Version 4.4
February 2014
Disclaimer
While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this document is correct and that the
software and data to which it relates are free from errors, no guarantee is given or implied as to their correctness or
accuracy. Neither Infochem Computer Services Ltd nor any of its employees, contractors or agents shall be liable for
direct, indirect or consequential losses, damages, costs, expenses, claims or fee of any kind resulting from any
deficiency, defect or error in this document, the software or the data.
Contents
Overview 1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1
The Multiflash GUI ..................................................................................................... 1
Multiflash Software System....................................................................................................... 1
Document Organisation ............................................................................................................. 2
New Features and Changes in Version 4.4 and 4.3 ..................................................... 2
New Features and Changes in Version 4.2 .................................................................. 2
Running Multiflash...................................................................................................... 2
HELP ........................................................................................................................... 3
Case studies ................................................................................................................. 3
Appendix - Multiflash Commands .............................................................................. 3
Installation ................................................................................................................................. 3
Getting Started 13
Starting Multiflash ................................................................................................................... 13
Multiflash Main Window......................................................................................................... 13
Input section .............................................................................................................. 14
Conditions ................................................................................................................. 14
Fluid identification .................................................................................................... 14
Compositions............................................................................................................. 14
Results window ......................................................................................................... 14
Menu options............................................................................................................. 14
The Toolbar ............................................................................................................... 18
Defining a problem in Multiflash ............................................................................................ 18
Loading an existing problem file ............................................................................................. 18
Loading a problem setup file ..................................................................................... 18
Calculations ............................................................................................................... 19
The results ................................................................................................................. 19
Additional calculations .............................................................................................. 20
Setting up a new problem ........................................................................................................ 21
Clearing previous problems....................................................................................... 21
Defining the components........................................................................................... 21
Defining the models .................................................................................................. 22
Set Input Conditions .................................................................................................. 23
Carrying out the flash calculation.............................................................................. 23
Other calculations...................................................................................................... 24
Phase envelope .......................................................................................................... 24
Saving the problem setup......................................................................................................... 25
Backup file ................................................................................................................ 26
Loading a existing MFL file .................................................................................................... 26
Warning option for matching and PVT form........................................................................... 26
Printing the output ................................................................................................................... 26
Saving the output ..................................................................................................................... 27
How to exit the program .......................................................................................................... 27
Technical support..................................................................................................................... 28
Models 29
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 29
What is a model? ..................................................................................................................... 29
What types of model are available? ......................................................................................... 29
Components 63
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 63
Normal components................................................................................................... 63
Petroleum fractions.................................................................................................... 65
Defining a mixture ................................................................................................................... 65
Specifying the data source......................................................................................... 66
Selecting components................................................................................................ 66
Adding, inserting, replacing and deleting components.............................................. 69
Viewing and editing pure component data ................................................................ 70
User-defined components ........................................................................................................ 72
Adding a user-defined component............................................................................. 72
Specifying data for a user-defined component .......................................................... 73
Models and input requirements ................................................................................. 74
Stream types ............................................................................................................................ 76
Hydrate inhibitors .................................................................................................................... 79
Inhibitor calculator: alcohols/glycols ........................................................................ 79
Salt calculator ............................................................................................................ 81
Troubleshooting - components ................................................................................................ 84
Databank not found ................................................................................................... 84
Databank not licensed................................................................................................ 85
Component cannot be found...................................................................................... 86
Too many components in the mixture ....................................................................... 87
Petroleum fluids 89
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 89
PVT Lab Analysis input .......................................................................................................... 89
Component list .......................................................................................................... 91
Petroleum fluid composition ..................................................................................... 94
Molecular weight and specific gravity ...................................................................... 95
Total amount of fluid................................................................................................. 96
Water cut ................................................................................................................... 97
Total Wax Content .................................................................................................... 97
SARA Analysis ......................................................................................................... 97
