Merete Vadla Madland

Bio: Merete Vadla Madland is an academic researcher from University of Stavanger. The author has contributed to research in topics: Calcite & Dissolution. The author has an hindex of 25, co-authored 71 publications receiving 1866 citations. Previous affiliations of Merete Vadla Madland include University of Illinois at Springfield.

The Impact of Pore Water Chemistry on Carbonate Surface Charge and Oil Wettability

Abstract: Water chemistry has been shown experimentally to affect the stability of water films and the sorption of organic oil components on mineral surfaces. When oil is displaced by water, water chemistry has been shown to impact oil recovery. At least two mechanisms could account for these effects, the water chemistry could change the charge on the rock surface and affect the rock wettability, and/or changes in the water chemistry could dissolve rock minerals and affect the rock wettability. The explanations need not be the same for oil displacement of water as for water imbibition and displacement of oil. This article investigates how water chemistry affects surface charge and rock dissolution in a pure calcium carbonate rock similar to the Stevns Klint chalk by constructing and applying a chemical model that couples bulk aqueous and surface chemistry and also addresses mineral precipitation and dissolution. We perform calculations for seawater and formation water for temperatures between 70 and 130°C. The model we construct accurately predicts the surface potential of calcite and the adsorption of sulfate ions from the pore water. The surface potential changes are not able to explain the observed changes in oil recovery caused by changes in pore water chemistry or temperature. On the other hand, chemical dissolution of calcite has the experimentally observed chemical and temperature dependence and could account for the experimental recovery systematics. Based on this preliminary analysis, we conclude that although surface potential may explain some aspects of the existing spontaneous imbibitions data set, mineral dissolution appears to be the controlling factor.

Chemical Alterations Induced by Rock–Fluid Interactions When Injecting Brines in High Porosity Chalks

Abstract: Effect of the aqueous chemistry on the mechanical strength of chalk has extensively been studied during the last decade. At high temperatures (~130°C), chalk exposed to seawater is significantly weaker compared to chalk exposed to distilled water when considering the hydrostatic yield strength and the following creep phase. The explanation of these experimental results must be of a chemical nature, as the density and viscosity of the aqueous phase vary little among these different brines. We present the results from simplified aqueous chemistry using MgCl2 brines, and compare these results with seawater. Previous studies show that different ions, e.g. Ca2+, Mg2+, $${{\rm SO}{_{4}}^{2-}}$$ in the injected brine, as well as the chalk mineralogy have an impact on the stability of the rock. We performed mechanical tests on chalk cores from Liege and Stevns Klint; it was found that these two outcrop chalks exhibit an unexpected difference in their mechanical responses when comparing cores flooded with NaCl and MgCl2 at 130°C. The results of this study show that the effects of magnesium seem to be governed not only by the differences in mineralogy, but also a time dependency on chalk deformation is additionally observed. Independent of the chalk type tested, the chemical analyses performed show that when MgCl2 is flooded through the core, a significant loss of magnesium and a considerable additional amount of calcium are detected in the effluent. The experimental observations fit very well with the time-dependent chemical changes gained from the mathematical model of this study that accounts for transport effects (convection and molecular diffusion) as well as chemical processes such as precipitation/dissolution. Based on the calculations and chemical analyses, we argue that the loss of magnesium and the production of calcium cannot solely be a consequence of a substitution process. The calculations rather indicate that magnesium is precipitated forming new mineral phases and in this process not only calcite, but also silicates are dissolved. The amount of dissolved calcium and silicon from the rock matrix is significant and could thus cause an additional deformation to take place. Both the retention of magnesium in the chalk core and the formation of newly precipitated magnesium-bearing carbonates and/or magnesium-bearing clay-like minerals after flooding with MgCl2 brine were demonstrated using scanning electron microscopic methods. In addition, precipitation of anhydrite as a result of flooding with seawater-like brine was proven. The water-induced strain not only depends on the ion composition of the injected brine; moreover, the presence of non-carbonate minerals will most likely also have a significant influence on the mechanical behaviour of chalk.

Treatment and Reuse of Wastewater from the Textile Wet-Processing Industry : Review of Emerging Technologies

Abstract: New ecolabels for textile products and tighter restrictions on waste- water discharges are forcing textile wet processors to reuse process water and chemicals. This challenge has prompted intensive research in new advanced treatment technologies, some of which currently making their way to full-scale installations. These comprise polishing treatments such as -ltration, chemical oxidation and specialized Nocculation techniques and pre-treatment steps includ- ing anaerobic digestion, -xed--lm bioreactors, FentonIs reagent oxidation, elec- trolysis, or foam Notation. Though several of these new technologies are promising in terms of cost and performance, they all su†er limitations which require further research and/or need broader validation. A segment of the research deals with the separate handling of speci-c sub-streams such as dyebath effluents to which membrane -ltration is sometimes applied. The main limitation of this approach is the treatment of the concentrate stream. The spectrum of available technologies may, in the future, be further broadened to include oxidation, specialized bio-sorptive processes, solvent extrac- fungi/H 2 O 2 -driven tion, or photocatalysis. 1998 SCI ( J. Chem. T echnol. Biotechnol. 72, 289E302 (1998)

The Mathematical Model

Abstract: Let X(t) be the number of tumor cells at time t, and Pr{X(t) = n} = pn(t) is the density of X. A “birth”, i.e., an increase of one of the total population of cancer cells, can occur either by mutation of a normal cell caused by the action of the carcinogen, consisting of randomly (Poisson) distributed hits, or by reproduction of existing cancer cells. A death of a tumor cell occurs as an additive combination of non-immunological and immunological elements. Once a tumor is initiated by carcinogenic action, it undergoes a birth and death process with infinitesimal birth rate linear and infinitesimal death rate composed of a linear and a nonlinear term, the former due to non-immunological deaths, the latter to immunological feedback. The death rate per tumor cell due to immunological response is proportional to the total number of antigen-producing (tumor) cells; thus, the total death rate is quadratic. Although this assumes a very simple mechanism for the action of immunological feedback, it is nevertheless a first step.