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Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery

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A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2019) | Viewed by 45777

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Prof. Dr. Aly Anis Hamouda

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Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway
Interests: nano technology; EOR; CO₂; CO₂sc for fracturing; heavy oil recovery and gas technology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Emerging nanotechnology with EOR techniques has shows demonstrated potential that has not yet been fully understood or fully explored. This is evident from the vast body of research over the past decade focusing on oil recovery aided by nanotechnology. Breakthroughs in this field have the potential to be a game changer, as nanoparticles (NPs) have the distinct advantages of small size, good mobility and a high specific surface area, which enables their effectiveness at significantly low weight concentrations. The use of NPs for oil recovery can be broadly classified into three categories: (1) nanofluids, or colloidal suspensions of NPs dispersed in a base fluid; (2) nano-emulsions, or the use of NPs to stabilize emulsion; and (3) nano-based foams, or gas foams stabilized by NPs. Taken together, these methods have the potential to develop novel, low-impact, enhanced oil recovery methods for the future.

This Special Issue seeks high quality submissions geared towards advances in the application of nanotechnology for oil recovery. The scope of the submissions covers (but is not limited to) nanofluids, nano-emulsion, nano-foams, subsurface adsorption and transport of NPs, stabilization and surface functionalization, wettability alteration, interfacial tension reduction, modelling of nano–EOR processes for heavy oil degradation, and synergies between NPs and other EOR techniques such as CO₂, low salinity, etc. The Special Issue particularly seeks submissions that focus on shedding light on the underlying mechanisms that govern the added benefits of NPs in oil recovery processes.

Prof. Aly Anis Hamouda
Guest Editor

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Keywords

nano-emulsion
nano-foams
subsurface adsorption and transport of nanoparticles
stabilization and surface functionalization
wettability alteration
interfacial tension reduction
modelling of Nano–EOR processes for heavy oil degradation
application of nanotechnology for EOR with techniques, such as CO₂ and low salinity

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

29 pages, 10428 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Artificial Intelligence Based Methods for Asphaltenes Adsorption by Nanocomposites: Application of Group Method of Data Handling, Least Squares Support Vector Machine, and Artificial Neural Networks

by Mohammad Sadegh Mazloom, Farzaneh Rezaei, Abdolhossein Hemmati-Sarapardeh, Maen M. Husein, Sohrab Zendehboudi and Amin Bemani

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(5), 890; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10050890 - 6 May 2020

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 4865

Abstract

Asphaltenes deposition is considered a serious production problem. The literature does not include enough comprehensive studies on adsorption phenomenon involved in asphaltenes deposition utilizing inhibitors. In addition, effective protocols on handling asphaltenes deposition are still lacking. In this study, three efficient artificial intelligent models including group method of data handling (GMDH), least squares support vector machine (LSSVM), and artificial neural network (ANN) are proposed for estimating asphaltenes adsorption onto NiO/SAPO-5, NiO/ZSM-5, and NiO/AlPO-5 nanocomposites based on a databank of 252 points. Variables influencing asphaltenes adsorption include pH, temperature, amount of nanocomposites over asphaltenes initial concentration (D/C₀), and nanocomposites characteristics such as BET surface area and volume of micropores. The models are also optimized using nine optimization techniques, namely coupled simulated annealing (CSA), genetic algorithm (GA), Bayesian regularization (BR), scaled conjugate gradient (SCG), ant colony optimization (ACO), Levenberg–Marquardt (LM), imperialistic competitive algorithm (ICA), conjugate gradient with Fletcher-Reeves updates (CGF), and particle swarm optimization (PSO). According to the statistical analysis, the proposed RBF-ACO and LSSVM-CSA are the most accurate approaches that can predict asphaltenes adsorption with average absolute percent relative errors of 0.892% and 0.94%, respectively. The sensitivity analysis shows that temperature has the most impact on asphaltenes adsorption from model oil solutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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20 pages, 4549 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Upgrading of Extra-Heavy Crude Oils by Dispersed Injection of NiO–PdO/CeO_2±δ Nanocatalyst-Based Nanofluids in the Steam

by Oscar E. Medina, Cristina Caro-Vélez, Jaime Gallego, Farid B. Cortés, Sergio H. Lopera and Camilo A. Franco

