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Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising materials offering exceptional performance across a myriad of applications, attributable to their remarkable physicochemical properties such as regular porosity, crystalline structure, and tailored functional groups. Despite their potential, there is a lack of dedicated reviews that focus on key physicochemical characterizations of MOFs for the beginners and new researchers in the field. This review is written based on our expertise in the synthesis and characterization of MOFs, specifically to provide a right direction for the researcher who is a beginner in this area. In this way, experimental errors can be reduced, and wastage of time and chemicals can be avoided when new researchers conduct a study. In this article, this topic is critically analyzed, and findings and conclusions are presented. We reviewed three well-known XRD techniques, including PXRD, single crystal XRD, and SAXS, which were used for XRD analysis depending on the crystal size and the quality of crystal morphology. The TGA profile was an effective factor for evaluating the quality of the activation process and for ensuring the successful investigation for other characterizations. The BET and pore size were significantly affected by the activation process and selective benzene chain cross-linkers. FTIR is a prominent method that is used to investigate the functional groups on pore surfaces, and this method is successfully used to evaluate the activation process, characterize functionalized MOFs, and estimate their applications. The most significant methods of characterization include the X-ray diffraction, which is utilized for structural identification, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), which is used for exploring thermal decomposition. It is important to note that the thermal stability of MOFs is influenced by two main factors: the metal-ligand interaction and the type of functional groups attached to the organic ligand. The textural properties of the MOFs, on the other hand, can be scrutinized through nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms experiments at 77 K. However, for smaller pore size, the Argon adsorption-desorption isotherm at 87.3 K is preferred. Furthermore, the CO2 adsorption isotherm at 273 K can be used to measure ultra-micropore sizes and sizes lower than these, which cannot be measured by using the N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm at 77 K. The highest BET was observed in high-valence MOFs that are constructed based on the metal-oxo cluster, which has an excellent ability to control their textural properties. It was found that the synthesis procedure (including the choice of solvent, cross-linker, secondary metal, surface functional groups, and temperature), activation method, and pressure significantly impact the surface area of the MOF and, by extension, its structural integrity. Additionally, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy plays a crucial role in identifying active MOF functional groups. Understanding these physicochemical properties and utilizing relevant characterization techniques will enable more precise MOF selection for specific applications.

Abstract Long‐term simulated water balance and streamflow data for the territory of Poland with high spatio‐temporal resolution were reconstructed for the period 1951–2020 with a daily time step, using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model. The spatial structure includes 4,381 sub‐basins and 47,725 hydrological response units. The SWAT model was extensively calibrated and validated following a two‐stage, multi‐site calibration method for 88 gauging stations across Poland. The simulations show satisfactory performance with a median Kling–Gupta efficiency of 0.73 and 0.7 in the calibration and validation period respectively. The model performance exceeded that of its predecessor, the SWAT model of the Vistula and Odra basins. The simulated hydrological data set covers daily water balance components at the sub‐basin level, including precipitation total, snowfall, snowmelt, evapotranspiration (actual and potential), surface runoff, soil water, percolation, groundwater recharge, groundwater flow, tile flow and water yield (all components in mm), and daily streamflow (m3/s) at the reach level. The data set is stored in an online, publicly available research data archive 4TU.Research Data (Marcinkowski, P., Kardel, I., Płaczkowska, E., Giełczewski, M., Osuch, P., Okruszko, T., Venegas‐Cordero, N., Ignar, S. & Piniewski, M (2021). PL‐SWAT‐51_20: a high‐resolution simulated water balance and streamflow data set for 1951‐2020 for the territory of Poland, 4TU.ResearchData. dataset, https://doi.org/10.4121/16843183).

The wettability of several materials has been traditionally quantified using macro-scale contact angles. However, precise identification of the three-phase contact (TPC) line is often difficult due to the resolution limit of macro-scale setups. Moreover, micro-level surface chemical heterogeneities can have a notable impact on the predicted wetting behavior which limits macro-scale contact angles. Thus, here, we investigate the micro-scale water wettability of condensed micro-droplets on carbonate rock surfaces via a high-resolution Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM). Macro- and micro-scale contact angles were evaluated under three conditions: 1) natural carbonate surfaces, 2) surfaces aged in crude oil, and 3) surfaces aged in cationic surfactant to allow for a broader insight of the impact of rock composition and surface morphology on wettability.At the macro-scale, carbonate rocks were preferentially oil-wet to intermediate-wet. However, a profound variability was observed in wetting behavior at the micro-scale where a weakly water-wet state (50° ≥ θ ≥ 80°) was prevalent with evidence of minor oil-wet patches too. At the micro-scale, for the 100% dolomite sample, the contact angle (θ) varied from ∼66° to 76° under natural conditions, while the same sample aged in crude oil depicted a remarkable variability, i.e., θ ranged from 58° to 132° with the majority of micro-droplets having θ of ∼85° – thus suggesting a mixed-wet behavior. For the same sample aged in surfactant, θ was

