University of Zakho

College of Engineering
Petroleum Engineering Department
Third stage

Reservoir fluid properties lab

(constant compositional expansion test )

Name : Sarmand Sulaiman Shammo

Supervised by :Mr. Alaadeen Taha

Date of submitting : 26th February 2024

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Table of content :

 Objective…..........................................................................3

 Introduction......................................................................3-4

 Theory..............................................................................4-6

 Instrument...........................................................................7

 Procedure...........................................................................8

 Caculation.........................................................................9-11

 Discussion & conclusion...................................................12

 References..........................................................................13

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Objective :
Constant composition expansion experiment is also known as test. The
testing purpose is to provide information on determination of dew point,
gas deviation factor, and relative volume of the fluid at different
pressures. determine the bubble point pressure. Isothermal
compressibility coefficients of the single-phase fluid in excess of
saturation pressure.

Introduction :
CCE test provides information about pressure-volume behavior of a
fluid without changes in fluid composition. The CCE test begins with a
sample of reservoir fluid in a high-pressure cell at reservoir temperature
and at a pressure in excess of the reservoir pressure. Traditionally, the
cell contained oil and mercury. Pressure was altered by changing the
volume of mercury in the cell. Modern systems are designed to be
mercury-free by replacing mercury with a piston. The piston is used to
alter pressure in the cell, as illustrated in Figure 3.8. The cell pressure is
lowered in small incre-ments, and the change in volume at each pressure
is recorded. The procedure is repeated until the cell pressure is reduced
to a pressure that is considerably lower than the saturation pressure. The
original composion of the fluid in the cell does not change at any time
during the test because no material is removed from the cell. The Nuid
may be either oil or a gas with condensate. If the fluid is oil, the

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saturation pressure is the BP pressure. If the fluid is a gas with
condensate, the saturation pressure is the DP pressure.

Theory :
Bubble-point pressure is defined as the pressure at which the first bubble
of gas appears at a specific temperature. The phase diagram of typical
black oils shows that the bubble-point pressure could be different at
different temperatures. In the petroleum industry, if bubble-point
pressure value is mentioned without reference to a particular
temperature, the temperature is implicitly assumed to be the reservoir
temperature. When the reservoir is depleted and its pressure falls below
the bubble-point pressure, free gas starts to form in the reservoir. Since
gas has higher mobility than oil, the producing GOR is expected to
increase when the reservoir pressure decreases below the bubble-point
pressure. Other PVT properties also undergo significant changes when
the reservoir pressure passes through the bubble-point pressure, as will

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be shown in the next sections.we measure the bubble point pressure by
this curve .

The constant composition expansion (CCE) or constant mass expansion

(CME) test is carried out in virtually all PVT studies irrespective of fluid
Lipe. This particular test is also called flash vaporization, flash
liberation, flash expansion, or simply PV relation. As the name suggests,
the overall composition of the reservoir fluid or its original mass always
remains constant because none of the test fluid is ever removed from the
PVT cell. The primary objective of CCE tests is to study the PV
relationship of a given reservoir fluid and determine its saturation
pressure.
Figure 15.17 conceptually shows the CCE process. A single-phase
sample of the reservoir fluid is loaded in a PVT cell. The loaded sample
is pressurized to a value equal to or greater than the initial reservoir
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pressure, and the air-bath temperature is set at reservoir temperature.
The sample is typically stabilized at these conditions by operating the
pump on a constant pressure mode. After the pressure and temperature
conditions are stabilized. a pressure depletion experiment is carried out
by increasing the volume in increments. The cell contents are agitated
regularly to aid the equilibration process. The total and phase volumes of
the hydrocarbon system are recorded at each pressure step. The
depletion process continues in this fashion until a predetermined low
pressure or the capacity of the cell is reached.

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Instrument :
The bubble point pressure is determined by an experiment called
Constant Composition Expansion (CCE). It’s also called Constant Mass
Expansion (CME) experiment or Pressure-Volume (PV)
relationship.The apparatus used to perform this experiment is the PV
cell, as shown in the figure below. The fluid is charged in the PV cell
after recombining the oil and gas in the correct proportions. The
temperature, controlled by a thermostat, is maintained constant
throughout the experiment (the measured reservoir temperature). The
cell pressure is controlled by a positive displacement pump and recorded
on an accurate pressure gauge.

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Procedure :
The procedure for a CCE experiment is shown as an animation and as a
schematic below. A PVT-cell is loaded with a fluid sample and
pressurized to a pressure above the saturation pressure (this may be
higher than the initial reservoir pressure if the fluid is initially
undersaturated). The PVT-cell volume is then increased at a constant
temperature, resulting in a decreased pressure. The pressure is recorded
at the different PVT-cell volumes and is reported in the PVT report.