Pseudocomponents .................................................................................................... 98
Characterisation......................................................................................................... 99
User Defined Cuts ................................................................................................... 100
Saving a PVT Analysis............................................................................................ 101
Black Oil Analysis ................................................................................................................. 101
Input data................................................................................................................. 102
Distillation curves .................................................................................................................. 102
TBP distillation........................................................................................................ 102
ASTM D86 distillation ............................................................................................ 104
PVT Lab Analysis input with n-paraffin analysis.................................................................. 105
n-Paraffin distribution ............................................................................................. 105
Characterisation....................................................................................................... 107
Estimated n-paraffin distribution............................................................................. 108
Troubleshooting – PVT Analysis........................................................................................... 109
Sensitivity to characterisation.................................................................................. 109
Presence of water..................................................................................................... 109
Defining petroleum fractions ................................................................................................. 109
Basic characterisation properties ............................................................................. 109
Other properties....................................................................................................... 110
Entering petroleum fractions ................................................................................... 110
Editing petroleum fraction data ............................................................................... 112
Deleting petroleum fractions ................................................................................... 112
Calculations 141
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 141
The basis of a flash calculation.............................................................................................. 141
Flashes available in Multiflash .............................................................................................. 142
Isothermal (P,T) flash.............................................................................................. 142
Isenthalpic flashes ................................................................................................... 143
Isentropic flashes ..................................................................................................... 143
Isochoric flashes ...................................................................................................... 143
Bubble and dew point flashes.................................................................................. 143
Fixed phase fraction flashes .................................................................................... 144
Phase Envelopes ...................................................................................................... 148
Phase Envelopes for solids ...................................................................................... 157
Liquid dropout curve calculation............................................................................. 158
Hydrate calculations ................................................................................................ 159
Wax calculations ..................................................................................................... 159
Tolerance calculations ............................................................................................. 161
Reid Vapour Pressure .............................................................................................. 162
Property output in Multiflash................................................................................................. 164
Troubleshooting - flash calculations ...................................................................................... 165
Plot the phase envelope ........................................................................................... 166
Use the P,T flash ..................................................................................................... 166
Limit the number of phases ..................................................................................... 167
Consider all types of solution .................................................................................. 167
Provide a starting estimate....................................................................................... 167
Provide a key component ........................................................................................ 168
Units 169
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 169
Default units .......................................................................................................................... 169
Changing units ....................................................................................................................... 170
Troubleshooting - units.......................................................................................................... 171
Help 191
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 191
On-line help ........................................................................................................................... 191
Help Topics ............................................................................................................. 191
Multiflash Error Codes ............................................................................................ 193
Check for Updates ................................................................................................... 193
About Multiflash ..................................................................................................... 194
Technical support................................................................................................................... 194
Index 317
Introduction
Multiflash is a powerful and versatile system for modelling physical properties
and phase equilibria. It can be used as a stand-alone program or in conjunction
with other software. This manual describes the features of the Multiflash
Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI) and explains how it can be used to
solve engineering problems.
Document Organisation
The rest of this document is divided into the following sections.
Running Multiflash
Each section provides details on different aspects of the software.
Getting Started
Describes the different parts of the Multiflash main window and shows how to
use the program by running a simple example with step-by-step instructions.
Models
This section describes the mixture models available in Multiflash and shows how
to define a model. How and when to use models is reviewed, together with the
availability and use of model interaction parameters. Detailed specification of
the models can be found in a separate manual.
Components
The types of components that are available from Multiflash are defined, together
with a description of the physical property databanks available. This section also
shows how to search for and select components.
Petroleum Fluids
Covers a number of topics related to modelling petroleum fluids: how to use the
information measured by a PVT laboratory to produce a compositional fluid
model; how to define the properties of petroleum fractions (pseudocomponents);
how to use experimental data to tune the petroleum fluid model.
Input Conditions
The necessary conditions for carrying out different types of calculations are
defined, together with how to enter and change these within the program.
Calculations
The final step in running Multiflash, the specification of the calculations which
can be carried out, and the circumstances where they might be most appropriate
are outlined.
Output
This section reviews the different levels of output available, where output is
reported and how it may be saved.
HELP
The various types of help available and how to access them are reviewed.
Case studies
Additional examples of how to tackle typical problems using Multiflash are
provided.
Installation
Information on how to install Multiflash software is provided in the separate
Installation Guide for Multiflash for Windows.
Introduction
As usual the new version includes the results of general maintenance and
improvements in numerical methods over the past year, as well as performance
enhancements. Specific features are described below.
Models
Descriptions and references detailing the models are provided in the User Guide
for Models and Physical Properties.
LBC
It is now possible to specify a critical volume specifically for the LBC model for
each component, and to specify the LBC model parameters A1-A5.
