Journal of Natural Gas Chemistry 19(2010)642645

An efficient correlation for calculating compressibility factor of natural gases

Navid Azizi , Dr. R. Behbahani, Dr. M. A. Isazadeh
Gas Engineering Department, Petroleum University of Technology, Ahwaz, Iran [ Manuscript received November 9, 2009; revised January 11, 2010 ]

Abstract Compressibility factor (z-factor) values of natural gases are necessary in most petroleum engineering calculations. Necessity arises when there are few available experimental data for the required composition, pressure and temperature conditions. One of the most common methods of calculating z-factor values is empirical correlation. Firstly, a new correlation based on the famous Standing-Katz (S-K) Chart is presented to predict z-factor values. The advantage of this correlation is that it is explicit in z and thus does not require an iterative solution as is required by other methods. Secondly, the comparison between new one and other correlations is carried out and the results indicate the superiority of the new correlation over the other correlations used to calculate z-factor. Key words natural gas; compressibility factor; explicit correlation

1. Introduction Compressibility factor (z-factor) values of natural gases are necessary in most petroleum engineering calculations. The most common sources of z -factor values are experimental measurements, equations of state method and empirical correlations. Necessity arises when there are few available experimental data for the required composition, pressure and temperature conditions. The reasons for unavailability of experimental data are that it is hard to determine experimentally measured z-factor values for all compositions of gases on the whole ranges of pressures and temperatures and also that method is expensive and most of the time these measurements are gotten at reservoir temperatures only. What is presented here is a correlation based on the famous Standing-Katz (SK) Chart to predict z-factor values. The volume of a real gas is usually less than that of the ideal gas, and hence a real gas is said to be supercompressible. The ratio of the real volume to the ideal volume, which is a measure of the amount the gas deviating from perfect behavior, is called the supercompressibility factor, sometimes shortened to the compressibility factor. It is also called the gas deviation factor and is denoted as the symbol z . The gas deviation factor is defined by the ratio of the volume actually

occupied by a gas at a given pressure and temperature to the volume it would occupy if it behaved ideally. Va Actual volume of n moles gas at T and P = Vi Ideal volume of n moles gas at same T and P

z=

The real gas equation of state is then written as: P V = nzRT where, P is the pressure, V is the volume, T is the absolute temperature, z is the compressibility factor, n is the number of kilo-moles of the gas, and R is the gas constant. The gas deviation factor, z , is close to 1 at low pressure and high temperature, which means that the gas behaves like an ideal gas in these conditions. At standard or atmospheric conditions the gas z factor is always approximately 1. Compressibility factor of natural gases is necessary in most petroleum and natural gas engineering calculations. Some of these calculations are gas metering, gas compression, design of processing units, and design of pipeline and surface facilities. Compressibility factor of natural gases is also important in the calculation of gas flow rate through reservoir rock, material balance calculations, evaluation of gas reserves, and reservoir simulations.

Corresponding author. Tel: +98-711-6220290; Cell: +98-917-7174932; E-mail: zei.nav2006@gmail.com This work has been financed by the National Iranian Gas Company through the Gas Research Center of Ahwaz Petroleum University of Technology.

Copyright2010, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S1003-9953(09)60081-5

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1.1. Methods of z-factor calculating 1.1.1. Equations of state methods Cubic equations of state (EOSs) are simple equations relating pressure, volume, and temperature (PVT). They accurately describe the volumetric and phase behavior of pure compounds and mixtures, requiring only critical properties and acentric factor of each component. The same equation is used to calculate the properties of all phases, thereby ensuring consistency in reservoir processes that approach critical conditions. Multiple phase behavior, such as lowtemperature CO2 flooding, can be treated with an EOS, and even water/hydrocarbon-phase behavior can be predicted accurately with a cubic EOS. Volumetric behavior is calculated by solving the simple cubic equation, usually expressed in terms of z = P V /nRT : z 3 + A1 z 2 + A2 z + A3 = 0 where, constants A1 , A2 and A3 are functions of pressure, temperature and phase composition. The critical properties, acentric factor, molecular weight, and binary-interaction parameters (BIPs) of components in mixture are required for EOS calculations. With the existing chemical-separation techniques, we usually cannot identify the many hundreds and thousands of components found in reservoir fluids. Another problem with the existing EOS and other methods of predicting EOS parameters is that they cannot predict properties of components heavier than approximately C20 . 1.1.2. Empirical correlations methods Several different correlations are available for this important parameter. The basic correlations use the corresponding states concept [1]. The theory of Corresponding States proposes that all gases will exhibit the same behavior, e.g. z-factor, when viewed in terms of reduced pressure, reduced volume, and reduced temperature. Mathematically, this principle can be defined as: z = f (T r , P r ) By definition Tr = T P &P r = Tc Pc

