Ultra High Pressure Rig

Main applications:

1. Measuring the hydrate stability zone of various fluid systems (e.g., gas, gas condensate and oil systems).
2. Determining the effect of various hydrate inhibitors (e.g., salts and/or organic inhibitors) on the hydrate stability zone.
3. Investigating the kinetics of gas hydrate formation and dissociation.
4. Water-hydrocarbon phase equilibria.
5. Water and/or hydrocarbon dew point and bubble point measurements.

Operating conditions:

Pressure: up to 30,000 psia (200 MPa)
Temperature: from –30 ºC to 80 ºC

Description:

The Ultra High Pressure Rig was commissioned in 2003 for measuring hydrate stability zones at very high pressures conditions. It consists of a 45cc cell with a maximum operating pressure of 200MPa. The cell temperature is controlled by circulating coolant inside a jacket surrounding the cell, giving an operating temperature of 243 to 253K. The cell has four ports, two of which are used for high-pressure electric feed-throughs enabling a Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) to be mounted inside the cell. A third port is used for a PRT to monitor the temperature (accurate to 0.1K), while the fourth port is used for pressure measurement with a Quartzdyne pressure transducer (accuracy of 0.007MPa) and for loading fluids into the cell. The cell is mounted on a compressed air powered rocking mechanism for mixing of contents. Cell pressure, temperature and QCM resonant frequency are recorded by a PC.