In conventional rock mechanics testing, radial strain measuring devices are usually attached to the sample's surface at its mid-height. Although this procedure provides a realistic picture of the lateral deformation undergone by homogeneous samples, however, this assumption may not be accurate if the tested rock has significant heterogeneity. Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors have recently been introduced to various rock testing applications due to their versatility over conventional strain gauges and radial cantilevers. FBG sensors have small size, multiplexing capability, and immunity to magnetic interference. The main objective of this study is to explore and understand the capabilities of FBG sensing for strain measurement during rock mechanics testing, including under confining. To do so, two limestone plugs (Savonnières limestone) and one acrylic Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA) plug, all of 38 mm diameter, were prepared. The acrylic plug and one of the Savonnières samples plugs were subjected to Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) tests. The second Savonnières plug was subjected to a hydrostatic test up to 20 MPa confining at room temperature. FBG sensors of 125 μm cladding diameter with ceramics (Ormocer) coating were glued on the surface of each sample, spreading across the entire sample's height. Strain gauges and cantilever-type radial gauges were used on the samples submitted to UCS for comparison. Results show that radial strain measurements and calculated elastic properties derived from the FBG readings for samples are comparable to readings from the conventional strain gauges and cantilever-type devices. Apparent bulk moduli based on volumetric strain computed from FBG radial strain readings during the hydrostatic test on the Savonnières sample was consistent with benchtop measurements conducted on the Savonnières sample and another plug extracted from the same parental block, as well as published literature data. Moreover, variations in the calculated elastic properties are interpreted as evidence that the FBG sensors detected heterogeneities in the samples' inner structure, which can be seen in the density profiles computed from x-ray CT images. Such observation confirms the potential of the presented FBG sensors configuration for 3D strain mapping in rock mechanics tests.

Characterization of fluid–rock interactions is essential for a broad range of subsurface applications such as understanding fluid flow in porous medium and enhanced oil recovery predictions. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is crucial in oil and gas production operations, it entails injecting fluids into the reservoir to enhance productivity. When fluids are injected, interactions occur between the injected fluids and the reservoir rock/fluids; and the outcomes of fluid–rock interactions critically impact the fluid flow in porous medium and the associated oil recovery. Furthermore, the associated changes in reservoir properties (porosity, permeability etc.) and flow behavior (i.e. wettability alteration and relative permeability changes) demonstrate variability at a range of scales. Thus, it is of great importance to understand these interactions at multiple scales and their ensuing implications on EOR. This study therefore provides a comprehensive review of the types of fluid–rock interactions in both carbonate and sandstone reservoirs. Fluid–rock interactions quantification methods, their applicability and principle of measurements were summarized. The implications of fluid–rock​ interactions were extensively discussed. Finally, we identified and highlighted some research gaps and provided recommendations for future research directions.The findings of this review show that despite numerous studies on fluid–rock interactions such as adsorption, dissolution/precipitation, clay swelling/fines migration and wetting characteristics in porous media involving EOR fluids, the exact mechanism of action of these fluids during EOR applications in rock/oil/brine system, is still not fully understood. The extent and implications of these fluid–rock interactions on EOR depends on several factors/parameters. Such factors include the injected fluid type and chemical composition, rock type and mineralogical composition, brine pH, salinity and composition. Moreover, the review shows that all the fluid–rock interactions quantification techniques have some limitations either in their applicability, measurement range, or uncertainty level. Therefore, the incorporation of various imaging and characterization tools would be required for improved understanding the fluid–rock interactions.The review, therefore, provides critical insights in the area of fluid–rock interactions and its implications on EOR. Thus, the findings of this review are expected to enhance our knowledge and provide better understanding of fluid–rock interactions and thereby reduce the uncertainties associated with laboratory-scale predictions, reservoir management and enhanced recovery of oil.

