Title: Gas permeameter for polymers and nanocomposites: Improvements and advances

Abstract

Gas permeability in homogeneous semipermeable materials such as semicrystalline polymers is the object of research in several fields, in particular, in the oil and natural gas prospecting industries. However, information on gas transport coefficients under extreme pressures and temperatures is rarely found in the literature. Therefore, the objective of this work is to showcase a medium pressure gas permeameter suitable for polymeric and polymeric nanocomposite plates, developed by the authors, which was validated with Nitrogen at 1 MPa and 69ºC (342.15 K) using pure high density polyethylene samples (HDPE) and samples with nanoclay, redoing the tests published in a previous work. The obtained results were compared against data gathered in a previous work and data found in literature, validating the new model of this equipment, which is capable of analyzing gas permeability under the described conditions with greater accuracy than the previous model for the values of the transport coefficients of Nitrogen in HDPE, demonstrating that the implemented improvements and advances were adequate, allowing the measurement of the transport properties of gases permeating polymeric and nanocomposite plates, necessary information for the design of risers for the transportation of oil and natural gas, for example.