The article is devoted to the problem of designing personal protective equipment (PPE) for oil industry workers in the hot climate of Islamic countries. The relevance of the study is due to the contradiction between the technocratic approach to ensuring occupational safety and the cultural determination of the body, which requires taking into account religious norms and national traditions. The theoretical basis is formed by a semiotic approach to the analysis of clothing, the concept of social representation and work in the field of interpretive anthropology. Particular attention is paid to the Islamic context of modesty and gender regulation of appearance, as well as the increase in occupational thermal risks in the context of climate change. The methods for assessing heat load based on the WBGT index, thermophysiological models of heat exchange and the properties of protective textile materials are analyzed. The study reveals an engineering dilemma between the culturally dictated requirement for body coverage and the need to ensure effective heat exchange. A design model for an ethnoculturally adapted protective suit is proposed, incorporating design parameters and principles for material selection. It is substantiated that considering the symbolic function of the uniform and the cultural preferences of workers enhances the social legitimacy of PPE and its practical effectiveness. A conclusion regarding the need to synthesize cultural and engineering approaches as a new paradigm for the design of personal protective equipment in transnational oil and gas corporations is drawn.
Modern oil and gas processing and petrochemical industries are characterized by increasingly stringent requirements for energy efficiency, environmental safety, and product quality. Design, optimization, and digitalization of technological processes are impossible without a reliable description of the phase equilibrium of hydrocarbon and multicomponent mixtures. An adequate description of phase equilibrium is critically important for calculating rectification, absorption, and separation processes, since errors in distribution coefficients lead to incorrect determination of the number of theoretical stages, reflux ratio, and equipment loads. In the context of import substitution and the development of domestic engineering software, the creation of accessible, transparent, and reproducible calculation modules that are not inferior in accuracy to commercial packages is of particular importance. Such developments are important for the educational process and research groups limited in access to expensive foreign licenses. The presented article proposes an algorithm for calculating phase equilibrium between vapor and liquid phases using the Peng-Robinson equation of state based on the bisection method and damped substitution. The choice of the Peng-Robinson equation is due to its wide application for hydrocarbon systems, satisfactory accuracy in subcritical and supercritical areas, and the possibility of calculating the compressibility factor, fugacity coefficients, and phase enthalpy. The implementation was carried out in C# using the WPF graphical library, which provides a convenient interface for selecting components, specifying material streams, viewing properties, and constructing diagrams. The modular software architecture simplifies maintenance, database expansion, and integration of new calculation methods. A property database of 27 individual components has been compiled; binary interaction parameters for 4 selected systems have been determined by regression; graphs in p-x,y and t-x,y coordinates have been constructed. The database includes critical parameters, acentric factor, temperature dependences of heat capacity, and enthalpy of formation of components. It is shown that the model satisfactorily describes systems with near-ideal behavior and systems exhibiting retrograde condensation. At the same time, for systems with azeotropy and strong association of components, the accuracy of description are insufficient. To further improve the model, it is necessary to modify the mixing rules, collect additional experimental data, perform regression of interaction parameters, and implement the calculation of equilibrium between two liquid phases using activity coefficient models, e.g., NRTL, and the Wong-Sandler and Huron-Vidal equations. The practical significance of the work consists in the creation of domestic software that can be used for teaching, scientific research, and engineering calculations of oil and gas processing. The developed modules can be integrated into computer-aided design systems and used for the analysis of energy- and resource-saving schemes. Thus, the proposed approach develops the methodological and software foundations of thermodynamic modeling and creates prerequisites for import substitution in the field of engineering software.