Nanomaterials 2019, 9(12), 1755; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9121755 - 10 Dec 2019

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 3114

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the injection of a dispersed nanocatalyst-based nanofluid in a steam stream for in situ upgrading and oil recovery during a steam injection process. The nanocatalyst was selected through adsorption and thermogravimetric experiments. Two nanoparticles were proposed, ceria nanoparticles (CeO_2±δ), with and without functionalization with nickel, and palladium oxides (CeNi0.89Pd1.1). Each one was employed for static tests of adsorption and subsequent decomposition using a model solution composed of n-C₇ asphaltenes (A) and resins II (R) separately and for different R:A ratios of 2:8, 1:1, and 8:2. Then, a displacement test consisting of three main stages was successfully developed. At the beginning, steam was injected into the porous media at a temperature of 210 °C, the pore and overburden pressure were fixed at 150 and 800 psi, respectively, and the steam quality was 70%. This was followed by CeNi0.89Pd1.1 dispersed injection in the steam stream. Finally, the treatment was allowed to soak for 12 h, and the steam flooding was carried out again until no more oil production was observed. Among the most relevant results, functionalized nanoparticles achieved higher adsorption of both fractions as well as a lower decomposition temperature. The presence of resins did not affect the amount of asphaltene adsorption over the evaluated materials. The catalytic activity suggests that the increase in resin content promotes a higher conversion in a shorter period of time. Also, for the different steps of the dynamic test, increases of 25% and 42% in oil recovery were obtained for the dispersed injection of the nanofluid in the steam stream and after a soaking time of 12 h, compared with the base curve with only steam injection, respectively. The upgraded crude oil reached an API gravity level of 15.9°, i.e., an increase in 9.0° units in comparison with the untreated extra-heavy crude oil, which represents an increase of 130%. Also, reductions of up to 71% and 85% in the asphaltene content and viscosity were observed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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14 pages, 4801 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Individual Ions on Silica Nanoparticles Interaction with Berea Sandstone Minerals

by Aly A. Hamouda and Rockey Abhishek

Nanomaterials 2019, 9(9), 1267; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9091267 - 5 Sep 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2450

Abstract

Nanofluids are prepared by dispersing silica nanoparticles in aqueous media (brines). The purpose of this work is to address brine/rock interactions in presence of nanoparticles. Our previous studies have shown that silica nanofluids are effective in reducing formation damage in sandstone reservoirs. This study addresses effect of individual ions on dispersed silica nanoparticles’ interaction with Berea Sandstone minerals. The selected ions are Mg²⁺, SO₄²⁻ and Na⁺, in MgCl₂, Na₂SO₄ and NaCl, which are the major constituents of seawater. Three flooding stages for Berea Sandstone cores were followed. The first flooding stage was without nanoparticles, the second one was a slug of the nanoparticles with tracer and the third stage was a post-flushing of the core with the respective ion. The effluent tracer concentration, nanoparticle content, ion concentrations and pH reflect the effect of individual ions on nanoparticle/mineral interaction which were used for suggesting possible interaction mechanisms. Presence of Mg²⁺ and SO₄²⁻ ions improved the adsorption of nanoparticles on minerals, however the effect of Na⁺ was lesser. In general, in all the cases nanoparticles reduced the mineral dissolution and associated fine migration/possible formation damage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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25 pages, 5252 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation of Polymer-Coated Silica Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oil Recovery

by Alberto Bila, Jan Åge Stensen and Ole Torsæter

Nanomaterials 2019, 9(6), 822; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9060822 - 31 May 2019

