Petroleum Development Laboratory
Established in 1984, the Petroleum Development Laboratory (PDL) is a state of the art research laboratory conducting energy related research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The primary function of PDL is to explore the various aspects of enhanced oil and gas recovery research. In addition to addressing the unique challenges confronting the petroleum industry, it provides excellent laboratories to supplement petroleum engineering courses. Petroleum engineering students at UAF have access to PDL facilities that match or rival what is being used by industry today. Research conducted at PDL includes basic and advanced studies of oil displacement, reservoir properties of the Alaska fields, thermal recovery, miscible flooding, improved water flooding, gas hydrates, gas-to-liquids (GTL) conversion and transportation, drilling and production. PDL facilities are also supplemented by well equipped reservoir rock and fluid properties, and drilling fluids teaching laboratories respectively. Some of the key facilities at PDL include:
• TEMCO High Pressure, High Temperature Fully Automated PVT System
• A fully automated DBR apparatus for studying formation/dissociation of hydrates
• High pressure-high temperature Anton-Paar density meter and viscometer
• GC/MS systems for compositional analysis
• Fluid recombination cell
• Slim tube set-up for minimum miscibility pressure determination
• Set of Brookfield viscometers
• Freezing point depression apparatus for molecular weight measurements
• Reservoir characterization/modeling laboratory equipped with excellent computing facilities
In addition to the above conventional equipment and facilities, petroleum engineering graduate students routinely design and develop specialized experimental set-ups for specific research projects. These include:
• Relative permeability rig for measuring gas-water relative permeability of hydrate systems
• Formation Damage rig for studying drilling fluids dynamic filtration in gas hydrate systems
• Flow loop for dynamic solid deposition studies
• Reservoir condition core flooding rig
• Displacement apparatus for petrophysical property determination of coalbed methane cores