Salt component
The salt pseudo-component can now be used with the following models: PR,
PRA, PRA-Infochem, PR78, PR78A, PR78A-Infochem, RKSA, and RKSA-
Infochem.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows New Features and Changes in Version 4.4 and 4.3 5
High accuracy reference eos for water-ammonia
binary system
The Tiller-Roth high accuracy corresponding equation of state model for water-
ammonia binary system is now available.
Performance enhancements
The cubic equations of state and the CPA equations have been optimized in such
a way that from Multiflash 4.3 onwards it is possible to perform flash
calculations about 1.5 to 2 times faster than the previous versions of Multiflash.
Windows GUI
Models tab
The "Select Model Set" tab for Cubic Eos now also has an option where the
GERG 2008 model can be used to estimate the density of the vapour phase.
The Huron-Vidal-Pedersen mixing rule can be selected for PRA and RKSA.
A second liquid hydrocarbon was added to the Mercury model tab.
Inhibitor calculator
The salt component is again part of the inhibitor calculator.
6 New Features and Changes in Version 4.4 and 4.3 User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Surface tension
The user can select the MacLeod-Sugden 2 phase variant for the calculation of
surface tension. This model can be selected under the MCSA (MCS-Advanced)
tab.
Tables
OLGA tables
The OLGA table generator was made more robust and more compliant with the
file format accepted by OLGA.
The maximum dimension of the temperature and pressure grid is now extended
from 50 to 100 for the current version of Multiflash.
Interfaces
Excel Interface
The Excel-AddIn can now be used in 64 bit versions of Microsoft Office 2010
and later.
CAPE-OPEN
Better support for multithreaded applications. Native support for 64bit
applications.
Databanks
Infodata
Saturated liquid surface tension of MEG, TEG corrected.
DIPPR
The DIPPR 2013 databank is now available on request.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows New Features and Changes in Version 4.4 and 4.3 7
New Features and Changes in
Version 4.2
Introduction
As usual the new version includes the results of general maintenance and
improvements in numerical methods over the past year. Specific features are
described below.
Models
Descriptions and references detailing the models are provided in the User Guide
for Models and Physical Properties.
CSMA model
New high accuracy corresponding state models are implemented for the
refrigerants: R1234YF and R1234ZE(E) in Multiflash 4.2.
Mercury
The mercury model has been extended, so that it can now be used in connection
with PR78A and CPA, as well as with RKSA.
Poynting correction
The Poynting correction has been modified to give zero correction to the
enthalpy and entropy at saturation pressure. The enthalpy, entropy and heat
capacity calculated with activity coefficient models with Multiflash 4.2 are
therefore different from the results with previous version, but the new pure
component values are closer to correlations for saturated liquid Cp.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows New Features and Changes in Version 4.2 9
LBC viscosity model
The LBC viscosity model has been fixed to work properly with petroleum
fraction with carbon number lower than C7.
RKSA
O2+H2O
PRA
O2+n-octane
Flash calculations
In Multiflash 4.2, the Reid vapour pressure calculation is implemented. The Reid
vapour pressure (RVP) is usually employed by refineries to quantify and modify
the vaporization of gasolines and other volatile petroleum products. For the
details, see the section on “Reid Vapour Pressure” on page 162.
When the flash calculation involves solid phases, the errors about not being able
to calculate viscosity of a phase were removed. It is not possible to calculate
viscosity of solid phases.
The Joule-Thompson coefficient has been added as an output property of the
flash calculations.
Databanks
Infodata
New components, R365mfc, R1234YF and R-1234ZE(E) are added into the INFODATA databank.
The ideal gas heat capacities of Na+, Cl-, Ca++ and Br- in the databank have
been revised.
The ions Mg++, Ba++, Sr++, H+, CO3--, HCO3-, OH- and SO4—have been
added to the INFODATA databank.
10 New Features and Changes in Version 4.2 User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Windows GUI
Hydrate models
The RKSA-Infochem model has been removed from the hydrate model selection
form, so that it is now only possible to select CPA-Infochem, with or without the
electrolyte model. It is possible to load an .mfl file with the RKSA-Infochem
hydrate model defined and use it in Multiflash 4.2.
Inhibitor calculator
The salt component tab has been removed from the inhibitor calculator.
PVT Analysis
The PVT analysis tool has been updated to allow the user to specify density in
API degrees.
Calculation options
The calculations options have been simplified. Now only “Normal”, “Upper
Retrograde” and “Unspecified” are show for the type of solution where that is
necessary.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows New Features and Changes in Version 4.2 11
Usability
In the forms where is necessary to input data, such as the Matching forms or the
PVT Analysis input, the user is warned that those values are lost if the dialog
box is closed without performing any operation with the data.
Tables
OLGA tables
The OLGA table generatas made more robust and more compliant with the file
format accepted by OLGA.
Joule-Thompson coefficient
The Joule Thompson coefficient was added to the list of properties that is
possible to get in a flash calculation.
12 New Features and Changes in Version 4.2 User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Getting Started
Starting Multiflash
Start Multiflash by clicking on the Multiflash 4.4 shortcut on the desktop.
Alternatively, from the Windows Start menu choose All Programs and then
Multiflash 4. The Multiflash Main Window will be displayed.
Conditions
The input conditions, such as temperature and pressure, used in Multiflash
calculations are shown below the Toolbar. The current units are shown next to
each value.
Fluid identification
A text box labelled Fluid identification is located to the right of the Conditions
section of the main window.
Use of the box is optional but it does allow you to add any comments or notes
and, subsequently, to save these as part of the .mfl file. This can be useful for
future reference, perhaps for identifying the study and the source of the fluid
data, etc. When the file is loaded again any notes will be shown in the Fluid
identification box.
Compositions
The Compositions button is located below the Fluid identification box. It allows
the fluid composition to be entered once components have been selected.
Results window
All the phase equilibrium flash calculations, error/warning messages, echoes and
results from Multiflash operations are displayed in the main window of
Multiflash.
Menu options
The menus allow you to control all aspects of running Multiflash. Options are
grouped under the main menu headings of File, Edit, Select, Tools, Calculate,
Table and Help.
File
The File menu controls the loading, saving, clearing and printing of setup files as
well as the saving and printing of results.
Edit
This controls the normal windows editing functions of Cut, Copy and Paste,
which can be used on text in the results window.
Select
The Select menu option allows you to select the fluid-phase components,
components that may appear as pure solids (Freeze-out Components), petroleum
fluid characterisation (PVT Lab. Input) physical property models, level of
property output, stream types, units of measurement and the use of starting
values for calculations. All the menu options except Use Starting Values activate
dialogue boxes which are described in later sections of this guide. Items marked
with the right pointing triangle contain submenus.
The Command option can be used to enter Multiflash commands (see the
Appendix on page 311). This is not normally necessary but may sometimes be
useful for setting options that are not, otherwise, accessible in the Multiflash
GUI.
Pure Component Data and BIPs options allow you to view and edit the
properties of any component in the mixture and any binary interaction
parameters being used.
The Inhibitor calculator allows you to add water and hydrate inhibitors (alcohols,
glycols, salts) in volume, mass or molar units. A salt analysis may be entered in a
wider variety of units.
The Matching function tunes the properties of petroleum fractions in the mixture
to reproduce user-supplied measurements. The quantities for which data may be
supplied are: dew points, bubble points/GOR, liquid viscosity and liquid density.
The wax model may be tuned to match a wax appearance temperature or
precipitation data and the asphaltene model parameters may be tuned to match
flocculation or titration data.
The Blend Fluids option allows the user to blend (mix) a number of fluids by
mass, volume or molar amounts.
The Preferences option allows the user to set the default behaviour when
Multiflash is started. You can set the preferred units and the calculated
properties, the locations of files used by Multiflash, the appearance of the results
in the results window and the default models to be used for calculations. All
Calculate
The Calculate menu provides a choice of flash calculations. Different types of
calculations are grouped together as: Standard Flashes; Bubble and Dew Point
Flashes; Fixed Phase Fraction Flashes; (see “Fixed phase fraction flashes” on
page 144), the tolerance calculation, (see “Tolerance calculations” on page 161),
the phase envelope calculation , (see “Phase Envelopes” on page 148) , phase
envelope for solids, special-purpose Hydrate and Wax calculations, liquid
dropout, waxes, asphaltene precipitation curve calculations, and Reid vapour
pressure calculation.
Table
The Table menu is for creating input files for use with other applications,
currently PIPESIM, OLGA and Prosper.
Help
The HELP menu enables you to get help on a variety of topics, see “Help” on
page 191.
Calculations
You can now carry out a flash calculation at the specified temperature and
pressure by clicking on the PT flash toolbar button .
The results
The results of any calculations are displayed in the Results section of the main
Multiflash window.
