Constant Volume High Pressure Quartz Crystal Microbalance Rig

Main applications:

1. Measuring wax appearance and disappearance temperatures for stabilised and live fluid systems.
2. Investigating the effects of coatings and surface properties on solids deposition (wax, scale, and asphaltenes) inside pipelines.
3. Evaluating the performance of wax inhibitors and cloud point depressants.
4. Measuring the hydrate stability zone of various fluid systems (e.g., gas, gas condensate and oil systems).
5. Determining the effect of various hydrate inhibitors (e.g., salts and/or organic inhibitors) on the hydrate stability zone.
6. Investigating the kinetics of gas hydrate (or wax) formation and dissociation.

Operating conditions:

Pressure: up to 6,000 psia (40 MPa)
Temperature: from –35 to 75 ºC

Description:

The set-up consists of a small volume (40cc) cell surrounded by a coolant jacket connected to a variable temperature circulator. Cell contents can be mixed by a magnetic stirrer, with pressure and temperature being measured by a Quartzdyne transducer and PRT respectively. The cell is fitted with high pressure feed throughs for connection to a quartz crystal microbalance device.