KOYA UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
SCHOOL OF PETROLEUM AND
CHEMICAL
FLUID MECHANIC LAB

NAME OF EXPEREMENT:
Core Cleaning
NAME OF STUDENT:
Kamal Abdurahman

Group: B

SUPERVISED BY: Mr.Ali

Kamal
Aim of Experiment:

This test is dedicated to review basic concept core

cleaning and to give basic definitions commonly used in

core analysis.
 Introduction
Rock samples are recovered from the bottom-hole of

wells that are being drilled, taken to surface and

transported many miles away to a core laboratory. These

processes must be performed following strict rules of

proper core cleaning to preserve the original properties of

the reservoir rock. Ideally, the rock sample recovered

from the well will represent the reservoir rock.

However, once the rock is being drilled, exposed to

drilling fluids, and taken out of the hole, the original

conditions at which the rock is found in the reservoir will

change. This is a drawback that must be accepted

because coring is the only method available to physically

perform analysis on a reservoir rock.

 Theory
The most widely methods used are :

1- Distillation-Extraction (Dean-Stark and Soxhlet): This is

the most commonly used cleaning method. The sample is

placed in a soxhlet or Dean-Stark apparatus. Solvents are

evaporated and flowed through the core removing the

fluids in place. Then they condensate and evaporated

again in a continuous closed process. The main drawback

of this method is that the solvent may not contact all of

the core especially smaller pores. This is the method that

will be illustrated in this laboratory and the procedure will

be explained in more detailed later in this chapter.

2- Flow-Through: The core is placed in a core holder and

solvents are continuously injected under pressure into the

core. The injection may be continuous or halted

periodically allowing time for the core to soak in the

solvent. Cuiec (Cuiec-1975) stated that this method is

better that the extraction method in the sense that

solvents injected under pressure may contact even the

smaller pores of the rock; Gant and Anderson supported

this statement (Gant and Anderson-1986).

3- Centrifuge Flushing: A centrifuge is used to spray warm

clean solvent against the core. The centrifugal force

causes the solvent to flow through the sample.

The main advantage is that it is a fast method and can be

used in tight samples, which are not effectively cleaned

by the extraction method.

4- Gas-Driven Solvent Extraction: Used for whole cores

where fluid saturation are not needed. The core is

cleaned by repeated cycles of internal dissolved-gas

drive. Toluene saturated with carbon dioxide is injected

under pressure into the rock and pressure is rapidly

released to expand the carbon dioxide and flush the

solvent through the pore space removing the oil and

water.

5- Other methods

Solvents Used for Cleaning

The core cleaning process is said to be successful when

all the contaminants are removed from the surface of the

rock leaving it strongly water-wet (Gant and Anderson-

1986). Core cleaning is mostly a trial-and error process

where the selection of the best solvents to be used

greatly depends on the experience with particular rocks.

It has been shown that mixtures of solvents work better

than single solvents (Gant and Anderson-1986, Cuiec).

Common solvent mixtures are chloroform/methanol,

toluene/methanol, toluene/ethanol, benzene, and carbon

disulphide among others. Some mixtures work better for

different types of rocks and fluids. Sandstones are known

to have a surface of acid type while limestones have a

surface of basic type. Because of the surface types of this

rock surfaces, acidic solvents tend to clean better the

sandstones while basic solvents tend to clean better the

limestones (Cuiec-1975).

Distillation-Extraction (Dean-Stark and Soxhlet)

Procedure:

Figure 2-1 shows a sketch of the distillation-extraction

device. The main components are a volumetric flask

containing the solvents, a heating mantle to heat the

solvents in the volumetric flask, a reflux core chamber

where the core is exposed to the boiled solvent, and a

condenser to condense the solvent

 Apparatus of
experiment
1- Soxhlet extraction tube.
2- Liebig condenser.
3- Water trap.
4- 500 ml boiling flask.
5- Whitman thimble.
6- Electrical heater.
7- Fume (extracting) chamber.
8- Tongs.
9- Commercial grade toluene.
10- Cold water supply.