Cited by 54 | Viewed by 5936

Abstract

Recently, polymer-coated nanoparticles were proposed for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) due to their improved properties such as solubility, stability, stabilization of emulsions and low particle retention on the rock surface. This work investigated the potential of various polymer-coated silica nanoparticles (PSiNPs) as additives to the injection seawater for oil recovery. Secondary and tertiary core flooding experiments were carried out with neutral-wet Berea sandstone at ambient conditions. Oil recovery parameters of nanoparticles such as interfacial tension (IFT) reduction, wettability alteration and log-jamming effect were investigated. Crude oil from the North Sea field was used. The concentrated solutions of PSiNPs were diluted to 0.1 wt % in synthetic seawater. Experimental results show that PSiNPs can improve water flood oil recovery efficiency. Secondary recoveries of nanofluid ranged from 60% to 72% of original oil in place (OOIP) compared to 56% OOIP achieved by reference water flood. In tertiary recovery mode, the incremental oil recovery varied from 2.6% to 5.2% OOIP. The IFT between oil and water was reduced in the presence of PSiNPs from 10.6 to 2.5–6.8 mN/m, which had minor effect on EOR. Permeability measurements indicated negligible particle retention within the core, consistent with the low differential pressure observed throughout nanofluid flooding. Amott–Harvey tests indicated wettability alteration from neutral- to water-wet condition. The overall findings suggest that PSiNPs have more potential as secondary EOR agents than tertiary agents, and the main recovery mechanism was found to be wettability alteration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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17 pages, 5553 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Nitrogen Foamed Stimulation Fluids Stabilized by Nanoadditives on Reservoir Rocks of Hydrocarbon Deposits

by Klaudia Wilk, Piotr Kasza and Krzysztof Labus

Nanomaterials 2019, 9(5), 766; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9050766 - 18 May 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2860

Abstract

The first objective of this experiment was to improve the stabilization of N₂ based foam with nanoparticles as an alternative to typical fracturing fluid, which consists of a gelling agent (HPG—hydroxypropyl guar). The second objective of the project was to investigate the damage caused by nanoparticle–based nitrogen foamed fracturing fluids (F.F) on a reference sandstone, using permeability and porosity tests, optical microscope with a Profilometer, and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The properties of F.F with two types of SiO₂ nanoparticles (hydrophilic fumed silica Areosil 300 and silica sol U-2 obtained by the sol-gel method), such as rheology and core damage, were investigated. The discussion of this research results is based on the stability tests carried out with the use of rheology and the foam half-life, formation damage ratio, and observation of exposed samples using SEM and the Profilometer. The permeability and porosity damage ratios of the damaged core samples were found to decrease when nitrogen foamed fluids were used. These results were confirmed with the Profilometer and SEM images. The experimental data showed that the foam stability increased when silica (SiO₂) nanoparticles were added. SiO₂ nanoparticle-surfactant-stabilized foam for fracturing is superior to traditional water-based fracturing fluids and causes lower core permeability damage than a traditional F.F. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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26 pages, 5572 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of the Ce⁴⁺/Ce³⁺ Redox-Couple on the Cyclic Regeneration for Adsorptive and Catalytic Performance of NiO-PdO/CeO_2±δ Nanoparticles for n-C₇ Asphaltene Steam Gasification

by Oscar E. Medina, Jaime Gallego, Laura G. Restrepo, Farid B. Cortés and Camilo A. Franco

Nanomaterials 2019, 9(5), 734; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9050734 - 13 May 2019

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 4351

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the regenerative effect of functionalized CeO_2±δ nanoparticles with a mass fraction of 0.89% of NiO and 1.1% of PdO in adsorption and subsequent decomposition of n-C₇ asphaltenes in steam gasification processes. During each regeneration cycle, the adsorption capacity and the catalytic activity of the nanoparticles were evaluated. To estimate the adsorption capacity of the nanoparticles, adsorption kinetics were studied at a fixed concentration of n-C₇ asphaltenes of 10 mg·L⁻¹ as well as adsorption isotherms at three different temperatures at 25 °C, 55 °C, and 75 °C. To evaluate the catalytic activity, the loss of mass of the nanoparticles was evaluated by isothermal conversions with a thermogravimetric analyzer at 230 °C, 240 °C, and 250 °C, and at non-isothermal conditions involving a heating from 100 °C to 600 °C at a 20 °C·min⁻¹ heating rate. The asphaltenes showed a high affinity for being adsorbed over the nanoparticles surface, due to the nanoparticles-asphaltene interactions are stronger than those that occur between asphaltene-asphaltene, and this was maintained during nine evaluated regeneration cycles as observed in the Henry’s constant that increased slightly, with changes of 21%, 26% and 31% for 25 °C, 55 °C and 75 °C. Polanyi’s adsorption potential decreases by 2.6% for the same amount adsorbed from the first cycle to the ninth. In addition, the catalytic activity of the nanoparticles did not change significantly, showing that they decompose 100% of the n-C₇ asphaltenes in all cycles. However, the small decrease in the adsorption capacity and catalytic activity of the nanoparticles is mainly due to the presence and change in concentration and ratio of certain elements such as oxygen, iron or others at the surface of the nanoparticle as shown by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. Thermodynamic parameters of adsorption such as

