Republic of Iraq

Ministry of higher education

University of Karbala

College of Engineering

Petroleum engineering department

“ Density and Specific gravity “

Experiment.1
Reservoir Laboratory

Supervisor : Mr.Hussain

By :

Aqeel Ali Hashim

Taha Muhammed

Third Class
1.Introduction
1.1 Density is one of the most prevalent physical property used to classify and
characterize fluids also, we can use the density as an indication of how heavy or
light fluids are . For crud petroleum density is an important measure of its overall
quality . This because light petroleum is generally easier to produce and refine then
heavy petroleum , and there for have higher value .

1.2 Petroleum density can be expressed by specific gravity which is a

dimensionless quantity that can be defined as the ratio of the density of a substance
to the density of a reference substance (usually fresh water for petroleum and air
for natural gas ).

1.3 More often we express density by API gravity (American Petroleum institute)
which is nothing more than the standard specific gravity used in petroleum
industry .

API gravity is a measure of how light or heavy petroleum is compared with water
and is the inverse measure of specific gravity (for example if one petroleum liquid
is less dense than another , it has greater API) API for water is 10 if the petroleum
liquid has an API>10 it floats over water and if API<10 it sinks. We can express

the API relation mathematically as : ᵧ

API = (141.5/ ) – 131.5

Where ᵧ is the specific gravity which is given by : ᵧ= ρoil /ρ water .

1.4 Generally , crud petroleum specific gravity range is (0.7 – 0.95) and the
petroleum products have the range of the following :

Gasoline 0.7 – 0.75

0.75 – 0.8 Kerosene

Gas oil 0.8 – 0.85

Lubricants 0.85 – 0.9

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2.Theory
2.1 In this experiment we used the Hydrometer method for determining the
specific gravity for some petroleum products like gasoline , kerosene and gas oil
and the values measured must fall in the ranges set so, we can say that this
products met the required specifications .

2.2 There are many types of hydrometers each one of them is set to measure a
specific range of specific gravity and so, each hydrometer is used to determine if a
certain type of petroleum products met the required specifications or not and to
figure out if the certain product is lighter or heavier than required according to the
behavior of hydrometer when put in the liquid . Also, there is a general hydrometer
used for all specific gravity values measurement but it lakes accuracy .

2.3 Temperature is an important factor that effect the values of density and specific
gravity so, we should record the temperature before measuring the density and
relate the measured value with the fact that the relation between Temperature and
density is inverse . Also we must determine the density at S.C which is 15.6C

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3.Purpose
 Determine the specific gravity by several methods :
Hydrometer
Pycnometer

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4.Appartus

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5. Procedure

5.1 A graduated 500ml cylinder was taken in which its inside diameter is 25ml
greater than the outside and it height fits the hydrometer to float and then it was
cleaned and dried.

5.2 The graduated cylinder with the test portion (gasoline , kerosene , gas oil ).

5.3 The appropriate hydrometer was lowered into the liquid and released at the
position of equilibrium.

5.4 The hydrometer was allowed to come to rest.

5.5 The scale readings was taken when the hydrometer was flowing freely and the
principle surface of the liquid cuts the scale , and by putting the eye slightly below
the liquid level and go up to read the scale at liquid surface.

5.6 The hydrometer was lift and cleaned immediately after the readings was
recorded.

5.7 The API gravity values was found by applying the specific gravity values taken
from the hydrometer in the API relation

ᵧ
API = (141.5/ ) – 131.5

By : Aqeel & Taha Third Class Reservoir Laboratory

7. Discussion

7.1 Q1/what is the hydrometer ?

Sol/ Hydrometer is an instrument made of glass and consist of a cylindrical stem

and a bulb weighted with mercury or lead shot to make it float up right used to
measure the specific gravity of a liquid .

7.2 Q2/ what is the relation between API and oil prices?

Sol/ API gravity is a factor controlling the oil prices as the API of a petroleum
liquid is high its price will be high too , but its not a certain indication cause it must
be correlated with other properties .

7.3 Q3/How can you describe the relation between density and temperature ?
explain?

Sol/the relation between the density of a liquid and its temperature is inverse
because at heating the volume of the liquid will be increase leading to density
decreasing according to the following relation :

ρ=mass/volume

7.4 Q4/Describe the behavior of a hydrometer when but in a liquid less dens then
its range ?

Sol/ The hydrometer will sink in the liquid as the inverse happens when the
hydrometer is put in a denser liquid then its range it will float high and the surface
of the liquid will be too far from the readings .

7.5 Q5/how can we find if a petroleum product has a water in it ?

Sol/usually, when we notice that there is a large difference between the density in
the top of the tank that contains the certain product and the density in the bottom
we use water finding dye which changes color to indicates that there is a water in
the certain petroleum product and then treat it.

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8.References

8.1_ "API gravity" petroleum.co.uk, http://www.petroleum.co.uk/api

8.2_"API gravity" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,

http://en.1wikipedia.org/wiki/API_gravity

8.3_"measurement units and conversion factors" oil and gas industry overview,
http://www.ihrdc.com/els/podemo/module01/mod_001_03.htm

8.4_"measurment and testing" petro industry news, http://ww.petro-

online.com/articles/measurement-and-
testing/14/sandra_chirk/_density_measurement_in_the_petroleum_industry/1102/

By : Aqeel & Taha Third Class Reservoir Laboratory