With the increasing global population, fossil fuel resources still represent a main contributor to the energy supply, despite the progress made in the field of renewable energies. Large quantities of residual oil from mature reservoirs cannot be produced through primary and secondary recovery methods. Among alternative recovery techniques, chemically enhanced oil recovery methods are attracting considerable interest to increase the hydrocarbon recovery from oil-bearing geological formations. The wettability of any particular formation can be used to predict the oil recovery factor of a reservoir based on its wetting state. However, due to the complex nature of geological porous media, special treatments are required to control the wetting characteristics for improving the oil recovery. In this work, methyl orange (MO), a hazardous pollutant widely discharged in industrial wastewater, was used as a chemical agent for the purpose of altering the wettability. Initially, quartz substrates were aged with 10−2mol/L n-decane/stearic acid solution to mimic natural geological conditions; then, stearic acid-aged quartz substrates were treated in various concentrations of MO (10, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg/L) for 7 days at 50 °C, followed by advancing and receding contact angle measurements at various physico-thermal geological conditions (temperature 25, 50 °C, pressure 10, 15, 20 MPa, and brine salinity 0–0.3 M). Our results demonstrate that increasing the temperature, pressure, and salinity of quartz aged with stearic acid has a negative effect on the wettability (resulting in a higher hydrophobicity). However, at any constant physio-thermal condition, MO significantly alters the wettability of the organic-aged quartz substrates from oil-wet to water-wet conditions, thus improving oil recovery. The concentration of MO plays a critical role, with increasing concentrations favouring the water-wet conditions. Quartz aged with MO at a concentration of 100 mg/L shows water-wet behaviour, with the lowest advancing and receding contact angles of 31° and 29°, respectively, at 25 °C, 20 MPa, and 0.3 M salinity. The findings of this study provide new insights that can be useful for disposing MO in deep underground reservoirs rather than discharging into the hydrosphere, thus mitigating climate change. In addition, the present data can be helpful for improving the oil productivity from sandstone reservoirs.

The purpose of the described research was an attempt to estimate the leaf area index (LAI) parameter describing the structure of the vegetation based on the Landsat 5TM satellite imagery and field measurements made with the use of an optical plant canopy analyzer. The study was carried out in north-eastern Poland in the Biebrza river valley within the boundaries of the Biebrza National Park during the growing season of the year 2007. There were 13 spectral indices given in the literature known to be correlated with the LAI. The highest coefficient of determination and the highest correlation coefficient were obtained for the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) indices for the wetland areas in the Biebrza river valley. The field measurements of the leaf area index and its spatial representation on satellite image show that the vegetation of natural river valleys is characterized by high spatial and seasonal variability. The study of the LAI on such large natural areas that are extensively used also requires knowledge of the methods of land use and the application of individual agrotechnical measures.

Reservoir performance depends on many factors, and the most important one is permeability anisotropy. In addition, with high heterogeneity, it is essential to find unique relationships to predict permeability. Therefore, this study aims to predict vertical permeability based on horizontal permeability and porosity and to find new equations for carbonate reservoirs. This work relied on the 398 measured points of cores data collected from several wells in carbonate reservoirs. A new correlation for predicting vertical permeability for the whole data (369 samples) as a function of horizontal permeability and porosity has been developed. The results indicate that this new correlation can estimate the vertical permeability with correlation coefficients (RSQ) of 0.853. Then, the used data were divided into four groups depending on the Kv/Kh values: less than 0.1, 1–0.1, 1–10, and more than 10, and a new correlation for permeability prediction for each group has been developed with good RSQ values of 0.751, 0.947, 0.963, and 0.826, respectively. The previous studies lack the correlations to predict vertical permeability in carbonate reservoirs, so this study can be considered as a reference for similar cases.

