Abstract:

This dataset contains laboratory observations of gas bubble nucleation in sessile methane-saturated crude oil droplets under high pressure at varying temperatures. Twenty-six experiments explore a parameter space including the environmental temperature, initial pressure, pressure release rate, equilibration time, and whether the seawater phase is methane-saturated.

Suggested Citation:

Michael Schlüter, Simeon Pesch. 2019. Laboratory observations of bubble nucleation in methane-saturated crude oil. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-964e-jm84

Purpose:

Experiments are carried out in order to get information on the gas bubble nucleation/bubble point in gas-saturated crude oil. Those are important for the calculation and modeling of outgassing from live crude oils.

Data Parameters and Units:

The dataset is organized into three separate worksheets: 1. General information about the experimental set-up. 2. An experimental overview detailing the initial conditions of 26 runs including experiment number, temperature [degrees C], initial pressure [bar], pressure release rate [bar/min], initial volume [mm^3], equilibration time [hours], and pre-saturation of water with methane [with/without]. 3. An experimental_data, which records time series of droplet volume changes: time [minute] and the ratio of current to initial oil volume.

Methods:

Artificial seawater prepared according to the recipe of Kester et al (1967) provided the continuous phase of the mixture, and Louisiana Sweet Crude (LSC) oil served as the dispersed phase. An oil pre-saturation unit was used to saturate the LSC with methane, and a water pre-saturation unit was used to saturate the seawater phase with methane for four experiments. The oil drops were photographed with back-lit illumination. Image processing to determine droplet size was carried out in Matlab.

Provenance and Historical References:

Kester, D. R., I. W. Duedall, D. N. Connors, R. M. Pytkowicz (1967). Preparation of artificial seawater. Limnology and Oceanography 12(1), 176-179. doi:10.4319/lo.1967.12.1.0176

Individual Files: