Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Failure life determination of oilfield elastomer seals in sour gas/dimethyl disulfide environments

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6675680
;  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Exxon Production Research Co., Houston, TX (US)
  2. FMC Corp., Central Engineering Labs., Santa Clara, CA (US)
  3. FMC Corp., Wellhead Equipment, Houston, TX (US)

Previous screening tests of various oilfield elastomers in sour gas/dimethyl disulfide environments indicated that hydrogenated nitrile (HNBR), tetrafluoroethylene-propylene (TFE/P), ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM), and perfluorinated rubber (FFKM) elastomers may perform satisfactorily in these environments. This paper describes subsequent failure life tests conducted with the subject elastomers in the sour gas/dimethyl disulfide test environment at several elevated temperatures (> 135{degrees}C). The materials were tested in the form of O-rings (size 214), which were used to seal an autoclave containing the test environment at 14 MPa gas pressure. The results were used to extrapolate time to failure at a common reference temperature of 135{degrees}C. The performance of EPDM and HNBR in the sour gas/dimethyl disulfide mixture substantially exceeded a projected 20-year service life at 135{degrees}C, while FFKM and TFE/P did not.

OSTI ID:
6675680
Report Number(s):
CONF-890437--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English