Δ H_{a d s}^{o}

Δ S_{a d s}^{o}

, and

Δ G_{a d s}^{o}

and the effective activation energy (E_a) were calculated to compare adsorptive and catalytic performance during each cycle. There is an increase of 9.3% and 2.6% in the case of entropy and enthalpy, respectively, and a decrease of 0.5%, 3.1% and 6.5% for 25 °C, 55 °C and 75 °C respectively for the Gibss free energy from cycle 1 to cycle 9. It was found that these parameters are correlated with the Ce concentration and oxidation state ratios (Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ couple) at the surface. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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26 pages, 8769 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High-Temperature Core Flood Investigation of Nanocellulose as a Green Additive for Enhanced Oil Recovery

by Reidun C. Aadland, Trygve D. Jakobsen, Ellinor B. Heggset, Haili Long-Sanouiller, Sébastien Simon, Kristofer G. Paso, Kristin Syverud and Ole Torsæter

Nanomaterials 2019, 9(5), 665; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9050665 - 27 Apr 2019

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 5935

Abstract

Recent studies have discovered a substantial viscosity increase of aqueous cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) dispersions upon heat aging at temperatures above 90 °C. This distinct change in material properties at very low concentrations in water has been proposed as an active mechanism for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), as highly viscous fluid may improve macroscopic sweep efficiencies and mitigate viscous fingering. A high-temperature (120 °C) core flood experiment was carried out with 1 wt. % CNC in low salinity brine on a 60 cm-long sandstone core outcrop initially saturated with crude oil. A flow rate corresponding to 24 h per pore volume was applied to ensure sufficient viscosification time within the porous media. The total oil recovery was 62.2%, including 1.2% oil being produced during CNC flooding. Creation of local log-jams inside the porous media appears to be the dominant mechanism for additional oil recovery during nano flooding. The permeability was reduced by 89.5% during the core flood, and a thin layer of nanocellulose film was observed at the inlet of the core plug. CNC fluid and core flood effluent was analyzed using atomic force microscopy (AFM), particle size analysis, and shear rheology. The effluent was largely unchanged after passing through the core over a time period of 24 h. After the core outcrop was rinsed, a micro computed tomography (micro-CT) was used to examine heterogeneity of the core. The core was found to be homogeneous. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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24 pages, 4509 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization of the Load of Transition Metal Oxides (Fe₂O₃, Co₃O₄, NiO and/or PdO) onto CeO₂ Nanoparticles in Catalytic Steam Decomposition of n-C₇ Asphaltenes at Low Temperatures

by Oscar E. Medina, Jaime Gallego, Daniela Arias-Madrid, Farid B. Cortés and Camilo A. Franco

Nanomaterials 2019, 9(3), 401; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9030401 - 9 Mar 2019

Cited by 35 | Viewed by 4576

Abstract

The main objective of this work is the catalyst optimization of Fe₂O₃-, Co₃O₄-, NiO- and/or PdO- (transition element oxides—TEO) functionalized CeO₂ nanoparticles to maximize the conversion of asphaltenes under isothermal conditions at low temperatures (<250 °C) during steam injection processes. Adsorption isotherms and the subsequent steam decomposition process of asphaltenes for evaluating the catalysis were performed through batch adsorption experiments and thermogravimetric analyses coupled to Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. The adsorption isotherms and the catalytic behavior were described by the solid-liquid equilibrium (SLE) model and isothermal model, respectively. Initially, three pairs of metal oxide combinations at a mass fraction of 1% of loading of CeNi1Pd1, CeCo1Pd1, and CeFe1Pd1 nanoparticles were evaluated based on the adsorption and catalytic activity, showing better results for the CeNi1Pd1 due to the Lewis acidity changes. Posteriorly, a simplex-centroid mixture design of experiments (SCMD) of three components was employed to optimize the metal oxides concentration (Ni and Pd) onto the CeO₂ surface by varying the oxides concentration for mass fractions from 0.0% to 2.0% to maximize the asphaltene conversion at low temperatures. Results showed that by incorporating mono-elemental and bi-elemental oxides onto CeO₂ nanoparticles, both adsorption and isothermal conversion of asphaltenes decrease in the order CeNi1Pd1 > CePd2 > CeNi0.66Pd0.66 > CeNi2 > CePd1 > CeNi1 > CeO₂. It is worth mentioning that bi-elemental nanoparticles reduced the gasification temperature of asphaltenes in a larger degree than mono-elemental nanoparticles at a fixed amount of adsorbed asphaltenes of 0.02 mg·m⁻², confirming the synergistic effects between Pd and Fe, Co, and Ni. Further, optimized nanoparticles (CeNi0.89Pd1.1) have the best performance by obtaining 100% asphaltenes conversion in less than 90 min at 220 °C while reducing 80% the activation energy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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15 pages, 3216 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Salinity on Silica Nanoparticle Adsorption Kinetics and Mechanisms for Fluid/Rock Interaction with Calcite