Figure 2-1 Soxhlet - Extraction Device

 Principle of Soxlhlet
Method
A soxhlet extraction apparatus is the most common

method for cleaning core samples and it is routinely used

by most laboratories.

Toluene is brought to a slow boil in a Pyrex flask, it is

vapors move upward and the core becomes engulfed in

the toluene vapors at approximately 12 degree

centigrade eventual water within the core sample in the

thimble will be vaporized.

The toluene and water vapors enter the inner chamber of

the condenser, the cold water circulating about the inner

chambercondenses both vapors to immiscible liquids.

Re-condensed toluene together with liquid water falls

from the base of the condenser on the core sample in the

thimble, the toluene soaks the core sample and dissolves

any oil with which it comes into the contact. When the

liquid level within the soxhlet tube reaches the top of the

siphon tube arrangement, the lquied within the soxhlet

tube are automatically emptied by a siphon effect and

flow in to the boiling flask.

The toluene is then ready to start another cycle. A

complete extraction may take several days or several

weeks in the case of low API gravity crude or presence of

heavy residual hydrocarbon within the core.

 Procedure

1- Remove the sample from the oil and carefully blot dry

an excess oil.

2- Place the sample inside the Wathman thimble and

quickly weight the sample and sample using the

analytical balance.

3- Leave the sample in the thimble.

4- Re- assembles the apparatus as shown in the figure 1,

tighten the ground joint fitting but dont apply sealing or

lubricant.

5- Turn on the water supply to begin circulation in the

condenser.
6- Turn on the heater and adjust the rate of the boiling so

that the reflex from the condenser is a few drops of

solvents (toluene) per second.

7- Allow the extraction to continue for several hours with

a minimum of 7 cycles or until the thimble content

dissolved oil stain and is close to original color.

8- Monitor the toluene level during the extraction to

ensure that the sample remains completely submerged in

addition.

9- When the extraction is complete the solvent will be

clean or water white depending on the color of oil

removed.

10- Read the volume of the water collected in the water

trap, if any.

Note
In many cases the sample have been prepared using oil

only to saturate the core sample, therefore the absence

of water does not mean an invalid test.

11- Return the thimble containing the sample to the

instructor, who will place them in the drying oven at (105

- 120) degree centigrade.

12- The instructor will advise when to return to collect the

dried sample (sometimes will be the next day).

13- Place the dried sample in desiccators for a few hours

prior to weighting to ensure that they are completely

dried.

14- Place the thimble containing the sample in the

analytical balance, measure the weight of the thimble

and dried core sample and record the result.

15- Remove the sample and then weight the empty

thimble, record the results or note if there are any grains

of the sample remaining in the thimble in the space

provide.

Calculation Plan
1- The volume of the water caught in the trap is the direct

measure of the volume of the water in the sample.

2- From the above step and with the use of equation no.1

we can obtain water saturation Sw.

3- If the volume of water in the trap is zero, then Vw = Sw

= 0.

4- The weight of the core sample before and after

extraction can be calculated by weight difference

method.

5- The total of the fluid (water, oil and gas) extracted

from the core sample is the difference between the

saturation weight and the dry weight.

6- The weight of gas in the sample is usually neglected as

it will be insignificant compared with the weight of liquids.

 Result of Experiment

The results from core cleaning is to purify the core from

any impurities that deposit in the core, this operation give

the core show a real properties without minimum error.

Reference
1. Park, A., 1985, Coring, Part 2core barrel types and
uses: World Oil, v. 200, p. 8390.

2. Bradburn, F. R., Cheatham, C. A., 1988, Improved

core recovery in laminated sand shale sequences:
Journal of Petroleum Technology, v. 40, p. 1544
1546., 10., 2118/18570-PA

3.Toney, J. B., Speiglets, S. L., 1985, Coring, Part 6

sidewall operations: World Oil, v. 201, p. 2936.

4.American Petroleum Institute, 1960, RP-40

recommended practices for core analysis
procedures: Dallas, API, 55 p.