Advances in Engineering Advances in Engineering features breaking research judged by Advances in Engineering advisory team to be of key importance in the Engineering field. Papers are selected from over 10,000 published each week from most peer reviewed journals.
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2013, 52 (33), pp 11732–11740
Yue Wu, Babatunde A. Bamgbade , Hseen Baled , Robert M. Enick , Ward A. Burgess ,Deepak Tapriyal , Mark A. McHugh.
Department of Energy, Office of Research and Development, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236, United States and
Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284, United States and
Department of Chemical, Petroleum Engineering,University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261 and
National Energy Technology Laboratory-Regional University Alliance (NETL-RUA), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236, United States.
Abstract
Experimental density data for o-xylene, m-xylene, p-xylene, and 2-methylnaphthalene, are reported at pressures (P) to 265 MPa and temperatures (T) to 525 K using a variable-volume, high-pressure cell. The reported data agree to within ±0.4% of available literature data. o-Xylene has the largest densities and p-xylene has the smallest densities in the P–T range investigated in this study although the 525 K isotherms for all three aromatics virtually superpose at high pressures. The aromatic densities are modeled using the Peng–Robinson (PR), high-temperature, high-pressure, volume-translated Peng–Robinson (HTHP VT-PR), and perturbed chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT) equations of state (EoS). Generally, the PC-SAFT EoS gives the best predictions of the HTHP density data with mean absolute percent deviations ({Delta}) within 1.0%, even though the pure-component parameters are fitted to low-pressure vapor pressure and saturated liquid density data. {Delta} decreases to 0.4% for calculations with a new set of PC-SAFT parameters obtained from a fit of the HTHP experimental density data obtained in this study.
Copyright © 2013 American Chemical Society
Additional Information:
The increasing consumption of global oils has led to the necessity of pursuing and recovering unconventional resources such as ultradeep reservoirs beneath the deep sea. High-pressure density data are one of the critical fundamental properties for the design and optimization of the processes related to safe exploration, recovery and purification of such oils in sedimentary basins approximately 6100 meters or more underground, at which the temperature and pressure can reach 523 K and 240 MPa, respectively. However, a significant challenge for the accurate fluid description associated with the safe exploration of these unconventional crude oil and natural gas resources is the (1) insufficient density characterization of the petroleum components at the extreme temperatures and pressures associated with the ultra-deep reservoirs; (2) the lack of accurate thermodynamic models, i.e. equation of state (EoS) models, which are able to correlate these fluid properties with temperatures and pressures. Even worse, given the absence of an extensive experimental density database at extreme conditions, current oil companies are using EoS models based on the database at relatively low temperatures and pressures. This study by Wu and coworkers is particularly relevant to overcoming these challenges in petroleum industry. Wu and coworkers experimentally determined the densities of several oil components (aromatic hydrocarbons) at ultra-deep reservoir conditions, which serve as a critical fundamental database for oil exploration. Wu and coworker also provide a new perspective of the strengths and limitations of contemporary EoS models on the density prediction at these extreme temperature and pressure conditions in this study.
