Measurements of Supersaturation and Critical Gas Saturation

Abstract

Summary Supersaturation and critical gas saturation were measured for two core samples with different pore structures. In these measurements, a pump with a constant rate of expansion was used to avoid steep pressure changes. Binary mixtures of C1/n-C10 at two saturation pressures were used as the fluid system. The surface tension of the binary mixtures varied from 2 to 13 dyne/cm. The data show that pore structure could significantly affect the degree of supersaturation. The supersaturation in a porous medium with small pores may be less than in a porous medium with large pores. The critical gas saturation data of this work are lower than literature values. Measurements on a chalk sample reveal critical gas saturations of about 0.5%.