Additional calculations
Any of the input conditions may be changed by entering new values to overwrite
or supplement those shown in the Conditions section of the main window.
Simply type the value for the input condition in the appropriate text box, ensure
that all necessary input conditions are defined for the flash calculation you wish
to carry out and then click on the appropriate toolbar button or select the
calculation from the Calculate menu.
Compositions for a mixture may be altered by clicking on the composition
button and editing the right-hand column of the drop-down table where the
amounts of each component are defined.
To replace a component or to add new components see “Adding, inserting,
replacing and deleting components” on page 69.
Some simple changes are shown below:
The default data source is the Infochem fluids databank which is called Infodata.
If you have licensed the DIPPR databank this may be selected from the drop-
down list.
Components may be selected in a variety of ways e.g. by name, by scrolling
through a list or by searching for a formula or substring. The various methods
are fully described in “Selecting components” on page 66.
Each tab of this window groups together similar types of model, e.g. cubic
equations of state, activity coefficient models and so on.
For general advice on which models to choose for a particular application and
more information about each model, see “What types of model are available?”
on page 29 or consult the “Models and Physical Properties” manual.
We will use the Peng-Robinson equation of state: click on PR. You can also
change the transport property models and the phases to consider but the default
set will usually be appropriate.
Click on the Define Model button. The following message should confirm that
the models have been successfully defined.
Compositions
To enter the composition click on the Composition button. The drop-down table
shows the components in the left-hand column. The amount of each component
in the mixture is typed in the right-hand column. The default unit for amounts is
moles. Note that the amounts do not have to sum to 1 or 100 or any other value.
Click on the Compositions button and enter 0.4 for butane and 0.6 for pentane.
Phase envelope
You can plot the complete phase envelope by clicking on the phase envelope
button or selecting Phase Envelope from the Calculate menu.
Click on the VLE AutopPlot button; the vapour-liquid phase boundary will be
displayed in a separate window. Click No in response to the message "Maximum
number of points reached …" if the phase envelope is completed. If more points
along the phase envelope are required, click Yes to complete the envelope.
Otherwise Multiflash will provide a default file name which can be overwritten.
Keep in mind that in order to write files into the default mfl directory you should
have a right to do this. If your system administrator deprived you of such a right,
it might be useful to copy the entire directory to somewhere in your working
space and continue to work with Multiflash in there.
Backup file
For any existing MFL files loaded to Multiflash, a backup file with a file
extension .MFB will be created if the existing MFL file is overwritten with the
changes.
Introduction
This section defines what a model is in terms of the Multiflash nomenclature,
which models are available and when you might wish to use them, as well as
how to specify and use them in Multiflash. For information on specifying
models, see “How to specify models in Multiflash” on page 47. Detailed model
descriptions may be found in our separate User Guide for Models and Physical
Properties.
What is a model?
Within the context of Multiflash, a model is a mathematical description of how
one or more thermodynamic or transport properties of a fluid or solid depends on
pressure, temperature and composition.
fiv fil
v
where f i is the fugacity of component i in the vapour phase and f i l is the
fugacity of component i in the liquid phase.
The models used in Multiflash to represent the fugacities in terms of
temperature, pressure (and composition) fall into two groups: equation of state
methods and activity coefficient methods. The basis of each of these methods is
described below.
With an equation of state (EOS) method all thermodynamic properties for any
fluid phase can be derived from the equation of state. With an activity coefficient
method the vapour phase properties are derived from an equation of state,
whereas the liquid properties are determined from a combination of models
which include a representation of the excess properties.
Multiflash may also be used to calculate the phase equilibrium of systems
containing solid phases, either mixed or pure. These may occur either when a
normal fluid component freezes or may be a particular solid phase such as a
hydrate, wax or asphaltene. Models used to represent these solids are discussed
below.
Mixing Rules
The standard mixing rule for the cubic equations of state is the, so-called, van
der Walls 1-fluid mixing rule. This is a simple recipe for obtaining the properties
of a mixture by combining the pure-component properties. It is a widely used
and highly effective method for many non-polar mixtures encountered in the oil
and gas industries.
For highly non-ideal systems it is often useful to be able to use a Gibbs energy
excess model (e.g. UNIQUAC or NRTL) as part of the mixing rule for the
equation of state. The possibilities are outlined in the User Guide for Models and
Physical Properties.
