HP-HT Testing Facility

High Pressure-High Temperature Completion Testing

The HP-HT equipment has been designed to emulate the reservoir pressure, temperature and stress conditions. A thermal testing setup at this scale, which can also include the wellbore completion, and the flow of steam, brine, and bitumen, has not been developed before. Not only does the equipment incorporate various porous media and completion fouling phenomena individually, but also their interaction at high pressure and high temperature, organic and inorganic scaling and screen corrosion and erosion.

The equipment also provides a novel opportunity to characterize and validate the antifouling membranes for SAGD-produced water treatment at HP-HT conditions. The membrane sample can be either mounted below the sand pack (in place of the screen coupon) in the sample holding unit or placed in the filtration tank. In the first scenario, the specimen is replaced with a sand filtration bed to treat wastewater. The wastewater solution is prepared by mixing the brine or pure water and bitumen or any other contaminant (e.g., organic matter, silica, and divalent ions) in the injection unit. In the second scenario, the filtration tank, which is still at high temperature, will be replaced with a standard membrane module, and pressures as high as 225 psi will be applied using a back pressure regulator. This scenario allows multi-purpose testing where the data for porous medium, sand control screen, and water treatment are generated in the same test.

The HP-HT testing setup consisting of seven units: (1) Sample-Holding Unit, (2) Fluid Injection Unit, (3) Solid and Fluid Collection Unit, (4) Data Acquisition System and Control Panel, (5) Safety Enclosure and Alarm System, (6) Piping and Sealing System, and (7) Exhaust System.