by Aly A. Hamouda and Rockey Abhishek

Nanomaterials 2019, 9(2), 213; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9020213 - 6 Feb 2019

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 3735

Abstract

This study addresses the kinetics of silica nanoparticle adsorption on calcite from a solution at three salinities: deionized water (DIW), synthetic seawater (SSW), and low salinity water (LSW). The nanoparticle adsorption mechanisms and the effects on calcite dissolution are addressed. It was shown that nanoparticle adsorption was best described with the second-order-kinetic model and that silica nanoparticle adsorption reduced calcite dissolution. This was confirmed by measuring the Ca²⁺ ion concentration, the pH, and by estimating the amount of calcite dissolved. This is an important conclusion of this work, especially as LSW as an enhanced oil recovery technique is a candidate for use in chalk fields. Less formation damage/dissolution of chalk when silica nanoparticles are combined with LSW can lower the risk of reservoir subsidence. Intraparticle diffusion and the pseudo-second-order models, indicated a reduction in the adsorption rate with increasing nanoparticle concentration in LSW. This is explained by possible repulsive forces among the nanoparticles as they diffuse from the bulk fluid onto the calcite surface. Ion charges reduce the repulsion among the nanoparticles through shielding. However, an increasing nanoparticle concentration reduces the shielding efficiency by the ions. Estimates of the surface forces confirmed that nanoparticle–mineral interaction is less attractive in LSW as compared to SSW and DIW. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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13 pages, 2130 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Metal Oxide Nanoparticles on the Performance of Xanthan Gum Solutions for Heavy Oil Recovery

by Laura M. Corredor, Maen M. Husein and Brij B. Maini

Nanomaterials 2019, 9(1), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9010094 - 12 Jan 2019

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 7101

Abstract

Recent studies revealed higher polymer flooding performance upon adding metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) to acrylamide-based polymers during heavy oil recovery. The current study considers the effect of TiO₂, Al₂O₃, in-situ prepared Fe(OH)₃ and surface-modified SiO₂ NPs on the performance of xanthan gum (XG) solutions to enhance heavy oil recovery. Surface modification of the SiO₂ NPs was achieved by chemical grafting with 3-(methacryloyloxy)propyl]trimethoxysilane (MPS) and octyltriethoxysilane (OTES). The nanopolymer sols were characterized by their rheological properties and ζ-potential measurements. The efficiency of the nanopolymer sols in displacing oil was assessed using a linear sand-pack at 25 °C and two salinities (0.3 wt % and 1.0 wt % NaCl). The ζ-potential measurements showed that the NP dispersions in deionized (DI) water are unstable, but their colloidal stability improved in presence of XG. The addition of unmodified and modified SiO₂ NPs increased the viscosity of the XG solution at all salinities. However, the high XG adsorption onto the surface of Fe(OH)₃, Al₂O₃, and TiO₂ NPs reduced the viscosity of the XG solution. Also, the NPs increased the cumulative oil recovery between 3% and 9%, and between 1% and 5% at 0 wt % and 0.3 wt % NaCl, respectively. At 1.0 wt % NaCl, the NPs reduced oil recovery by XG solution between 5% and 12%, except for Fe(OH)₃ and TiO₂ NPs. These NPs increased the oil recovery between 2% and 3% by virtue of reduced polymer adsorption caused by the alkalinity of the Fe(OH)₃ and TiO₂ nanopolymer sols. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nano-Technology for Oil Recovery)

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