ZJ (Zudkevitch-Joffe) model
The ZJ equation of state model is a variant of the original RK cubic eos. Unlike
the original RK, the “a” and “b” parameters are expressed explicitly in terms of
the critical temperature and pressure, the “a” and “b” parameters in ZJ eos are
defined by simultaneously solving the equations of fugacity coefficients along
the saturation line and the equation of pressure for both vapour and liquid phase.
Reference fluids
The following substances are included in the model:
acetone fluorine n-pentane R13
ammonia helium propane R134A
argon heptane propylene R14
sulphur
benzene cyclohexane dioxide R141B
iso-butane iso-hexane SF6 R142B
n-butane n-hexane toluene R143A
1-butene hydrogen water R152A
iso-butene hydrogen sulphide xenon R161
cis-2-butene krypton R11 R218
trans-2-butene methane R113 R22
carbon dioxide methanol R114 R227EA
carbon monoxide neon R115 R23
carbonyl sulphide nitrogen R116 R236EA
decane nitrogen trifluoride R12 R236FA
DME nonane R123 R245FA
dodecane octane R1234YF R32
ethane oxygen R1234ZE R365MFC
ethanol iso-pentane R124 R41
ethylene neo-pentane R125 RC318
The equations of state are taken from various sources and do not all have the
same quality or range of applicability.
Other hydrocarbons and petroleum fractions are included using a generalised
equation of state.
IAPWS-95
The reference equation of state used for water is the IAPWS-95 scientific
formulation. It is also available as a separate model option. For water the
recommended equations for transport properties have also been implemented.
Water-Ammonia
The high accuracy corresponding state model for water-ammonia binary system
is based on the work developed by Beiner Tillner-Roth and Daniel G . Friend.
The model not only has the high accuracy models for pure water and ammonia
but also has terms for correcting the mixing behaviour. The model covers the
thermodynamic space between the solid-liquid-vapour boundary and the critical
locus, and is also valid in the vapour and liquid phases for pressures up to 40
MPa. It represents vapour-liquid equilibrium properties with an uncertainty of
0.01 in liquid and vapour mole fractions. Typical uncertainties in the single-
phase regions are 0.3% for the density and 200 J / mol for enthalpies.
GERG-2008
The CSMA model also includes the GERG-2004/2008 natural gas model. This is
an industry-standard high-accuracy model for mixtures of natural gas
components:
methane n-pentane argon
nitrogen iso-pentane oxygen
CO2 hexane hydrogen
ethane heptane CO2
propane octane water
n-butane nonane helium
iso-butane decane H2S
The model includes appropriate BIPs for all components in the list.
The model is fully described in the publication:, O. Kunz, R. Klimeck, W.
Wagner, M. Jaeschke, The GERG-2004 wide-range equation of state for natural
gases and other mixtures, GERG Technical Monograph 15 (2007).
Applicability
Applications of the model include: acid gas injection; natural gas pipelines and
processes; CO2 transport and carbon sequestration; water/steam systems; air;
instrument calibration and multi-phase meters.
The model performs best for mixtures that do not involve strong specific
interactions and for any of the pure substances in the list above. For mixtures,
appropriate binary interaction parameters are needed for good accuracy. BIPs are
included for the following components: CO2, H2S, methane, ethane, propane,
butane, pentane, and water. The mixture model is applicable to systems that do
not contain free water.
The GERG-2004/2008 model is a well-verified standard. It is probably the best
model for natural gas mixtures containing the components listed above.
f i l xi i f i*, l
In an ideal solution the liquid fugacity of each component is directly proportional
to the mole fraction of the component, ie. the activity coefficient i is equal to 1
The ideal solution assumes that all molecules interact with the same
intermolecular potential. This assumption is reasonable for molecules of a
similar size and similar type. However, most real mixtures deviate significantly
from ideality and the activity coefficient is different from unity.
Wilson E equation
This model may be used for vapour-liquid equilibrium calculations but it is not
capable of predicting liquid-liquid immiscibility. Binary interaction parameters
are provided in our INFOBIPS bank for some component pairs. If no BIPs are
included for your particular mixture then to obtain accurate predictions you must
supply binary interaction parameters values in the correct units.
Wilson A equation
This model, which is a simplified form of the Wilson E model, may be used for
vapour-liquid equilibrium calculations but it is not capable of predicting liquid-
liquid immiscibility. To obtain accurate predictions you must supply binary
interaction parameters (BIP) values, which are dimensionless.
