| Abstract |
Brine-free steam and steam-free brine were obtained from a flowline in which a temperature (pressure) cascade was set up in a series of four pipe spools separated by orifice plates. The full flow of the well was carried in this test section, but the temperature, pressure, and steam fractions were different in successive spools. The test section was insulated except at the sample point take-offs. By using natural carbon dioxide as a tracer in the steam and chloride as a tracer in the brine, the steam fraction in each sampling spool was determined entirely from the data on concentrations. The required efforts for sampling, analysis, and computation were considerable, but the results were remarkably precise. As a bonus, some data on heat capacity was extracted that relate to the thermodynamic differences between pure NaCL and mixed-salt brines. Noteably, the heat capacity of the mixed-salt hypersaline brine is less than for pure NaCL brines of comparable concentrations. |