An apparatus for phase equilibrium studies of carbon dioxide+heavy hydrocarbon systems

An apparatus for measuring the solubility of gas in liquid and that of liquid or solid in gas has been constructed. The apparatus can be used at system temperatures ranging from 20 to 70°C and at system pressures up to 15 MPa. The solubilities were determined by means of gravimetric measurements. The solubilities measured in this study for the carbon dioxide+n-decane and carbon dioxide + naphthalene systems agree very well with the literature values. The vapor-liquid equilibria of the carbon dioxide+Peace River bitumen system at 45 and 55 °C were studied. The new data indicate that the supercritical-fluid carbon dioxide can extract a fair amount of the light components from Peace River bitumen.