The article proposes a methodology for optimizing the process of irrigation of crops using a phytoindication system based on computer vision methods. We have proposed an algorithm and developed a system for obtaining a map of irrigation for maize in low latency mode. The system can be installed on a center pivot irrigation and consists of 8 IP cameras connected to a DVR connected to a laptop. The algorithm consists of three stages. Image preprocessing stage - applying an integrated excess green and excess red difference (ExGR) index. The classification stage is the application of the method that we choose depending on the system’s operating conditions. At the final stage, a neural network trained using the Resilient Propagation method is used, which determines the rate of watering of plants in the current sector of the location of the sprinkler. The selected methods of pretreatment and classification made it possible to achieve an accuracy of plant identification up to 93%, growth stages - up to 92% (with unconsolidated maize sowing and good lighting). System performance up to 100 plants in one second, which exceeds the performance of similar systems. The neural network showed an accuracy of 92% on the training set and 87% on the test set. Dynamic analysis of spatial and temporal variability leads to an increase in productivity and efficiency of water use. In addition, given the ubiquitous distribution of agribusiness management systems, this approach is quite simple to implement in the farm’s conditions.

Hydrogen (H2) as a cleaner fuel has been suggested as a viable method of achieving the de-carbonization objectives and meeting increasing global energy demand. However, successful implementation of a full-scale hydrogen economy requires large-scale hydrogen storage (as hydrogen is highly compressible). A potential solution to this challenge is injecting hydrogen into geologic formations from where it can be withdrawn again at later stages for utilization purposes. The geo-storage capacity of a porous formation is a function of its wetting characteristics, which strongly influence residual saturations, fluid flow, rate of injection, rate of withdrawal, and containment security. However, literature severely lacks information on hydrogen wettability in realistic geological and caprock formations, which contain organic matter (due to the prevailing reducing atmosphere). We, therefore, measured advancing (θa) and receding (θr) contact angles of mica substrates at various representative thermo-physical conditions (pressures 0.1-25 MPa, temperatures 308–343 K, and stearic acid concentrations of 10−9 - 10−2 mol/L). The mica exhibited an increasing tendency to become weakly water-wet at higher temperatures, lower pressures, and very low stearic acid concentration. However, it turned intermediate-wet at higher pressures, lower temperatures, and increasing stearic acid concentrations. The study suggests that the structural H2trapping capacities in geological formations and sealing potentials of caprock highly depend on the specific thermo-physical condition. Thus, this novel data provides a significant advancement in literature and will aid in the implementation of hydrogen geo-storage at an industrial scale.

Tight hydrocarbon reservoirs require stimulation to improve the recovery of oil and gas resources. Hydraulic fracturing is a technique extensively employed in the oil and gas industry to generate fractures including primary and secondary fractures. To keep these fractures open, proppants are used. However, some of these ractures are very narrow for conventional proppants to penetrate and prop, hence smaller proppants called micro-proppants are required. These micro-proppants can improve the hydraulic conductivity of both, the primary fractures and the untouched microfractures, leading to enhanced oil and gas recovery.This paper presents a critical review on the progress of current micro-proppants models, technologies and field applications (sub 100˗mesh proppants) with a particular attention to micro-proppants placement in hydraulic and natural fractures. The impact of various factors on micro-proppant placement in the fractures is analyzed. These factors include proppant concentration (i.e., volume fraction of solid proppant), proppant size, fracturing fluid chemistry, and confining stress (causing proppant deformation and proppant embedment into the rock). This review concludes that using micro-proppants can improve the efficiency of the hydraulic fracturing treatment, leading to enhanced oil and gas production.

The injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) is an essential technology for maximizing the potential of hydrocarbon reservoirs while reducing the impact of greenhouse gases. However, because of the complexity of this injection, there will be many different chemical reactions between the formation fluids and the rock minerals. This is related to the clay content of sandstone reservoirs, which are key storage targets. Clay content and clay types in sandstone can vary substantially, and the influence of these factors on reservoir-scale CO2-water-sandstone interactions has not been managed appropriately. Consequently, by simulating the process of CO2 injection in two different clay-content sandstones (i.e., high- and low-clay content), we investigated the effect of the sandstone clay concentration on CO2-water-sandstone interactions in this article. High clay content (Bandera Grey sandstone) and low clay content (Bandera Brown sandstone) were considered as potential storage reservoirs and their responses to CO2 injection were computationally assessed. Our results indicate that the mineralogical composition of the sandstone reservoir significantly varies as a result of CO2-water-sandstone interactions. Clearly, the high clay-content sandstone (Bandera Grey) had a higher maximum CO2 mineral-trapping capacity (6 kg CO2/m3 sandstone) than Bandera Brown Sandstone (low clay content), which had only 3.3 kg CO2/m3 sandstone mineral-storage capacity after 400 years of storage. Interestingly, pH was decreased by ~3 in Bandera Grey sandstone and by ~2.5 in Bandera Brown sandstone. Furthermore, porosity increased in Bandera Grey sandstone (by +5.6%), more than in Bandera Brown Sandstone (+4.4%) after a 400-year storage period. Overall, we concluded that high clay-content sandstone shows more potential for CO2 mineral-trapping.

