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Replies to post #45633 on QS Energy Inc (QSEP)
Laboratory and Scientific Testing
From 2010 through 2013, the Company worked with the U.S. Department of Energy (“US DOE”) to test its technology at the Department of Energy’s Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center (“RMOTC”), near Casper, Wyoming. This third-party testing independently verified the efficacy of the Company’s technology operating in a controlled facility, using commercial-scale prototype of our AOT equipment. These tests were summarized in the US DOE Rocky Mountain Oilfield Test Center report dated April 4, 2012 (“ROMRC Report”), which reported AOT measured pressure loss reduction of 40% (RMOTC Report, Fig. 1, page 4) and viscosity reduction of 40% (RMOTC Report, Fig. 2, page 4); and reported observed reductions in line-loss and gains in pump operation efficiency across the entire length of the 4.4-mile test pipeline. A copy of the RMOTC April 4, 2012 Report is available on the Company website at: https://qsenergy.box.com/DOE-STWA-RMOTC-Report. A subsequent long-duration (24-hour) test at the RMOTC facility tested the effectiveness of AOT in treating oil overnight, as pipeline oil temperatures and viscosities drop. In its report dated May 3, 2012 to May 4, 2012, US DOE engineers recorded 56% reduction in viscosity of the AOT-treated oil versus untreated oil, with AOT effectively stabilizing oil viscosity throughout the overnight run despite dropping temperatures. A copy of the RMOTC May 3, 2012 to May 4, 2012 report is available on the Company website at: https://qsenergy.box.com/DOE-STWA-RMOTC-Overnight.
Laboratory testing of our AOT technology has been conducted by Dr. Rongjia Tao. Testing of the technology as applied to crude oil extraction and transmission has been conducted at Temple University in their Physics Department, in addition to the US DOE, at their Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center, located on the Naval Petroleum Reserve #3 Teapot Dome Oilfield, north of Casper, Wyoming. In addition, a group led by Dr. Rongjia Tao, Chairman, Department of Physics of Temple University conducted experiments, using the laboratory-scale Applied Oil Technology apparatus at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research (CNR). NIST is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, founded in 1901 in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Independent laboratory testing was also conducted as a collaborative effort by Temple University and PetroChina Pipeline R&D Center (“PetroChina”) in 2012. In its report dated June 26, 2012 (“PetroChina Report”), PetroChina concluded, “The above series of tests show that it is very effective to use AOT to reduce the viscosity of crude oil. We can see that AOT has significantly reduced the viscosity of Daqing crude oil, Changqing crude oil, and Venezuela crude oil, and greatly improved its flow rate.” (PetroChina Report, page 15). A copy of the PetroChina Report is available online at: https://qsenergy.box.com/PetroChina-STWA-Report
As previously reported in 2014, QS Energy installed and tested its commercial AOT equipment, leased and operated by TransCanada on TransCanada’s high-volume Keystone pipeline operation. The first full test of the AOT equipment on the Keystone pipeline was performed in July 2014, with preliminary data analyzed and reported by Dr. Rongjia Tao of Temple University. Upon review of the July 2014 test results and preliminary report by Dr. Tao, QS Energy and TransCanada mutually agreed that this initial test was flawed due to, among other factors, the short term nature of the test, the inability to isolate certain independent pipeline operating factors such as fluctuations in upstream pump station pressures, and limitations of the AOT device to produce a sufficient electric field to optimize viscosity reduction. Although Dr. Tao’s preliminary report indicated promising results, QS Energy and TransCanada mutually agreed that no conclusions could be reliably reached from the July 2014 test or from Dr. Tao’s preliminary report. As a result of this test, the Company modified its testing protocols and contracted with an independent laboratory, ATS RheoSystems, a division of CANNON (“ATS”), to perform follow-up tests at the TransCanada facility. This independent laboratory performed viscosity measurements at the TransCanada facility during subsequent testing in September 2014. As detailed in its field test report dated October 6, 2014, ATS measured AOT viscosity reductions of 8% to 23% depending on flow rates and crude oil types in transit. Over the duration of a 24-hour test intended to measure the recovery of the AOT treated oil from its reduced-viscosity treated state to its original pre-treated viscosity, ATS measured viscosity reductions of 23% three hours after treatment and 11% thirteen hours after treatment, with the crude oil returning to its untreated state approximately twenty-two hours after treatment. In its summary report dated February 5, 2015, ATS concluded that i) data indicated a decrease in viscosity of crude oil flowing through the TransCanada pipeline due to AOT treatment of the crude oil; and ii) the power supply installed on our equipment would need to be increased to maximize reduction in viscosity and take full advantage of the AOT technology. A copy of the ATS summary report dated February 5, 2015 is available on the Company website at: https://qsenergy.box.com/ATS-AOT-SummaryRpt. A copy of the ATS field test report dated October 6, 2014, with certain confidential information redacted, is available on the Company website at: https://qsenergy.box.com/ATS-AOT-Detailed-Report.
