AWE International | Issue 22
Articles you will find in this issue include:
Biological Treatment of Produced Water
What is Produced Water?
Produced water, also known as drilling water, is waste water formed during the process of petroleum extraction from underground reservoirs. To better understand what produced water is, it is important to take a closer look at the actual oil drilling process. Drilling for oil, referred to in the industry as the ‘upstream mining process’ frequently involves pumping large quantities of high pressure, extremely hot water into the petroleum reservoir beneath the ground. The water pressure forces the petroleum upwards, and the heat of the forced water lowers the viscosity of the petroleum. The fluid that returns to the surface is known as produced water and is comprised of hot petroleum, water that was trapped underground, as well as the pumped water, along with earth and debris.
Author | Yael Barash
Enviromental Lab Testing
Getting the best value from laboratory biodegradability testing by avoiding some common pitfalls.
Author | Jane Turrell and Nnenna Agbasiere
Enviromental Land Remediation
Identifying and treating contaminated land and groundwater.
The industrial legacy of the United Kingdom and some current industrial activity has left large areas of land contaminated in the UK and the contamination which has been introduced into the soil poses a risk to the wider environment, human health and natural resources such as groundwater. A very large proportion of our drinking water is pumped form aquifers beneath our feet and this water can be rendered unfit for consumption by trace quantities of some contaminants, some of these contaminants, such a chlorinated hydrocarbons can originate from apparently innocuous places as dry cleaning businesses. Other facilities such as petrol filling stations can leak contaminants into the ground for many years unnoticed.
Author | Tom Hayes
More or Less Air Quality - Monitoring Air Quality at the Personal Scale
A synergistic collision of technologies is offering a new chance to create air quality networks at an affordable cost. Lower power, lower cost GPS plus GSM networking via mobile phone network are combining with improved low cost gas sensors that sense gas concentrations at parts-per-billion (ppb) levels. The result? Low cost air quality networks that can monitor urban air quality in real time.
Author | Dr M.I. Mead, Professor R.L. Jones, University of Cambridge, Dr J Saffell
Soil Analysis - Determination of different carbon species in soil by high temperature combustion
For waste management as well as for geological and environmental research the knowledge of the carbon content alone might be insufficient. Very often a more detailed information about the different species of carbon is required. The most important species are inorganic carbon (TIC), organic carbon (TOC) and sometimes black or elemental carbon (EC). Whereas TIC and TOC are widely known and covered by different international standards [1,], the black carbon is still a parameter under investigation. Several techniques are in use to measure the EC separately from TIC and TOC [2]. High temperature treatment of the sample can help to distinguish between these parameters.
Author | Ralf Dunsbach
Spectroscopy in Space
Getting best value from laboratory biodegradability testing by avoiding some common pitfalls.
Author | Kevin Smith and Damien Weidmann
Wind Measurement
The use of wind sensors for air quality applications
This article will give an overview of the types of wind sensors available for air quality applications. The focus is on the use of ‘in-situ’ sensors rather than remote sensing techniques such as wind radars (often called wind profilers).
The article will cover sensor location, a much neglected but critical aspect of wind measurement. This is often as important as the sensors themselves.
Author | Mike Brettle CMet
As well as information about the following new Regulations
