Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
(OP)
I'm doing some research/lab analysis on methane. Is methane considered a supercritical fluid/gas at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
Critical point is about -116 deg F and 673 psia.
Critical point is about -116 deg F and 673 psia.





RE: Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
Search for a methane phase diagram, likely at NIST.
RE: Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
I think we are mixing apples and oranges here? Methane is a pure substance with critical temperature 190.4K and critical pressure 45.4atm. Knowing this fact, at any pressure and temperature above the critical values, fluid is in the supercritical region:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercritical_fluid
Please correct me if I missed something.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
RE: Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
RE: Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
RE: Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
RE: Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
RE: Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
Another thing is dynamic simulation of the injection. The methane can stratify or not "disolve" exactly like simulations, so the injection wells will "gas" up.
RE: Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
RE: Is Methane Supercritical at 3500 psig and 176 deg F?
This "non equalibrium" gas will rise in the casing. But then what happens is the density of the injection fluids drop and therfore the head on the liquids and then even less methane stays in the liquid and the surface pressure must be increased to get the bottom hole pressure high enough to overcome its native pressure plus pressure drop into the formation.
Now I could imagine a distillation type system at low injection rates. The head gain by the 60+ lb/cf fluids would overcome the energy needed to vaporize the methane and the column would be flooded and no separation.
It would be a fun simulation and something to look at in the lab. But the solution is always, get the methane out and be prepared to degas the well every so often, even if we did know and or agree on the mass transfer situation. Distill or non equalibrium based on "drunkards walk" theory of random mechanics.