A study of PVT relations for carbon dioxide, n-pentane, and n-octane mixtures using a recombination apparatus

Abstract

Carbon dioxide flooding is considered to have a multi- contact miscibility displacement mechanism. It changes the reservoir fluid in a complex manner. This type of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technique is very economically viable, readily available, and environmentally acceptable. Carbon dioxide flooding is one of the EOR techniques in the gas processes category. Miscibility is defined as physical condition between two or more fluids that will permit them to mix in all proportions without the existence of an interface. The minimum pressure required to achieve a multicontact miscibility between injected fluid and oil, specifically, is called the minimum miscibility pressure. The objectives of this study could be separated into two. The first was to look for correlation between bubble-point pressure and minimum miscibility pressure. Simulators were used to obtain the bubble-points and, based on those data, the minimum miscibility pressures were able to be calculated using available correlations. The second part of the objectives was experimental study. A laboratory for reservoir fluid studies was set up and experimental procedures were developed from experiments using propane in the calibration experiment and n-pentane - n-octane - carbon dioxide mixtures in the main experiment.