Effect of Confinement on the Bubble Points of Hydrocarbons in Nanoporous Media

The bubble point of reservoir petroleum fluids in nanoporous media is an important parameter in shale oil production. We present experimental results on the bubble points of octane and decane confined in controlled-pore glasses (CPGs) with pore sizes of 4.3 and 38.1 nm. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is used to measure the temperature at which the vapor phase begins to form (i.e., the bubble point). We find that the bubble point is dramatically affected by pore diameter: at 38.1 nm the confinement effect is insignificant, but at 4.3 nm two distinct bubble points appear, suggesting two distinct populations of evaporating fluid. Deviations are as great as +/- 15 K for both peaks relative to the bulk bubble point for 4.3 nm CPGs. Thermogravimetric analysis is consistent with DSC, supporting the validity of these results. Based on these experiments and previous simulations, we propose a two-state model for the nanoconfined hydrocarbons. (C) 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers