LRAP has the experimental and computational infrastructure to develop technologies capable of increasing the recovery factor of national reservoirs, more specifically through the alternating injection of water and gas (WAG) applied to pre-salt carbonate reservoirs.

The existing infrastructure at LRAP/COPPE/UFRJ has enabled complete and integrated studies involving rock, fluid, rock-fluid and fluid-fluid interactions, placing LRAP and Brazil in a prominent position worldwide in the area of Advanced Oil Recovery, being one of the few centers specializing in carbonate reservoirs.

In addition, the location of this infrastructure on the premises of LRAP, COPPE CT-2, on Ilha do Fundão (Rio de Janeiro/RJ) is of strategic interest to UFRJ, due to its proximity to major research centers and important companies in the oil and gas sector in Brazil, within the largest engineering research and teaching center in Latin America, COPPE/UFRJ.

Main equipment

• Coreflood greenhouses

Coreflood ovens are used in laboratory tests in which a fluid or combination of fluids is injected into rock samples with diameters of 1, 1.5 or 2 inches and lengths of up to 30 cm.

• Coreflood oven with X-rays

Operating conditions:

1. Rock samples up to 1 m long and with diameters of 1, 1.5 or 2 inches;
2. Pressures up to 10,000 psia;
3. Temperatures up to 150 °C.

• Computerized X-ray microtomograph – TESCAN CoreTom

CoreTom is a multi-resolution device that uses an X-ray source and performs 3D microtomography optimized for high resolution, allowing it to image everything from rock cores to microplugs.

Developed for applications in geology and Earth sciences, the equipment is ideal for imaging reservoir samples, integrating information from the pore scale to the core scale. The version acquired by LRAP enables 4D studies, allowing dynamic microtomography during experiments, such as flow injection tests.

• Drop Shape Analyzer (DSA)

The drop shape analyzer allows the measurement of the contact angle for wettability studies in reservoir conditions, using rock, oil and brine under pressure and temperature representative of the reservoir.

• Automated Ultra-High Speed Centrifuge

The ACES-300 – Automated Ultra-High Speed Centrifuge System consists of a stroboscope mounted on a modified centrifuge, which accommodates a camera attached to the centrifuge, with a control module integrated into the equipment’s operating system.

• Porosimeter and Gas Permeameter

Equipment designed to determine basic petrophysical properties in samples dried by gas expansion (nitrogen and helium), such as:

1. Volume of solids and pores;

2. Density;

3. Porosity;

4. Permeability.

• Gas Chromatograph

The GC 7890B is equipped with two sample inlets:

1. Front inlet (with flow divider and without), with capacity for introducing liquid samples by means of an automatic sampler with a tray for 16 vials;

2. Rear inlet, containing mechanical sampling valves for introducing gaseous samples into the carrier gas flow.

• Ion Chromatograph

Equipment with a compact system for analyzing anions, cations and polar substances, in concentrations ranging from μg/L to g/L. It can be combined with different types of detection, including:

1. Conductivity;

2. UV/VIS;

3. Amperometry.

• PVT cell

Instrument composed of a cylinder with piston, temperature controllers and pumps, allowing the control and variation of pressure in studies of theVT properties of fluids.

• Slimtube Apparatus

The slimtube apparatus makes it possible to measure the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) between the oil and the injected gas (e.g. CO₂) at the reservoir temperature. The equipment makes it possible to identify the pressure ranges for miscible displacement in the WAG process.