Shale gas reservoirs have fine-grained textures and high organic contents, leading to complex pore structures. Therefore, accurate well-log derived pore size distributions are difficult to acquire for this unconventional reservoir type, despite their importance. However, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging can in principle provide such information via hydrogen relaxation time measurements. Thus, in this paper, NMR response curves (of shale samples) were rigorously mathematically analyzed (with an Expectation Maximization algorithm) and categorized based on the NMR data and their geology, respectively. Thus the number of the NMR peaks, their relaxation times and amplitudes were analyzed to characterize pore size distributions and lithofacies. Seven pore size distribution classes were distinguished; these were verified independently with Pulsed-Neutron Spectrometry (PNS) well-log data. This study thus improves the interpretation of well log data in terms of pore structure and mineralogy of shale reservoirs, and consequently aids in the optimization of shale gas extraction from the subsurface.

Abstract Development of high-density oil and gas fields presents a great challenge to the energy industry due to the low productivity of individual wells and their high drilling cost. We thus compared the productivity, associated costs and economical revenues gained from two field development scenarios, with multilateral and horizontal drilling, to evaluate the optimal drilling and completion conditions in a giant heavy oil reservoir in the Middle East. Well path design was identified as one of the most complex parameters depending on the well-testing results, field production and reservoir simulation data. The fishbone well of four branches with a length of 300 m each and 30° deviation from the main hole was identified to be drilled and completed using open-hole sidetrack as the best approach. The fishbone structure raised production by 393%, while drilling cost only increased by 130% compared with a conventional horizontal well.

Monoethylene glycol (MEG), a common chemical used for the inhibition of gas hydrate formation may undergo degradation in the regeneration/reclamation process. Limited research exists on the effect of degradation of MEG on hydrate formation, production facilities and equipment especially in the presence of other chemical additives. The proposed method allows for streamlining the process of preparing, degrading and analysis of MEG solutions for hydrate testing and degradation products. • Procedure to prepare accurate MEG solutions avoiding oxidative degradation of MEG (i.e., controlling oxygen ingress). • Two methods are suggested to mimic field-like degradation of MEG solutions (i.e., degradation by reclamation and autoclave). • Adoption of the isochoric hydrate testing method while using a high pressure cell with the aid of a computer script to accurately evaluate hydrate phase equilibria conditions. Method name: Degradation and hydrate phase equilibria measurement methods of monoethylene glycol, Keywords: Gas hydrates, Mono ethylene glycol, High pressure, PVT cell, Degradation, Reclamation

The development of mathematical models and efficient technologies for the processing of protein-containing dairy and vegetable raw materials and the production of food and feed concentrates with controlled functional properties is one of the most promising areas within the agricultural industry. In this work, the suitability of the electroflotation coagulation method for the combined extraction of vegetable and milk proteins was established by changing the electrolysis parameters and directed regulation of the isoelectric state of proteins. The research methodology is based on modern achievements of leading domestic and foreign researchers in the field of electrolysis of solutions and the creation of reagentless technologies for extracting proteins, as well as on the use of guest methods of physicochemical analysis, pH-metry, potentiometric and organoleptic analysis, methods of cyclic chronovoltammetry and currentless chronopotentiometry. The paper presents technological schemes for the extraction of vegetable and milk proteins, based on the combination of electroflotation and electrocoagulation processes. We carried out technological tests, which made it possible to determine the optimal conditions that ensure the highest yield of the product and its quality indicators. Ready-made isolates and concentrates of chickpea proteins and curd whey were obtained.