In this article, technological solutions aimed at increasing the yield of light olefins (propylene and butylenes) at an operating fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) facility are investigated. Two approaches to the process intensification are analyzed: the supply of stable gasoline by atmospheric distillation as a raw material for CCF and the combined method of using the zeolite additive ZSM-5 to the base catalyst. A combination of both mentioned solutions is also considered. The analysis of the influence of these approaches on the parameters of the reactor-regenerator unit, as well as on the fractionating and gas fractionating parts of the facility, has been performed. It is shown that the use of the combined method is the most effective and industrially justified way to increase the selectivity of the light olefin formation process. Using the Petro-SIM software, the operation of the FCC facility was simulated. The adequacy of the obtained model is confirmed by the data of an industrial installation. It is proposed to introduce stable gasoline from a primary oil refining unit containing a lower amount of olefin hydrocarbons compared to catalytic cracking gasoline after a distillation column. The supply of this raw material to the lower part of the reactor leads to an increase in gas formation. However, the high rate of hydrogen transfer reactions also contributes to an increase in the yield of propane and butane during olefin saturation, while increasing the yield of propylene and butylene. The reactor parameters remain unchanged after reconstruction. The most optimal solution turns out to be a combined approach, which involves both the introduction of stable gasoline and the addition of the ZSM-5 modifier, which provides high selectivity concerning propylene and butylenes. According to the material balance, after modernization, the yield of propylene fractions increased to 13.43 %, and the yield of butylene fractions increased to 11.60 %. The use of ZSM-5 leads to a predominance of the olefin hydrocarbon yield. The coke yield increased slightly, which is facilitated by gasoline after stabilization, which contains minimal amounts of olefin fractions (0.18 % by weight). The proposed combined method will make it possible to switch the FCC facility to an «olefin» mode under condition that the limitations of reactor-regenerator and gas fractionation equipment are taken into account
This article presents a modified mathematical model for designing soundproofing enclosures for shut-off and control valves installed on the process piping of a gas compressor unit. It is emphasized that the primary noise source is the compressor, generating aerodynamic and structural vibrations, while the noise of shut-off and control valves is secondary, arising from turbulent flow and vibration excitation from the main equipment. It is shown that the standard approach of State Standard 31326-2006, assuming a diffuse field and averaging the sound power over the casing area, is inapplicable to the valve due to its partial enclosure-due to the need for access to the stem, gland, and flanges for maintenance and adjustment, and the local nature of the radiation. As a scientific innovation, it is proposed to introduce direct radiation from unenclosed sections of the piping as a separate noise transmission path; to abandon the simplified model of a plane wave without attenuation used in the works of D.R. Guzhas and other authors, which contradicts the physics of sound propagation in real pipelines; to replace area averaging with the summation of four physically isolated contributions: by using panels (transfer matrix method), leaks (leakage coefficient θ), ventilation ducts (inserted attenuation Dins), and direct radiation. The model maintains compliance with State Standard 31326-2006 in terms of accounting for all noise transmission paths and the method for determining the enclosure's sound power level, but eliminates systematic errors of up to 10 dB in the 500-2000 Hz range. The proposed method improves the reliability of calculations at the design stage and ensures reliable compliance with sanitary standards.
Well construction in complex geological conditions entails significant risks of borehole instability, particularly when drilling intervals composed of chemically active clay formations prone to hydration and swelling. The physicochemical interaction between water-based drilling fluids and clay-rich reservoir rocks leads to cavity formation, drill string sticking, and borehole narrowing, all of which substantially increase non-productive time and overall drilling costs. Traditional methods for stabilizing clay formations – relying on inorganic salts or individual synthetic polymers – often prove technologically and environmentally limited in the context of modern deep drilling operations. Consequently, a key area of development in drilling technology is the creation of synergistic inhibitory systems that combine the environmental safety of biopolymers with the high reactivity of synthetic polyelectrolytes. The combined use of cationic starch and polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDADMAC) is of particular scientific and practical interest. Modified cationic starch acts as an effective fluid-loss control agent, forming a thin, low-permeability filter cake on the borehole wall that blocks the hydrodynamic access of free water to the formation. Meanwhile, PDADMAC, characterized by a high positive charge density, neutralizes the negatively charged sites on clay minerals and firmly «cross-links» clay platelets through cation exchange mechanisms. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the combined use of cationic starch and PDADMAC at various concentration ratios to achieve an optimal inhibitory effect and minimize the clay swelling coefficient, while maintaining the required rheological properties of drilling fluids. The article investigates the physicochemical parameters and synergistic interaction patterns of the binary polyelectrolyte system «cationic starch : PDADMAC», designed to regulate the inhibitory and filtration characteristics of water-based drilling fluids. Reagent solubility was determined gravimetrically at a standard temperature of T = 25 °C. Inhibitory capacity was assessed using a Zhigach-Yarov apparatus to determine the swelling coefficient Kн. Filtration parameters were measured using a VM-6 apparatus (fluid loss, cm³/30 min). The study established the physicochemical superiority of BIPOL-series modified cationic polysaccharides (solubility of 70–80 %) over native and non-ionic analogs (30–60 %) at room temperature, thereby eliminating the need for a thermal gelatinization step. Experimental results demonstrated a division of functional roles within the binary system: PDADMAC acts as an effective inhibitor of clay hydration, reducing Kн to 0.095–0.118, whereas cationic starch is the primary factor controlling fluid loss (reducing it to 5.8–6.0 cm³). An equivalent component ratio of 1 : 1 in the composition ensures the best balance of drilling fluid parameters: Kн = 0.124, with the filtration rate maintained at a consistently low level of 6.8–7.8 cm³/30 min.
