedimentary strata have been based upon the mineralogical and mechanical characters of the solid components, rather than upon the open spaces between them. For present purposes let us take another point of view, and consider not the rock material, but rather its cavities, the pores and the fissures or cleaved joints which connect with them. Let us think of the geologic column not as a series of rocks, but as a mass of irregular connecting capillaries. Different parts of the column may be distinguished by the absolute size and by the relative amount of its open spaces. Porosity Each stratum of the column is characterized by a certain porosity, which would be independent of the size of the rock grains if all were of the same shape. Slichter has shown that the percentage of open space in a pile of equal spheres is practically constant regardless of the diameter of the spheres. This is approximately true of clean, assorted sand or gravel, but it is far from being the case with most natural sediments which have a widely variable porosity, the magnitude of which is determined mainly by the amount of fine and of secondary material between the larger grains. The shape of the grains materially affects porosity, round grains leaving more open space than angular or flat grains. The thin plates of kaolin and the fine plastic matter of clay fit quite perfectly when pressed together, and it is probably this close fit, determined by shape of grain, rather than the small size of a grain, that causes the low porosity of ordinary clay shale.

Jan 9, 1914