determination of capillary pressure & relative … of capillary pressure & relative...

Refrigerated Centrifuge RC

VINCI TECHNOLOGIES – http://www.vincitechnologies.com

Determination of Capillary pressure & relative permeability

curves With Refrigerated Centrifuge

Multi speed centrifuge experiments

Introduction

As the porous diaphragm method see Vinci’s CAPRI , the centrifuge method is a commonly used method for determining the capillary pressure properties of reservoir rocks. The procedure begins with a core sample which is placed in a centrifuge tube. The system is rotated at a number of different speeds selected to cover pressure differences between phases required for the particular cores. At each step, the rate of rotation is maintained constant until phase stabilization. Either Drainage or Imbibition experiments can be held as shown in the pictures below.

Centrifuge force

Drainage experiment

Core saturated withthe wetting fluid

Samplecontainment cupCalibrated

receiving tube

Wetting fluidNon-wetting fluid

Centrifuge force

Imbibition experiment

Core saturated withthe non-wetting fluid Sample

containment cup

Calibratedreceiving tube

Wetting fluid

Non-wetting fluid

VINCI TECHNOLOGIES Parc de l'Ile, 27B rue du Port, 92022NANTERRE Phone: 331 41 37 92 20

e-mail: [email protected] http://www.vinci-technologies.com



0

Water Saturation

Swi

Sor

Cap

illary

Pre

ssur

e

Oil / Water -Drainage / Imbibition

experiments

Drainage

Spontaneous Drainage

Spontaneous Imbibition

Imbibition

Secondary Drainage

The centrifuge technique for measuring relative permeability is a simple extension of the centrifuge technique for measuring capillary pressure.

The fluid produced as a function of time for each rotational speed is analyzed to determine the relative permeability curves. Data collection is therefore no more complicated than for the capillary pressure case except that the frequency of data capture is greatly increased, particularly just after the speed of rotation has been changed.

Refrigerated centrifuge (RC)

The RC is a refrigerated centrifuge enabling automatic determination of capillary pressure & relative permeability curves on six core sample.

Custom designed core holders offer the ability to spin core plug samples. Each coreholder is equipped with a sample containment cup and a calibrated receiving tube. A unique feature is that Vinci’s coreholder can accommodate either 1 or 1.5’’ diameter cores. The same coreholder can be used either for drainage of for imbibition experiments.



Drainage / Imbibition Core Holder

The centrifuge is equipped with a high resolution digital camera system allowing measurement of displaced fluid volumes in each of the cells sequentially. Thanks to a 1360 x 1024 pixel resolution, the interface level is detected with an accuracy of less than 0.1 mm i.e. 0.03 cc for a 20 mm receiving tube. Dedicated software automatically detects the interface between the fluids and records the volume production.

A unique feature of RC is the very important length of the centrifuges arms. Compared to some others centrifuge, RC can achieve important capillary pressure at relatively low rotational speed. Thanks to this particularity, the rotation speed is stable even for high capillary pressures and the interface detection remains perfect for any rotation speed. For an imbibition experiment the distance between the outer face of the plug and the rotational axis is of 26 cm.

Gas WaterInterface

1mm wide Floating disc

Lower end of the re

tube

Water / Gas Drainage

experiment



The great speed stability of RC and the accuracy of interface detection allows for high quality production curves.

Overburden core holder

For overburden experiments, at reservoir conditions of pressure 5,000 psi , dedicated core holders can be provided.

Confining pressure can be applied prior to the test using a manual pump. The loading mode is hydrostatic, therefore, axial and radial pressure are equivalent. The same core holder can be used both for drainage and imbibition test The same core holder can be used for 1 or 1.5’’ diameter cores.



Simulation package RC is provided with a dedicated simulation package. CYDAR includes a special module for centrifuge acquisition data. CYDAR automatically collects the production curve and calculates instant saturation and capillary pressure.

This simulation package has been developed in collaboration with core analysis specialists; it’s customer friendly software accurate and powerful. CYDAR uses the most recent methods developed and tested in research laboratories and published in the proceedings of the Society of Core Analysis.

For each experimental curve, CYDAR proposes 6 types of different fit linear, splines, bi‐exponential, etc. . Kr and Pc determination is made by numerical history matching. The modules allows for classical calculations Hagoort, JBN, etc. as well as accurate simulations.



Technical Specifications

Item Type / model / specification

Core holder:

Number of Core Holder: 6

Core Ø: 1 or 1.5’’

Core length: Up to 2 ”

Capillary pressure:

Oil‐water drainage: 0.0 to 6.2 bar(0 to 90 psi)

Oil‐water imbibition: – 0.0 to – 8.4 bar

(–0 to – 121 psi)

Air‐water drainage: 0.0 to 20.9 bar

(1 to 303 psi)

Air‐water imbibition: – 0.1 to – 28.1 bar

(–1 to – 407 psi)

Speed:

Speed: from 200 to 4,500 rpm

Speed regulation: ± 1 rpm

Speed ramp: Available

Temperature: From 0 to +80°CLarger radius: 26 cm Accuracy on reading: 0.01cc

determination of capillary pressure & relative … of capillary pressure & relative...

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