SPE 93517 Tuning EOS Using Molecular Thermodynamics To Construct Asphaltene Deposition
SPE 93517 Tuning EOS Using Molecular Thermodynamics To Construct Asphaltene Deposition
SPE 93517 Tuning EOS Using Molecular Thermodynamics To Construct Asphaltene Deposition
Asphaltenes are heavy, black materials dissolved in In this work only asphaltene-asphaltene and
most petroleum. When petroleum is produced or transferred, asphaltene- resin associations will be considered assuming that
asphaltenes can precipitate, plugging-up equipment and each asphaltene molecule has N identical association sites, and
thereby shutting down operations. Every effort is made by oil each resin chain has only one association site. Asphaltene can
companies to avoid asphaltene precipitation because, when it associate with each other, but resin chains can only associate
occurs, the cost of repair can be very large. It is important to with asphaltenes. The Helmholtz energy due to association is
establish the conditions (temperature, pressure, composition) given by Chap man et al., 1990
which make asphaltene does not precipitate, so it requires to
have information about onset pressure to prevent the A assoc ⎛ 1− x α ⎞ ⎛ 1 − x β ⎞ (2)
= NX A ⎜ ln x α + ⎟ + X R ⎜ ln x β + ⎟
precipitation. Because of deviation of Equation of state, it can RT ⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠
not used to predict the asphaltene onset pressure , the where XA and XR are, respectively, mole fractions of
existence of model to predict the asphaltene onset point is the asphaltene molecules and resin chains on a medium-free basis;
major task. This work is directed at establishing a reliable a xα is the fraction of association sites at asphaltene molecules
model based on molecular-thermodynamic theory which
that are not bonded; xβ is the fraction of association sites at
corrects the deviation of EOS.
resin chains that are not bonded. Fractions xα and xβ are given
2 SPE 93517
To apply this equations to asphaltene precipitation at reservoir by changing the adjustable parameters (E/kT) αα and (E/kT) ββ
conditions, it is needed first to establish a reliable method to
estimate required model parameters. The association Discussion
contribution to pressure is given by expression
For quantitative applications, molecular parameters
Passoc ∂ ⎛ Aassoc ⎞ (6) must be estimated independently or from a few experimental
=− ⎜ ⎟
RT ∂V ⎝ RT ⎠ data for the particular system of interest. The model
parameters of this model include the diameter of the
The pressure contribution from association is calculated from asphaltene molecule segment σA and the diameter of resin
equation (2) and (6) as: segment σR , asphaltene-asphaltene association energy
(E/kT)αα , the asphaltene-resin association energy (E/kT)αβ ,
the number of association sites of each asphaltene molecule N
Passoc 1⎛ ⎛ 1 − xα ⎞ ⎛ 1 − xβ ⎞ ⎞ (7)
= − ⎜⎜ N X A ⎜ ln xα + ⎟ + X R ⎜⎜ ln χ β + ⎟⎟ ⎟
⎟ , and the volume parameter kα. Also the segment densities of
RT V⎝ ⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠⎠ pure asphaltenes and pure resins should be known. These
properties are not readily obtained from typical asphaltene or
where V is the total volume, x α mole fraction of asphaltene crude-oil characterizations. For phase-equilibrium
free site, x β mole fraction of resin site. The total pressure P is calculations, We can use the average molecular weights and
given as a sum of the contributions from the SRK part and the densities for pure asphaltenes and resins. . As discussed by
association part. Speight (1991, 1994), the average molecular weights of
asphaltenes and resin chains are about 2,000 and 800 ,
P = PSRK + Passoc (8) respectively. The mass density of a typical asphaltene is about
1200 kg/m3, close to that of the heaviest hydrocarbons, and the
Where PSRK is give by : mass density of a typical resin is about 1,000 kg/m3 Speight,
(1991) From the mass densities and molecular weights, the
RT a number densities of pure asphaltenes and resin chains can be
P= − (9) calculated. Using the molecular weight of asphaltene and mass
V − b V (V + b ) density , the diameter of an asphaltene molecule segment lies
in a narrow range, 1.43 -1.58 nm. A value of σ=1.5 nm is
The total volume V, is calculated at pressure P presented by used in this calculation.
equation (8). The compressibility factor in this case is :
SPE 93517 3
Pressure, atm
400
Table 1: Parameter used in the study
Parameter Asphaltene Resin 300
Density* , kg/m3 1200 1000
Volume parameter, kα 0.05 0.05 200
Number of segments 1 10
Segment diameter, nm 1.5 0.5 100
300
Pressure, atm
300
200
200
100
360 370 380 390 400
Temperature, K
100 Figure 3: Comparison of ADE obtained by molecular
350 375 400 425 450 thermodynamic model with experimental ( Crude S)
Temperature, K
Figure 1: Comparison of ADE obtained by molecular It is noticed that from the data presented in table 4 that the
thermodynamic model with experimental ( Crude F) value of asphaltene self association (E/kT)αα is ranging
between 3-20 and that of asphaltene-resin interacting is
ranging between 6-30. If we use an average value of 10 and 16
For calculation of mole fraction of asphaltene and volume of respectively, the model become completely predictive. Table
the crude at different temperature and pressure flash 5 shows summary of error analysis for onset pressure
calculation was used. (equations 8 through 128 ) . This calculation when using (E/kT)αα and (E/kT)αβ as fitting
equations are highly non – linear and Newton’s raphson was parameters and when using average values Work is underway
used to solve the equations.. to measure asphaltene/resin interactive energies for a broad
data base of crude oils.
