University of Zakho

College of Engineering
Petroleum Engineering Department

Reservoir Fluid Lab.

Differential liberation Exp.

Prepared by: Ahmed Amir Ali

Supervisor: Mr. Alaa

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 Table of Content

1. Objective 3
2. introduction 3
3. Apparatus 4
4. Theory 5-6
5. calculation 6-10
6.conculosion 11
7. Reference 12

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 The Differential liberation experiment (Diff. Lib.).
1. Objective
Oil and gas formation volume factors, oil and gas densities, solution GOR (R,), and
the gas deviation factor (Z) as a function of pressure, and the gas expansion factor
are the quantities that are determined from differential liberation experiment

2. Introduction
The differential liberation experiment is also called the differential vaporization
experiment and it best describes a reservoir depleting below the bubble point
pressure where critical gas saturation has been reached and gas is mobile.
Important properties measured during the differential liberation experiment include
Rs, Bo, density of remaining oil, composition of liberated gas, gas compressibility
factor, and gas specific gravity. Fluid properties measured at each pressure
depletion stage include specific gravity and volume of remaining oil at stock tank
condition. expelled gas is also collected and the composition is measured using,
mostly, cryogenic distillation and/or gas chromatographic techniques. Results from
differential liberation experiment include

V oil (T , p)
Oil Formation Volume Factor Bo = V oil(Tsc , Psc)

V gas (Tsc , Psc )

Solution Gas–Oil-Ratio Rs=
V oil( Tsc , psc T , p)

Vgas (T , P)
Gas Formation Volume Factor Bg = Vgas(Tsc , psc )

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 3. Apparatus
The apparatus used to perform this experiment is the PV cell, as shown in fig.(1)

Fig.(1) Schematic of PV cell and associated equipment

4. Procedure
The sample of reservoir fluid in the laboratory cell is brought to bubble point
pressure, and temperature is set at reservoir temperature. Pressure is reduced by
increasing cell volume, and the cell is agitated to ensure equilibrium between the
gas and liquid. Then all the gas is expelled from the cell while pressure in the cell
is held constant by reducing cell volume. The gas is collected and its quantity and
specific gravity are measured. The volume of liquid remaining in the cell, Vo is
measured. This process is shown in Fig. (1)

Fig. (1): Differential liberation experiment

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The process is repeated in steps until atmospheric pressure is reached. Then
temperature is reduced to 60 o F, and the volume of remaining liquid is measured.
This is called residual oil from differential vaporization or residual oil. This
process is called differential vaporization, differential liberation or differential
expansion.

5. Theory
Each of values of volume of cell liquid, Vo, is divided by the volume of the
residual oil. The result is called Oil Formation Volume Factor:
V oil (T , p)
Bo = V oil(Tsc , Psc)

and is given by BoD.

The volume of gas removed during each step is measured both at cell conditions
and at standard conditions. The Z-factor is calculated as
V R P R T sc
𝑍 = V sc P sc T R

Where R refers to conditions in the cell. Formation volume factors of the gas
removed are calculated with these z- factors using equation:
ZT
B𝑔 = 0.0282 P 𝑐𝑢 𝑓𝑡/𝑠𝑐𝑓
Gas Formation Volume Factor
Vgas (T , P)
Bg = Vgas(Tsc , psc)

The total volume of gas removed during the entire process is the amount of gas in
solution at the bubble point pressure. This total volume is divided by the volume of
the residual oil, and the units are converted to standard cubic feet per barrel of
residual oil. The symbol RsDb represents standard cubic feet of gas removed per
barrel of residual oil.
Solution Gas–Oil-Ratio
V gas (Tsc , Psc )
Rs=
V oil( Tsc , psc T , p)

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The gas remaining in solution at any lower pressure is calculated by subtracting the
sum of the gas removed down to and including the pressure of interest from the
total volume of gas removed. The result is divided by the volume of residual oil,
converted to scf/residual bbl, and reported as RsD. Relative total volume at any
pressure is calculated as:
B𝑡𝐷 = 𝐵𝑜𝐷 + 𝐵𝑔 (𝑅𝑠𝐷𝑏 − 𝑅𝑠𝐷)

6. Calculation
Example;
The essential data obtained from the differential liberation experiment, performed
on the same oil sample, are listed in table 1. The experiment starts at bubble point
pressure since above this pressure the flash and differential experiments are
identical.