Although, as reported by ATS, the efficacy of the AOT technology operated in the TransCanada field test was constrained due to limitations of the electric field applied by that unit’s power supply, subsequent analysis by QS Energy personnel of ATS test results compared against laboratory tests performed at Temple University on oil samples provided by TransCanada revealed a single test run in which the electric field generated by the AOT was sufficient to fully treat the oil given operating conditions at the time of the test. In this test run, ATS measured a 23% reduction in viscosity three hours after AOT treatment. Laboratory tests at Temple University performed on a sample of crude oil provided by TransCanada of the same type treated in that specific field test measured a 27% reduction in viscosity in the laboratory immediately following treatment. Allowing for the actual three-hour of recovery time of the field test measurement, the resulting field test viscosity reduction of 23% correlates very well to the 27% viscosity reduction achieved in the laboratory setting.
Gary Buchler, Director
Gary Buchler is Chief Operating Officer of the Natural Gas Pipeline business unit of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI) and operator of one of the largest interstate pipeline systems in the United States. With oversight of a combined annual expense/capital budget of $1.3 billion, Mr. Buchler is responsible for all Engineering, Operations, Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS), and Land Management functions for roughly 70,000 miles of transmission and gathering pipelines. Mr. Buchler is responsible for the day-to-day management of 3,900 employees, evaluation and oversight of expansion projects, and the evaluation of potential acquisitions. As Chief Operating Officer of the KM Gas Pipelines, Mr. Buchler has been instrumental in the acquisition and integration of more than $45 billion in pipeline assets at Kinder Morgan. Mr. Buchler has held various management positions at Kinder Morgan since 1979, including Vice-President Engineering/Operations Pipeline Group, Vice-President Eastern Pipeline Operations, Vice-President Engineering and Operations Kinder Morgan Gas Treating/Kinderhawk Field Services, and Director of Pipeline Integrity. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management.
Richard Munn, Director
Richard W. Munn is one of the top players in the royalty and mineral arena as demonstrated over the last 15 years with 39 years of industry experience. Of note, he managed the royalty acquisition teams at Noble Royalties and other companies, closing on the acquisition of approximately $450 million worth of Royalty and Mineral Interests involving over 50 separate transactions. Mr. Munn has a solid reputation and extensive relationships with private and public U.S.-based energy producers and mineral holders. He has also managed his own exploration and production companies. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Munn chaired the IPAA Business Development Committee and from 2007 to 2009, he chaired the IPAA Business Development/ Membership Committee. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Munn chaired the Society of Petroleum Engineers Business Development Committee. In addition, to his network of oil and gas industry relationships, Mr. Munn is a licensed registered professional geologist in Wyoming with a B.A. in Geology from the University of Colorado.
William Green (Independent Director)
Mr. William Green served as Vice President of Downstream Marketing for Devon Energy Corp., was in charge of domestic natural gas sales and transportation activities. Mr. Green has over 30 years of experience in natural gas marketing with Devon and Mitchell Energy Corporation, both major "Shale" players. He served as the Chairman of Natural Gas Supply Association since February 20, 2015, until March 1, 2017. Mr. Green has been a Director of QS Energy, Inc. since July 14, 2017. He was a member of the National Energy Service Association (NESA) and a member of the Texas Pipeline Association (TPA), and recently served a three-year term on the Oklahoma University Energy Institute Advisory Board. Mr. Green is a graduate of Niagara University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration.
ABSTRACT
We demonstrate that the cold flowability of the waxy crude oil can be significantly improved via electrical treatment. A novel apparatus was assembled to electrically treat the waxy crude oil while simultaneously measuring its rheological properties. A method was developed to calculate the oil’s viscosity by using non-Newtonian fluid mechanics and rheological principles. Lower treatment temperatures, higher electric field strengths, and lower shear rates provided greater viscosity reduction. Notably, a viscosity reduction of 70% was obtained when the oil was electrically treated near its pour point for 90 s. Microscopic examinations indicate that the broader size distribution of wax particles in the treated oil might be responsible for the observed viscosity reduction. Besides, the energy consumption of the electrical treatment was estimated to be less than 1% of that of the conventional heating method to achieve the same viscosity reduction performance.
CONCLUSIONS
We assembled a novel apparatus to electrically treat the waxy crude oil and developed a method to calculate the viscosity variation during the treatment by using non-Newtonian fluid mechanics and rheological principles. Lower treatment temper- atures, lower shear rates, and higher electric field strengths provided higher viscosity reduction. This viscosity reduction might be caused by a broader wax crystal size distribution in the oil after the treatment. A viscosity reduction of 70% was obtained after the crude oil was electrically treated at 18 °C and 0.8 kV/mm for 90 s. Moreover, the electrical treatment was estimated to consume less than 1% of the energy assumption associated with heating to achieve the same viscosity reduction performance. These findings demonstrate that the electrical treatment might be an efficient and economical technology for improving the cold flowability of waxy crude oils.
We are also very excited by opportunities in Asia, having recently reopened discussions with an Asian crude oil company with prior experience testing AOT equipment in the field. Although these discussions are early stage, we have provided a draft LOI and hope to move quickly based on their experience and familiarity with QS Energy and our technology.
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