This presentation summarizes the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) contributions to a worldwide search for a reference fluid that mimics oil fluid properties at high-temperature and high-pressure conditions typically found in ultradeep oil reservoirs. As announced at the 2009 International Association of Transport Properties conference, a reference fluid is urgently needed in the petroleum industry to calibrate and validate viscometers and rheometers operating at elevated temperatures and pressures.<br/>To meet this urgent need, NETL and eleven other laboratories worldwide commenced the search for a suitable candidate fluid. The NETL initially identified Krytox GPL 102, a perfluoropolyether, as a candidate fluid and subsequently applied two distinctly different measurement techniques that verified Krytox GPL 102 as a viable industrial reference fluid with a nominal viscosity of 20 mPa.s at 433 K and 200 MPa. Research laboratories in Australia, France, Greece, Spain, United Kingdom, and the USA confirmed our experimental results for this particular Krytox. However, there remains an important concern about the viability of using this perfluoropolyether as a reference fluid since Krytox GPL 102 is a polydisperse fluid with a molecular weight and molecular weight distribution that can vary slightly from lot to lot. Other researchers have proposed Tris(2-ethylhexyl) trimellitate (TOTM) as a standard reference material. Our NETL group has experimentally determined the density and viscosity of TOTM at temperatures to 527 K and pressures to 242 MPa and, importantly, has shown that TOTM exhibits a viscosity 50% lower than the desired target viscosity. Recently, NETL identified another potential high-temperature, high-pressure reference fluid. In this presentation we present a brief overview of our assessment of the fluid properties of this new potential reference fluid <i>at ambient pressure</i>.<br/>Our preliminary results provide the basis for our strong recommendation for further high temperature, high pressure experimental studies to assess the suitability of this fluid to serve as an industrial standard reference material associated with oil production from ultradeep formations beneath the deepwaters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Status: High-temperature, high-pressure viscosity standard search

2019 Fall National Meeting

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