The PVT apparatus 240/1500 from Sanchez Technologies has a volume of 240 cm3 and can perform measurements up to 200°C and 150 MPa with full visibility. It has a magnetic stirrer with retractable blades mounted on top of the cell piston to homogenize the sample.
The cell has a rocking system that allows experiments to be performed in four different positions. It also comprises an infrared dew point detector. The whole apparatus is computer controlled through Falcon software.
Different types of studies can be performed such as oil studies, i.e. constant mass expansion (CME), differential vaporization (DV) and separator test, as well as gas condensate studies such as constant mass depletion (CMD) or constant volume depletion (CVD).
The PVT is used together with a set of apparatuses to perform a complete study of the reservoir fluids, which includes the following:
- A recombination cell (Sanchez Technologies) with a volume of 1.5 L which can operate in the temperature range up to 200°C and in the pressure range up to 150 MPa. It comprises a hydraulic piston, a magnetic stirrer with retractable blades, as well as a manual rocking mechanism. Additionally an infrared detector allows detecting the presence of two phases. Recombination of gas and oil with a certain GOR can be performed in this unit.
- A gasmeter with a volume of 5 L that can be heated up to 60°C. The gas meter comprises also a flash separator cell with a cooling system down to -30°C and several liquid trap cells to separate liquid before measuring the gas volume. Moreover it has also several gas sampling bottles of 75 cm3 rated to a pressure of 10 MPa.
- A high pressure pump (Sanchez Technologies), which is equipped with heating up to 200°C and can stand pressures up to 150 MPa. This movable pump in 45° position comprises also a stirring system. Additionally it has a high pressure filter for asphaltene studies.
- A high pressure capillary viscometer (Sanchez Technologies) which can perform viscosity measurements in the temperature range up to 200°C and pressure range up to 150 MPa. It has three different capillaries, which allows performing measurements in a broad viscosity range.
- A high pressure vibrating tube densimeter DMA HPM from Anton Paar, which operates in the temperature range up to 200°C and pressure range up to 140 MPa.
- A differential scanning calorimeter DSC (Setaram C80), equipped with high pressure cells, which can operate up to 300°C and pressures up to 60 MPa. Heat capacity data at constant pressure and Joule-Thomson coefficient are determined with this apparatus.
Video created by: Mehrshad Ashrafi
Publications
Teresa Regueira, Yiqun Liu, Ahmad A. Wibowo, Mehrshad Ashrafi, Farhad Varzandeh, Georgia Pantelide, Erling H. Stenby, Wei Yan,
“High pressure phase equilibrium of ternary and multicomponent alkane mixtures in the temperature range from (283 to 473) K” Fluid Phase Equilibria 449 (2017) 186-196
Teresa Regueira, Georgia Pantelide, Wei Yan*, Erling H. Stenby,
“Density and phase equilibrium of the binary system
methane + n-decane under high temperatures and pressures,” Fluid Phase Equilibria 428 (2016) 48-61