mixing rule [3] if the composition of the gas and the critical properties of the individual components are known. Otherwise, the pseudo critical temperature and pressure may be estimated using correlations based on gas specific gravity. 2. History of the z-factor correlations Probably the most widely accepted correlation for natural gas mixtures is the Standing-Katz (S-K) z-factor chart [4]. The S-K chart was developed using data for binary mixtures of methane with propane, ethane, butane, and natural gases having a wide range of composition. None of the gas mixtures had molecular weights in excess of 40. The S-K chart is actually a modification and extension of a generalized z-factor chart developed by Brown and Holcomb [5,6] (BH) and is identical to the BH chart at reduced pressures less than 4. Above this value, the BH chart was found to be consistently inaccurate; therefore, Standing and Katz used data from 16 natural gas mixtures, along with methane z-factors as a guide, to extend the chart to reduced pressures of 15. Since the S-K chart appeared in the literature in 1941, several correlations have been developed which effectively reproduce and extend the chart. This chart correlates z-factor as a function of pseudo reduced pressure and temperature. 2.1. Compressibility-factor correlations For years, engineers have used empirical correlations instead of the existing tables and charts for determining the gas compressibility factor. The effective use of the correlations, however, lies in an understanding of the way they were derived and the knowledge of their limitations. This section presents a review of several widely used correlations. The correlations are divided into two groups: direct and iterative relations. Several widely used correlations are: 2.1.1. Direct relations 1) Papp Correlation [7] 2) Shell Oil Company Correlation [8] 3) Beggs and Brill Correlation [9] 2.1.2. Iterative relations 1) Hall-Yarborough Correlation [10] 2) Dranchuk-Abu-Kassem Correlation [11] 3. New proposed correlation This correlation is based on 3038 points from the Standing and Katz z -factor chart. z = A+ B+C D+E (1)

where, P r and T r are reduced pressure and reduced temperature, respectively, and P c and T c are critical pressure and critical temperature of the gas, respectively. The values of critical pressure and critical temperature can be estimated from the mixing rules such as Kays rule, SBVs rule [2] and Sutton

644 where,

Navid Azizi et al./ Journal of Natural Gas Chemistry Vol. 19 No. 6 2010

Table 1. Tuned coefficients used in above Equations Coefficient a b c d e f g h i j Tuned coefficients Coefficient Tuned coefficients 0.0373142485385592 k 24449114791.1531 0.0140807151485369 l 19357955749.3274 0.0163263245387186 m 126354717916.607 0.0307776478819813 n 623705678.385784 13843575480.943800 o 17997651104.3330 16799138540.763700 p 151211393445.064 1624178942.6497600 q 139474437997.172 13702270281.086900 r 24233012984.0950 41645509.896474600 s 18938047327.5205 237249967625.01300 t 141401620722.689

A = aT r 2.16 + bP r 1.028 + cP r 1.58 T r 2.1 + dln(T r)0.5 (2) B = e + f T r2.4 + gP r 1.56 + hP r 0.124 T r 3.033 C = iln(T r )1.28 + jln(T r)1.37 + kln(P r )+ lln(P r )2 + mln(P r )ln(T r ) D = 1 + nT r5.55 + oP r 0.68 T r 0.33 E = pln(T r )1.18 + qln(T r )2.1 + rln(P r )+ sln(P r )2 + tln(P r )ln(T r ) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Table 2. Statistical accuracy of z-factor correlation (3038 data points) This study Dranchuk-Abu Kassem Hall & Yarborogh Shell Oil Co. Beggs & Brill Papp Er 3.5105 0.00288 0.00147 0.00044 0.01734 0.00758 Ea 0.00323 0.00378 0.00365 0.00712 0.02118 0.01547 ERMS 0.00497 0.00761 0.00853 0.01196 0.02531 0.04124 R2 0.99965 0.99943 0.99942 0.99785 0.98187 0.98036

The tuned coefficients in Equations (1)(6) are given in Table 1. In order to calculate these coefficients, curve fitting software is utilized. Equation (1) has been presented to estimate the sweet gases compressibility factor over the range of 0.2 P r 11 (217 P r values) & 1.1 T r 2 (14 T r values). The new z -factor correlation presented in this study has smaller error range than that of the other correlations. Among the z -factor correlations considered in this study, the new correlation shows the smallest average absolute error and the highest coefficient of determination R2 . The error calculations for this equation are reported in Table 2.