Conclusion
on asphaltene precipitation. This model can be applied to characterization most often used is to stop at C7+. The
identify the operation conditions at the onset of asphaltene reservoir fluid compositional analysis is usually carried out by
precipitation, asphaltenes and resins. The parameters related to defining the pure hydrocarbon components (C1 - C6), non-
association interactions, N , E/kT and Masph, are confined hydrocarbons (N2 , H2S, CO2), and grouping components
within physically meaningful lower and upper limits of onset heavier than heptane or decane into one components or limited
pressure . However, because calculated results are often number of pseudo-components. Because EOS accuracy
sensitive to these parameters, and because asphaltenes and depends on number and characterization of the plus-fraction,
resins in crude oils differ from one crude oil to another, in based on molecular weight and density of C7+ fraction , this
typical cases, they must be correlated with some experimental fraction is divided into 10 or 12 pseudocomponents.,
data for the particular crude oil of interest. It is expected if the
interactive energies are measured by micro-calorimeter , the In this study Katz (1983) method was used and the resulting
model will be completely predictive. relationship can be conveniently expressed mathematically by
the following expression:
Acknowledgement
M. A. Fahim would like to thank Kuwait University Zn = 1.38205 Z7+ e-0.25903 n (I-1)
for granting him the sabbatical year 2003/2004 where he spent
part of it at Denmark Technical University. where
Z7+ = mole fraction of C7+
Nomenclature n = number of carbon atoms
Zn = mole fraction of pseudo-component with n
Aassoc Association part of correction carbon atoms
P Pressure
R Gas constant
T Temperature The molecular weight and density of last fraction (n+) is
N Number of chain calculated as follows:
M Molecular weight n
xα mole fraction of asphaltene free site MWn+ = [ Z7+ MW7+ - ∑ (Zn . MWi)]/Zn+ (I-2)
xβ mole fraction of resin free site i=7
XA mole fraction of asphaltene
XR mole fraction of resin n
E Association Energy SGn+=Zn+ MWn+ /(Z7+ MW7+ / SG7+) - ∑(Zn . MWi/Zi) (I-3)
σ Mean diameter i=7
κ Volume parameter
Once the mole fraction and the molecular weight and gravity
ρΑ Density of asphaltne
of each subtraction are determined, critical properties and
ρR Density of resin
acentric factor are calculated
φiL Fugacity coefficient in liquid phase
To use the EOS, it is required to characterize the
φiV Fugacity coefficient in vapor phase
subtractions by estimating their critical properties, The
φis Fugacity coefficient in solid phase Pedersen et al. (1989) correlation is used to calculate critical
ghsij Contact of the pair correlation function properties and acentric factor for the pseudo-fractions forming
heptane plus using the molecular weight (MW) and density
Κi Equilibrium ratio
(SG) of the subtraction as follows:
z Feed fraction
Z Compressibility factor
Pc Critical pressure Tc = 1.6312x102. SG+ 8.6052*101- ln(MW) + 4.3475x10-
1
Tc Critical pressure .MW-1.8774x10-3/MW (I-4)
ω Acentric factor
lnPc = -1.3408x10-1 + 2.5019. SG + 2.0846x102/MW -
a First SRK parameter
3.9872x103/MW2 (I-5)
b Second SRK parameter
The acentric factor is calculated from the following equations:
Appendix
m = 0.48 + 1.574ω - 0.176ω2 (I-6)
Since Petroleum fluids consist of thousands of
different hydrocarbon constituents. The diversity of the where
chemical structure of the individual components increases
with carbon number; it is therefore impractical to analyze for m = 7.4310x10 -1 + 4.8122x10 -3 . MW +9.6707x10-3. SG -
all the C7+ components. A standard composition analysis 3.7184x10-6. MW2 (I-7)
SPE 93517 5
where Tc is in K, Pc in atm, MW is in g/mol, and SG is in Jamalddin, A.K.M. , Nighswander, J.N. SPE 80261, 2003
g/cm3
Katz, D., “JPT, June 1983, pp. 1205-1214
Oil n gas mixture is a complicated system with
special characterization. However one can assume that there is Merino-Garcia , D. and Andersen , S. I (2003); 4th
no heavy hydrocarbon with high molecular weight such as international conference on petroleum Phase behaviour ,
asphaltene in vapor phase. The following material balance can Norway
be written :
Pedeson, K. S. Fredenslund, Aa., ThomassenP., 1989. Gulf
n n
z i K iVL Publishing, Huston.
∑1 i ∑i V ( K VL − 1) − S + 1 = 1
x V
= (I-8)
i Sorensen , C. ; (2003) M-Sc thesis, Technecal university of
Denmark.
n n
zi
∑x
1
i
L
=∑
i V (K VL
− 1) − S ( K iSL − 1) + 1
=1 (I-9)
Speight, J. G., The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum,
i
Dekker, . New York 1991.
K nSL z n (I-10) Speight, J. G. . Arab. J. Sci. Eng., 19, 335 1994 .
x nS =
1 − V + S ( K nSL − 1)
Wu, J., J. M. Prausnitz, and A. Firoozabadi, AIChE J., 44,.
Where 1188 1998 .
Pci ⎡ T ⎤
K iVL = exp ⎢5.37(1 + ω i )(1 − ci )⎥ (I-13)
P ⎣ T ⎦
φiL and φiV can be calculated from SRK - EOS and for φiS
can be evaluated from solid phase fugacity at reference point.
References
Table 4: Calculation result of different crude for molecular Thermodynamic method (Continue)