Results of isothermal differential liberation at 200º F

After the pressure drop from 2700 to 2400 psia, column 2 of the table indicates that
0.0466 volumes of gas are taken off from the cell at the lower pressure and at
200°F. These gas volumes vg (small v) are measured relative to the unit volume of

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bubble point oil, as are all the relative volumes listed in the table. After each stage,
the incremental volume of liberated gas is expanded to standard conditions and
re−measured as Vg relative volumes (column 3). Column 4 is simply the
cumulative amount of gas liberated below the bubble point expressed at standard
conditions.
Dividing values in column 3 by those in column 2 (Vg /vg ) gives the gas
expansion factor E (column 5). Thus the 0.0466 relative volumes liberated at 2400
psia will expand to give 6.9457 relative volumes at standard conditions and the gas
expansion factor is therefore 6.9457/.0466 = 149.05. Knowing E, the Z-factor of
the liberated gas can be determined by solving the following equation:
Z = 35.37 × [P/ (E × T)]
Z = 35.37 × [2400 / (149.05 × 660)]
Z = 0.863 T
these values are listed in column 6.
Finally, the relative oil volumes, vo , are measured at each stage of depletion after
removal of the liberated gas, as listed in column 7.
Primary Results from a Differential Liberation Experiment Performed on an Oil
Mixture could be summarized as per below:
Bo: Oil formation volume factor, i.e., oil volume at actual pressure, divided by
volume of residual oil at standard conditions.
Rs: Solution gas/oil ratio, i.e., the total standard volume of gas liberated at lower
pressure stages than the actual one, divided by the volume of the residual oil at
standard conditions.
Oil density: Density of oil phase at cell conditions.
Bg: Gas formation volume factor defined as the gas volume at the actual pressure
divided by the volume of the same gas at standard conditions.
Z-factor gas: The compressibility factor, also known as the compression factor or
the gas deviation factor, is a correction factor which describes the deviation of a
real gas from ideal gas behavior.
Gas gravity: Molecular weight of the gas liberated divided by the molecular weight
of atmospheric air (= 28.964).

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Example
The data from a differential vaporization on a black oil at 220 o F are given below.
Prepare a table of solution gas-oil ratios, relative oil volumes, and relative total
volumes by this differential process. Also include Z-factors and formation volume
factors of the increments of gas recovered.

Solution:

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All calculation shown will be at 2100psig.

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(1) Cubic feet of gas at 14.65 psia and 60 Fper barrel of rewsidual oil at 60 F
(2) Barrels of oil at indicated pressure and temperature per barrel of residual oil at
60 F
(3) Barrels of oil plus liberated gas at indicated pressure and temperature per barrel
of residual oil at 60 F
(4) Cubic feet of gas at indicated pressure and temperature per cubic foot at 14.65
psia and 60 F

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Conclusion
Solution gas/oil ratio (GOR) and oil formation volume factor (FVF) are normally
obtained from differential or flash liberation tests. However, neither the differential
liberation process nor the flash liberation process can represent the fluid flow in
petroleum reservoirs. Therefore, data obtained from any of the two test procedures
must be adjusted to approximate the fluid behavior in the reservoir. At low
pressures, the conventional method of adjustment yields negative values of
solution GOR and values of oil FVF of less than 1. This, of course, is not
physically correct.
This paper presents a one of the PVT Experiment method for which it the
differential liberation. The new method overcomes the limitations of the
conventional adjustment method and makes the low-pressure extension of the
curves of solution GOR and oil FVF more accurate.

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 7. Reference :
1. http://www.ing.unp.edu.ar/asignaturas/reservorios/Fundamentals
%20of%20Reservoir%20Engineering%20%28L.P.%20Dake%29.pdf.
2. https://books.google.iq/books?id=O-
vKBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52&dq=differential+liberation+experiment&hl=ar
&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiMldfu0pXqAhWKzaQKHek3Bf4Q6AEwA3oECA
UQAg
3. https://www.fluidmodelinggroup.com/references/pvt-test-simulation-cce-dl-
cvd.
4. http://www.ipt.ntnu.no/~curtis/courses/PVT-Flow/2018-TPG4145/e-
notes/PVT-Papers/SPEPBM-Ch6.pdf.

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