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The American Petroleum Institute gravity, or API gravity, is a measure of how heavy or light a petroleum liquid is compared to water: if its API gravity is greater than 10, it is lighter and floats on water; if less than 10, it is heavier and sinks.
Since API gravity is an inverse measure of a liquid's density relative to that of water, it can be calculated by first dividing the liquid's density by the density of water at a base temperature (usually 60 °F) to compute Specific Gravity (SG), then converting the Specific Gravity to Degrees API as follows: = =
API gravity, a measure of the density of petroleum. API number, a unique identifier applied to each petroleum exploration or production well drilled in the United States. API unit, a standard measure of natural gamma radiation measured in a borehole. [16] "Non-API", an item (e.g., tubular connector) not conforming to API standards
The API separator is a gravity separation device designed using Stokes' law principles that define the rise velocity of oil droplets based on their density, size and water properties. The design of the separator is based on the specific gravity difference between the oil and the wastewater because that difference is much smaller than the ...
The clear cut definition of light and heavy crude varies because the classification is based more on practical grounds than theoretical. The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) defines light crude oil for domestic U.S. oil as having an API gravity between 37° API (840 kg/m 3) and 42° API (816 kg/m 3), while it defines light crude oil for non-U.S. oil as being between 32° API (865 kg/m 3 ...
Thus, the API gravity or specific gravity is widely used for the classification of crude oils, based on a scheme proposed by the American Petroleum Institute (Table 1). A high API value >30 means a light crude with paraffinic character; a low API value means a heavy crude with increasing aromatic character. Table 1.
Heavy crude oils have lower API gravity figures, and a larger percentage of impurities. [9] It is used in the making of heavier outputs - e.g., asphalt [6] - and has a higher viscosity, making it more difficult to transport and extract.
The API gravity scale is a result of adapting to the subsequent errors from the Baumé scale. The Baumé scale is related to the Balling, Brix , Plato and ' specific gravity times 1000' scales. [ remove or clarification needed ]