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Calculation :
The data from a flash vaporization on a black oil at 220F are given
below :

Pressure Total volume

(psig) (cc)
5000 61.030
4500 61.435
4000 61.866
3500 62.341
3000 62.866
2900 62.974
2800 63.088
2700 63.208
2605 63.455
2591 63.576
2516 64.291
2401 65.532
2235 67.400
2090 69.901
1897 73.655
1698 78.676
1477 86.224
1292 95.050
1040 112.715
830 136.908
640 174.201
472 235.700

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From the below daigram we will get bubble point pressure and volume
of bubble point pressure ,we will draw a intersection line from the
intersection line we get them , the value of bubble point pressure is
1698psig and the value of volume bubble point pressure is 78.676.

6000

5000

4000
pressure

3000

pressure(pisg)
2000

Relati1v0
0e0
volume 0
50 100 150 200 250
0.775
total volume
0.780
0.786
0.792
0.799 Y function
0.800
0.801
0.803
0.806
0.808
0.817
0.832
0.856
0.888
0.936
1
1.095
1.208
1.432 10
1.740
2.214
2.995
Pressure
1477 1.575
1292 1.510
1040 1.464
830 1.413
640 1.361
472 1.301
Psat −p
Y function = p (Vrel−1)
1698−1477
Y function = 1477(0.775−1) =1.575

Vtotal
Vrelative Vbubble point pressure
=
V=61.030
78.676=0.775

1.6
1.55
1.5
1.45
Y function

1.4
1.35
1.3 Y function

1.25
1.2
1.15
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
pressure

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Discussion and Conclusion:

At first we had a pressure and total volume we draw the daigram

between pressure and total volume we put the total volume at x-axis
and pressure at y-axis after we plot all point of pressure and total
volume on diagram we will draw a best fit line from left hand to right
hand and at top of diagram we draw a best fit line from top to bottom the
this two line have point of intersection in point of intersection we go to
the y-axis to get pressure this pressure is bubble point pressure and also
in the point of intersection we go to the x-axis we will get volume and
this volume is bubble point pressure volume ,and after that we will find
relative volume but how ,we should know the bubble point pressure
volume and we had total volume , we got bubble point pressure volume
from diagram ,we will divided total volume to bubble point pressure we
will get relative volumme ,at bubble point pressure we will see the
relative volume will be 1 , after that we will find Y function but how ,
we measure Y function to that pressure that exist below relative volume
when relative volume is 1.what i explined in top you can see the
diagram between pressure and total volume you will understand all
things . The testing purpose is to provide information on
determination of dew point, gas deviation factor, and relative volume of
the fluid at different pressures. determine the bubble point pressure.
Isothermal compressibility coefficients of the single-phase fluid in
excess of saturation pressure. the bubble point pressure is known as the
pressure at which the first bubble of gas comes out from the liquid at a
given temperature. The gas that has less density can quickly move from
the liquid. Therefore, increasing the gas density or gas specific gravity
decreases the bubble point pressure. The constant composition
expansion (CCE) or constant mass expansion (CME) experiment is one
of the standard depletion experiments. The main outputs of a CCE test
are an estimate of the saturation pressure and volume versus pressure.
Traditional blind PVT-cells only provide the total cell volume versus
pressure, while more modern visual PVT-cells also estimate the liquid
and vapor volume amounts. These visual PVT- cells may also indicate
the first visual sign of the incipient phase.
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References:
 Li, X., Li, Y., Li, B., & Li, X. (2021). Experimental study on
constant compositional expansion test and relative permeability
of tight oil reservoirs. Journal of Petroleum Science and
Engineering, 196, 108193.

 Stalkup, F. I. (1983). Relative permeability measurement by the

constantcomposition expansion method. Journal of Petroleum
Technology, 35(04), 809-814.

 Yildiz, H. O., & Lake, L. W. (2017). Evaluation of relative

permeability measurement methods in tight rocks. SPE
Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 20(02), 270-283.

 Zhou, X., Li, L., Tang, H., Zhang, X., & Li, D. (2016). A review
of laboratory measurement methods for relative permeability in
tight oil reservoirs. Journal of Petroleum Exploration and
Production Technology, 6(4), 793-803.

 https://books.google.iq/books?
id=DBIPDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA61&dq=introduction+about+constant+
composition+expansion+test&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjd7d
GI9 rj9AhXOTKQEHdT6DeoQ6AF6BAgHEA.

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