Figure 1 shows the increased accuracy in calculated z -factor as a result of using new proposed correlation as opposed to the results obtained from using Beggs & Brill, Shell Oil Co. and Papp correlations.

Figure 1. Predicted z-factor data by different correlations vs. measured z-factor data

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4. Case study In this case example, the z-factor data for a gas sample with the following properties and conditions are calculated by different methods (see Table 3). Finally these predicted data are compared with experimental z-factor data (see Table 4) and the results are shown in Figure 2.

required by other methods. The accuracy of the proposed gas compressibility factor correlation was compared with other correlations. The comparison indicates the superiority of the new correlation over the other correlations used to calculate compressibility factor of natural gases.
Acknowledgements The lead author would like to thank Dr. Isazadeh and Dr. Behbahani for their help during the undertaking of this project. Finally, the authors would like to thank Mr. Sharifi for his inspiring idea which led to development of this correlation. This work has been financed by the National Iranian Gas Company through the Gas Research Center of Ahwaz Petroleum University of Technology. The financial support is gratefully acknowledged and appreciated. Nomenclature Ea Average absolute percent error Average percent error Er ERMS Root mean square error N Number of kilomoles of the gas P Pressure, kPa Pc Critical pressure, kPa Pseudo-reduced pressure Ppr Pr Reduced pressure R Gas constant, J/(molK) Coefficient of determination R2 SD Standard deviation T Absolute temperature, K Tc Critical temperature, K Pseudo-reduced temperature Tpr Tr Reduced temperature t Reciprocal of the pseudo-reduced temperature V Volume, m3 Vc Critical volume, m3 z Compressibility factor r Reduced gas density

Figure 2. Measured and predicted compressibility factor for the gas sample

While a good estimation of pseudo critical pressure and pseudo critical temperature will lead to correct estimation of z-factor data, Tpc and Ppc for all correlations are calculated by an exact mixing rule which was proposed by Elsharkawy [12].
Table 3. Physical properties of the gas sample Components CO2 H2 S N2 C1 C2 C3 iC4 nC4 Mole (%) 0.0131 0.057 0.0052 0.9151 0.0084 0.0008 0.0002 0.0002 T c (o R) 547.45 672.45 227.27 343.04 549.76 665.68 734.65 765.32 Pc (psi) 1071 1300 493 667.8 707.8 616.3 529.1 550.7

Table 4. Experimental data of the gas sample Temperature (o F) 100 Pressure (psi) 600 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 4000 5000 zexp. * 0.913 0.883 0.843 0.816 0.808 0.815 0.867 0.945

References
[1] Xiang H W. The Corresponding-States Principle and its Practice. Elsevier Science & Technology, 2005. 9 [2] Elsharkawy A M. Fluid Phase Equilibria, 2004, 218: 1 [3] Sutton J R. Soc Mech Engineers, 1965, 76 [4] Standing M B, Katz D L. Trans AIME, 1942, 140: 146 [5] Brown G G. The Compressibility of Gases, Part I-Pure Gases. Pet Eng, 1940: 21 [6] Brown G G, Holcomb D E. The Compressibility of Gases, Part II-Gaseous Mixtures. Pet Eng, 1940: 23 [7] Najim A M. [MS Dissertation]. Dhahran: King Fahd University, 1995 [8] Kumar N. A Thesis in Petroleum Eng, 2004: 14, 15, 23 [9] Guo B, Ghalambor A. Natural Gas Engineering Handbook, Gulf Publishing Company, 2005. 22 [10] Yarborough L, Hall K R. Oil & Gas J, 1973, 82 [11] Dranchuk P M, Abou-Kassem J H. J Can Petrol Tech, 1975, 14: 34 [12] Elsharkawy A M. Fluid Phase Equilibria, 2004, 218: 1

* experimental z-factor data

5. Conclusions In this article, a new correlation for a rapid estimation of the z-factor for sweet gases is studied. This correlation is developed based on 3038 points from the Standing and Katz z-factor chart. The advantage of this correlation is that it is explicit in Z and thus does not require an iterative solution as is