Editorial pubs.acs.org/EF
Inaugural Symposium of Upstream Engineering and Flow Assurance (UEFA) Forum This special section of the journal Energy & Fuels contains 22 papers from four flow assurance sessions of the Inaugural Symposium of Upstream Engineering and Flow Assurance (UEFA) Forum at the 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Spring Meeting, in Houston, TX, April 1− 5, 2012. It was the authors’ intention that the collected papers be a “state-of-the-art at a glance” in flow assurance. Invited flow assurance experts from three continents presented and submitted papers. The flow assurance sessions topics were (1) multiphase flow, (2) hydrates, (3) waxes and asphaltenes, and (4) scale, corrosion/erosion, and emulsions. Precipitated solids can impair or block hydrocarbon production systems with unacceptable economic impact. In addition, multiphase flow and emulsions require modeling/design tools, which are at or beyond the current state-of-the-art. It was an objective of these UEFA sessions to present the best current flow assurance practices, as a basis for future improvement. Flow assurance keynote lectures were provided the first day by Professor Geoff Hewitt (Imperial College) and the second day by Professor Scott Fogler (University of Michigan). The sessions had an average of 82 international attendees for the invited presentations, supplemented by graduate student presentations at two poster sessions, as well as a subsequent oral session. Finally, we acknowledge those who contributed to the success of the UEFA sessions on flow assurance: Moye Wicks, UEFA Treasurer; Elizabeth Klein, Energy & Fuels Journal Office Administrator; and John Shaw, Energy & Fuels Associate Editor. We are also thankful for financial support to BakerHughes and Nalco, BP, SPT Group, and MSI-Kenny. Finally, we are grateful to the flow assurance experts who contributed papers to this special section of Energy & Fuels.
Jefferson L. Creek Chevron Energy Technology Company
Cem Sarica Petroleum Engineering, University of Tulsa
Dendy Sloan Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
Norman Carnahan, Chairman UEFA Forum
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Carnahan Corporation
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
Special Issue: Upstream Engineering and Flow Assurance (UEFA) Published: May 29, 2012 © 2012 American Chemical Society
3967
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef3008932 | Energy Fuels 2012, 26, 3967−3967