Green enhanced oil recovery (GEOR) is an environmentally friendly enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process involving the injection of green fluids to improve macroscopic and microscopic sweep efficiencies while boosting tertiary oil production. Carbon nanomaterials such as graphene, carbon nanotube (CNT), and carbon dots have gained interest for their superior ability to increase oil recovery. These particles have been successfully tested in EOR, although they are expensive and do not extend to GEOR. In addition, the application of carbon particles in the GEOR method is not well understood yet, requiring thorough documentation. The goals of this work are to develop carbon nanoparticles from biomass and explore their role in GEOR. The carbon nanoparticles were prepared from date leaves, which are inexpensive biomass, through pyrolysis and ball-milling methods. The synthesized carbon nanomaterials were characterized using the standard process. Three formulations of functionalized and non-functionalized date-leaf carbon nanoparticle (DLCNP) solutions were chosen for core floods based on phase behavior and interfacial tension (IFT) properties to examine their potential for smart water and green chemical flooding. The carboxylated DLCNP was mixed with distilled water in the first formulation to be tested for smart water flood in the sandstone core. After water flooding, this formulation recovered 9% incremental oil of the oil initially in place. In contrast, non-functionalized DLCNP formulated with (the biodegradable) surfactant alkyl polyglycoside and NaCl produced 18% more tertiary oil than the CNT. This work thus provides new green chemical agents and formulations for EOR applications so that oil can be produced more economically and sustainably.

Despite the great possibilities of modern neural network architectures concerning the problems of object detection and recognition, the output of such models is the local (pixel) coordinates of objects bounding boxes in the image and their predicted classes. However, in several practical tasks, it is necessary to obtain more complete information about the object from the image. In particular, for robotic apple picking, it is necessary to clearly understand where and how much to move the grabber. To determine the real position of the apple relative to the source of image registration, it is proposed to use the Intel Real Sense depth camera and aggregate information from its depth and brightness channels. The apples detection is carried out using the YOLOv3 architecture; then, based on the distance to the object and its localization in the image, the relative distances are calculated for all coordinates. In this case, to determine the coordinates of apples, a transition to a symmetric coordinate system takes place by means of simple linear transformations. Estimating the position in a symmetric coordinate system allows estimating not only the magnitude of the shift but also the location of the object relative to the camera. The proposed approach makes it possible to obtain position estimates with high accuracy. The approximate root mean square error is 7–12 mm, depending on the range and axis. As for precision and recall metrics, the first is 100% and the second is 90%.

Rock heterogeneity is a key parameter influencing a range of rock properties such as fluid flow and geomechanical characteristics. The previously proposed statistical techniques were able to rank heterogeneity on a qualitative level to different extents; however, they need to select a threshold value for determination of representative elementary volumes (REV), which in turn makes the obtained REV subjective. In this study, an X-ray microcomputed tomography (μCT) technique was used to obtain images from different porous media. A new statistical technique was then used to compute REV, as a measure of heterogeneity, without the necessity of defining a threshold. The performance of the method was compared with other methods. It was shown that the calculated sum of the relative errors of the proposed method was lowest compared to the other statistical techniques for all tested porous media. The proposed method can be applied to different types of rocks for more accurate estimation of a REV.

Wettability is one of the main parameters controlling CO2 injectivity and the movement of CO2 plume during geological CO2 sequestration. Despite significant research efforts, there is still a high uncertainty associated with the wettability of CO2/brine/rock systems and how they evolve with CO2 exposure. This study, therefore, aims to measure the contact angle of sandstone samples with varying clay content before and after laboratory core flooding at different reservoir pressures, of 10 MPa and 15 MPa, and a temperature of 323 K. The samples’ microstructural changes are also assessed to investigate any potential alteration in the samples’ structure due to carbonated water exposure. The results show that the advancing and receding contact angles increased with the increasing pressure for both the Berea and Bandera Gray samples. Moreover, the results indicate that Bandera Gray sandstone has a higher contact angle. The sandstones also turn slightly more hydrophobic after core flooding, indicating that the sandstones become more CO2-wet after CO2 injection. These results suggest that CO2 flooding leads to an increase in the CO2-wettability of sandstone, and thus an increase in vertical CO2 plume migration and solubility trapping, and a reduction in the residual trapping capacity, especially when extrapolated to more prolonged field-scale injection and exposure times.

