A generalized set of correlations for plus fraction characterization

Abstract

The importance of accurate determination of the critical properties of plus fractions in prediction of phase behaviour of hydrocarbon mixtures by equations of state is well known in the petroleum industry. It has been stated in various papers (Elsharkawy, 2001) that using the plus fraction as a single group in equation of state calculations reduces the accuracy of the results. However in this work it has been shown that using the proper values of critical temperature and pressure for the plus fraction group can estimate the properties of hydrocarbon mixtures, and they are accurate enough to be used in reservoir engineering and enhanced oil recovery calculations. In this paper, a new method is proposed for calculating the critical properties of plus fractions of petroleum fluids. One can use this method either in predicting critical pressure and temperature of single carbon numbers (SCNs) after the splitting process or in predicting critical pressure and temperature of the plus fraction as a single group. A comparison study is performed against Riazi-Daubert correlation (Riazi and Daubert, 1987) and Sancet correlations (Sancet, 2007) for 25 oil samples taken from 14 fields from southwest Iran. The results indicate the superiority of the proposed method to the Riazi-Daubert and Sancet correlations. © 2012 China University of Petroleum (Beijing) and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.