Research Facilities

EOR Centre provides a stimulating and innovative environment which equips researchers with the knowledge and skills to put them ahead in research and development field.

With the presence of state-of-the-art facilities and experienced technologists, no more boundaries faced by the researchers to attain high quality research and innovation. Below is the list of equipments available in the lab:

• Relative Permeability System
• Benchtop Permeability System
• Poroperm
• Formation Damage System
• CO₂ Solvent Core Cleaner
• Interfacial Tension Meter
• Helium Porosimeter
• Soxhlet Extractor
• Desaturator
• Hg Capillary System
• Density Meter: Anton Paar's DMA 4500 M
• Falling Film Reactor
• HTHP PVT Cell
  

Upcoming equipments:

- Micro CT Scan

- 3- Phase Core Flooding Equipment for EOR Application

Relative Permeability System (RPS)

The TEMCO RPS-800-10000 HTHP Relative Permeability Test System can be used for permeability and relative permeability flow testing of core samples, at in-situ conditions of pressure and temperature. Tests that can be performed with the system include initial oil saturation, secondary water flooding, tertiary water flooding, permeability and relative permeability. Brine, oil or other fluids can be injected into and through the core sample.

Benchtop Permeability System (BPS)

BPS-805 is a manually operated system designed for performing simple liquid permeability tests at pore pressures to 5,000 psi with confining pressures to 9,950 psi. The standard system includes a low pulsation HPLC pump for fluid delivery at flow rates from 0.01 to 10 ml/min with a resolution of 0.01 ml/min. Plug size core samples are held in a hassler core holder mounted vertically. The core holder can accommodate 1.5” diameter core samples one to four inches in length. The system is equipped with one or two (2 readouts, which have ranges of 0-50 and 0-250 psid. A manual bypass valve is used to equilibrate pressure on the transducer preventing damage at high differential pressures. A dome-loaded backpressure regulator is utilized to maintain downstream elevated test pressures. A manually operated hydraulic pump is used to generate confining pressures to 9,950 psi. 

Poroperm

Formation Damage System (FDS)

The TEMCO FDS-800-10000 HTHP Formation Damage Test System is designed for formation damage testing of core samples, at in-situ conditions of pressure and temperature. Tests that can be performed with the system include initial oil  saturation, secondary water flooding, formation damage testing with leak-off through the core, and before-and-after permeability measurement, in both forward and reverse (backflow for damage clean up) directions. Brine, oil, drilling mud, gels, or other fluids can be injected into and through the core sample.

CO₂ Solvent Core Cleaner

The CO₂-Toluene Core Cleaner is a device for cleaning crude oil, drilling mud liquids and water from a single piece of whole core or from a batch of core samples. The system is faster than Soxhlet extraction, does not coke crude oil in the sample as does retorting. It uses the proven core cleaning method utilizing CO₂-saturated toluene.

The unit is basically composed of 2 modules:

1) the reactive module installed in the fume hood, and

2) the process controls housed in the control box installed outside of the hood.

In the reactive module, a pressure sample vessel is heated electrically with a volt heater enclosed in an explosion proof housing.
a. The solvent is pumped from an onboard supply tank to the cleaning vessel with an air driven high-pressure pump.
b. A cyclone separator with a stainless steel-packed, water-cooled after-cooler is provided to separate the CO₂ and the used hot solvent when the vessel is drained.
c. The used toluene drains into an explosion proof electric still where it is recovered and delivered back to the clean solvent supply.

Helium Porosimeter

This system allows for pore volume and grain volume determination on rock samples including unconsolidated or irregular shape samples. The measure is based on Boyle-Mariotte’s law theory. The process takes place in two stages: at stage one a known amount of helium gas is contained in a cell (pressure and volume accurately known). At stage two, this quantity of gas is shared with the matrix cup containing the sample. The new pressure is measured and the volume not accessible to gas (grain volume) is automatically calculated.

Soxhlet Extractor

The Soxhlet apparatus is used to extract and clean the core sample from oil, water and any other materials. The apparatus is based on a heating mantle to boil the solvent, a sample chamber and a water-cooled system to condense the solvent vapors. The core sample is first placed into the sample chamber. Then, the solvent is heated and vaporized. The solvent vapors travel through a lateral way and rise to the top of the glass tube where is the cold trap. At this place, the vapors condense and fall into the sample chamber. The solvent fills the chamber and removes soluble components from the core. Then, the spoiled solvent is evacuated from the chamber through a siphon and goes back to the flask where it will be redistilled.

Desaturator

Capillary curve is the relationship between pressure applied and stabilised, and water content in the core samples. The apparatus is dedicated to enable generation of air-brine capillary curves on core samples. The equipment is mainly composed of a console and a vessel. The console controls the air pressure supplied to the vessel. It is possible to humidify on line the air used in the process through a humidifier located on the console.

Hg Capillary System

Manual operated system for the measurement of capillary pressure and pore morphology. Based on Purcell method, mercury is injected into plug sized samples at know volume from vacuum to 2,000 psi (140 bar). The instrument uses a hand operated pump for mercury injection and a coreholder equipped with an opening windowed chamber cap for easy loading / unloading operations and mercury level visualization. The control panel includes the pore pressure regulator, the pore pressure transducer with the digital display and a vacuum manometer.

Density Meter; Anton Paar's DMA 4500 M

 Anton Paar's DMA density meters combine the groundbreaking oscillating U-tube principle, the integrated refErence oscillator, highly accurate platinum thermometers and a full-range viscosity correction to provide exceptional measurement performance. The new features of DMA Generation M add an outstanding level of user confidence and comfort.

This is how the density measurement works:

The oscillating U-tube sensor is filled with 1 ml of sample. The instrument electronicaly excited the U-tube sensor to simultaneously oscillate at the fundamental resonant frequency and its harmonics. The oscillation characteristics are measured, with the integrated refrence oscillator providing the pace. The reference oscillator is positioned in close thermal contact with the oscillating U-tube. This unique positioning enables the reference oscillator to compensate for all drifts arising from temperature stress applied to the U-tube sensor. From these measurements the density is determined with most accuracy and the viscosity influence is corrected.