Wettability of surfaces remains of paramount importance for understanding various natural and artificial colloidal and interfacial phenomena at various length and time scales. One of the problems discussed in this work is the wettability alteration of a three-phase system comprising high salinity brine as the aqueous phase, Doddington sandstone as porous rock, and decane as the nonaqueous phase liquid. The study utilizes the technique of in situ contact angle measurements of the several 2D projections of the identified 3D oil phase droplets from the 3D images of the saturated sandstone miniature core plugs obtained by X-ray microcomputed tomography (micro-CT). Earlier works that utilize in situ contact angles measurements were carried out for a single plane. The saturated rock samples were scanned at initial saturation conditions and after aging for 21 days. This study at ambient conditions reveals that it is possible to change the initially intermediate water-wet conditions of the sandstone rock surface to a weakly water wetting state on aging by alkanes using induced polarization at the interface. The study adds to the understanding of initial wettability conditions as well as the oil migration process of the paraffinic oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. Further, it complements the knowledge of the wettability alteration of the rock surface due to chemisorption, usually done by nonrepresentative technique of silanization of rock surface in experimental investigations.

The world’s energy demand is steadily increasing where it has now become difficult for conventional hydrocarbon reservoir to meet levels of demand. Therefore, oil and gas companies are seeking novel ways to exploit and unlock the potential of unconventional resources. These resources include tight gas reservoirs, tight sandstone oil, oil and gas shales reservoirs, and high pressure high temperature (HPHT) wells. Drilling of HPHT wells and shale reservoirs has become more widespread in the global petroleum and natural gas industry. There is a current need to extend robust techniques beyond costly drilling and completion jobs, with the potential for exponential expansion. Drilling fluids and their additives are being customized in order to cater for HPHT well drilling issues. Certain conventional additives, e.g., filtrate loss additives, viscosifier additives, shale inhibitor, and shale stabilizer additives are not suitable in the HPHT environment, where they are consequently inappropriate for shale drilling. A better understanding of the selection of drilling fluids and additives for hydrocarbon water-sensitive reservoirs within HPHT environments can be achieved by identifying the challenges in conventional drilling fluids technology and their replacement with eco-friendly, cheaper, and multi-functional valuable products. In this regard, several laboratory-scale literatures have reported that nanomaterial has improved the properties of drilling fluids in the HPHT environment. This review critically evaluates nanomaterial utilization for improvement of rheological properties, filtrate loss, viscosity, and clay- and shale-inhibition at increasing temperature and pressures during the exploitation of hydrocarbons. The performance and potential of nanomaterials, which influence the nature of drilling fluid and its multi-benefits, is rarely reviewed in technical literature of water-based drilling fluid systems. Moreover, this review presented case studies of two HPHT fields and one HPHT basin, and compared their drilling fluid program for optimum selection of drilling fluid in HPHT environment.

Despite covering only 2−6% of land, wetland ecosystems play an important role at the local and global scale. They provide various ecosystem services (carbon dioxide sequestration, pollution removal, water retention, climate regulation, etc.) as long as they are in good condition. By definition, wetlands are rich in water ecosystems. However, ongoing climate change with an ambiguous balance of rain in a temperate climate zone leads to drought conditions. Such periods interfere with the natural processes occurring on wetlands and restrain the normal functioning of wetland ecosystems. Persisting unfavorable water conditions lead to irreversible changes in wetland habitats. Hence, the monitoring of habitat changes caused by an insufficient amount of water (plant water stress) is necessary. Unfortunately, due to the specific conditions of wetlands, monitoring them by both traditional and remote sensing techniques is challenging, and research on wetland water stress has been insufficient. This paper describes the adaptation of the thermal water stress index, also known as the crop water stress index (CWSI), for wetlands. This index is calculated based on land surface temperature and meteorological parameters (temperature and vapor pressure deficit—VPD). In this study, an unmanned aerial system (UAS) was used to measure land surface temperature. Performance of the CWSI was confirmed by the high correlation with field measurements of a fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (R = −0.70) and soil moisture (R = −0.62). Comparison of the crop water stress index with meteorological drought indices showed that the first phase of drought (meteorological drought) cannot be detected with this index. This study confirms the potential of using the CWSI as a water stress indicator in wetland ecosystems.

The integration of water management goals in protected wetland areas agriculturally managed in an intensive manner recalls the comparison of apples (ecological values) and oranges (economic dimension of agriculture). Sustainable wetland management frequently fails if environmental features are not referred to as ecosystem services and quantified in economic terms. In our hydrological-economical study on floodplain wetlands located in the Lower Basin of the Biebrza Valley, we attempt to quantify the monetary value of water storage in the floodplain during flood phenomena as an important ecosystem service. The unit monetary value of water storage in the catchment of Biebrza Valley was assessed on the basis of small artificial water reservoirs, constructed in recent years and located in the area of research, and reached 0.53 EUR·m−3·year−1. In a GIS-based study on hydrological floodplain processes in the years 1995–2011, we assessed the average annual volume of active water storage in the floodplain which reached 10.36 M m3 year−1, giving a monetary value of EUR 5.49 million per annum. We propose that the methodology presented in our analysis could be applied as water storage subsidies in valuable floodplains, to prevent their deterioration originating from agriculture intensification.

Future climate change is projected to have significant impact on water resources availability and quality in many parts of the world. The objective of this paper is to assess the effect of projected climate change on water quantity and quality in two lowland catchments (the Upper Narew and the Barycz) in Poland in two future periods (near future: 2021–2050, and far future: 2071– 2100). The hydrological model SWAT was driven by climate forcing data from an ensemble of nine bias-corrected General Circulation Models—Regional Climate Models (GCM-RCM) runs based on the Coordinated Downscaling Experiment—European Domain (EURO-CORDEX). Hydrological response to climate warming and wetter conditions (particularly in winter and spring) in both catchments includes: lower snowmelt, increased percolation and baseflow and higher runoff. Seasonal differences in the response between catchments can be explained by their properties (e.g., different thermal conditions and soil permeability). Projections suggest only moderate increases in sediment loss, occurring mainly in summer and winter. A sharper increase is projected in both catchments for TN losses, especially in the Barycz catchment characterized by a more intensive agriculture. The signal of change in annual TP losses is blurred by climate model uncertainty in the Barycz catchment, whereas a weak and uncertain increase is projected in the Upper Narew catchment.

Twenty-one two-proton knockout (p,3p) cross sections were measured from neutron-rich nuclei at ∼250  MeV/nucleon in inverse kinematics. The angular distribution of the three emitted protons was determined for the first time, demonstrating that the (p,3p) kinematics are consistent with two sequential proton-proton collisions within the projectile nucleus. Ratios of (p,3p) over (p,2p) inclusive cross sections follow the trend of other many-nucleon removal reactions, further reinforcing the sequential nature of (p,3p) in neutron-rich nuclei.

Fifty-five inclusive single nucleon-removal cross sections from medium mass neutron-rich nuclei impinging on a hydrogen target at ∼250  MeV/nucleon are measured at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. Systematically higher cross sections are found for proton removal from nuclei with an even number of protons as compared to odd-proton number projectiles for a given neutron separation energy. Neutron removal cross sections display no even-odd splitting, contrary to nuclear cascade model predictions. Both effects are understood through simple considerations of neutron separation energies and bound state level densities originating in pairing correlations in the daughter nuclei. These conclusions are supported by comparison with semimicroscopic model predictions, highlighting the enhanced role of low-lying level densities in nucleon-removal cross sections from loosely bound nuclei.

The level structure of the neutron-rich ^{77}Cu nucleus is investigated through β-delayed γ-ray spectroscopy at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory of the RIKEN Nishina Center. Ions of ^{77}Ni are produced by in-flight fission, separated and identified in the BigRIPS fragment separator, and implanted in the WAS3ABi silicon detector array, surrounded by Ge cluster detectors of the EURICA array. A large number of excited states in ^{77}Cu are identified for the first time by correlating γ rays with the β decay of ^{77}Ni, and a level scheme is constructed by utilizing their coincidence relationships. The good agreement between large-scale Monte Carlo shell model calculations and experimental results allows for the evaluation of the single-particle structure near ^{78}Ni and suggests a single-particle nature for both the 5/2_{1}^{-} and 3/2_{1}^{-} states in ^{77}Cu, leading to doubly magic ^{78}Ni.

The half-lives of 20 neutron-rich nuclei with Z=27-30 have been measured at the RIBF, including five new half-lives of (76)Co(21.7(-4.9)(+6.5) ms), (77)Co(13.0(-4.3)(+7.2) ms), (79)Ni(43.0(-7.5)(+8.6) ms), (80)Ni(23.9(-17.2)(+26.0) ms), and (81)Cu(73.2 ± 6.8 ms). In addition, the half-lives of (73-75)Co, (74-78)Ni, (78-80)Cu, and (80-82)Zn were determined with higher precision than previous works. Based on these new results, a systematic study of the β-decay half-lives has been carried out, which suggests a sizable magicity for both the proton number Z = 28 and the neutron number N=50 in (78)Ni.