NRTL equation
The NRTL model may be used for vapour-liquid, liquid-liquid and vapour-
liquid-liquid calculations (the VLE option should be used for VLLE). Again if
BIP values are not provided in the BIP databank, INFOBIPS, they must be
supplied for accurate predictions. In cases where the user does not specify any
value for the third adjustable parameter, ij , it is automatically set to 0.3 if the
VLE version of NRTL is specified or to 0.2 if the LLE version is specified. Note
that ij ji so only ij need be supplied.
UNIQUAC equation
The UNIQUAC model may be used for vapour-liquid, liquid-liquid and vapour-
liquid-liquid calculations. There are UNIQUAC VLE and LLE variants as for the
Flory-Huggins
The Multiflash implementation of Flory-Huggins theory includes a correction
term. The Multiflash expression reduces to the standard Flory-Huggins theory if
all interaction parameters are set to zero. However, to obtain reasonable results it
is usually necessary to adjust the values of the interaction parameters to fit the
data.
Flory-Huggins theory is able to describe systems which include some long chain
molecules. It has consequently been applied to model polymer systems but it has
been to some extent superseded by other models such as PC-SAFT. However,
Flory-Huggins theory still offers the advantages of speed and simplicity.
UNIFAC method
The UNIFAC method is similar to UNIQUAC but the interaction parameters are
predicted based on the molecular group structure of the components in the
mixture. The model is completely predictive and does not require the user to
supply BIPs.
Hydrate model
The recommended hydrate model is based on the CPA equation of state for the
fluid phases plus the van der Waals and Platteeuw model for the hydrate phases.
The original Infochem model is also available. It is based on a modification of
the RKS equation of state (RKSAINFO) for the fluid phases. The two models
usually perform in a very similar way. The models also represent the inhibition
Other hydrate formers that are not usually present in natural gas but
which form structure I or II are also included. These compounds
are: SF6 , ethylene, propylene, cyclopropane, oxygen, argon,
krypton, xenon and THF.
Parameters are provided for the following compounds that form
hydrate structure II in the presence of small ‘help-gases’ such as
methane or nitrogen: cyclopentane, benzene and neopentane. These
compounds and the structure H formers listed below may be
present in condensate and oil systems.
Structure H hydrates form in the presence of small ‘help-gases’
such as methane or nitrogen but the formation temperatures are
significantly higher (about 10 K) than pure methane or nitrogen
hydrate. In practice it seems that structure II hydrates form before
structure H but, if there is enough water, structure H may be
formed too. The structure H model includes parameters for:
isopentane
neohexane
2,3-dimethylbutane
2,2,3-trimethylbutane
2,2-dimethylpentane
3,3-dimethylpentane
methylcyclopentane
methylcyclohexane
cis-1,2-dimethylcyclohexane
2,3-dimethyl-1-butene
3,3-dimethyl-1-butene
cycloheptene
cis-cyclooctene
adamantane
ethylcyclopentane
1,1-dimethylcyclohexane
ethylcyclohexane
cyclohexane
cycloheptane
cyclooctane
The thermal properties (enthalpies and entropies) of the hydrates
and ice are included allowing isenthalpic and isentropic flashes
involving these phases.
Calculations can be made for any possible combination of phases
including cases without free water. No modification of the phase
models is required to do this.
The properties of the hydrates have been fixed by investigating data
for natural gas components in both simple and mixed hydrates to
Nucleation model
The nucleation model was developed in collaboration with BP as part of the
EUCHARIS joint industry project. This model is an extension of the existing
thermodynamic model for hydrates described above. In order to extend the
nucleation model for use with Multiflash, the following enhancements to the
nucleation model were made:
The model was extended to cover the homogeneous nucleation of
ice and fitted to available ice nucleation data.
The model was generalised to cover, in principle, nucleation from
any liquid or gas phase.
A correction for heterogeneous nucleation was included that was
matched to available hydrate nucleation data.
An improved expression was adopted for fluid diffusion rates.
More robust numerical methods were introduced into the program.
The nucleation model provides an estimate of the temperature or pressure at
which hydrates can be realistically expected to form. The model is based on the
statistical theory of nucleation in multicomponent systems. Although there are
limitations and approximations involved in this approach it has the major benefit
that a practical nucleation model can be incorporated within the framework of a
traditional thermodynamic hydrate modelling package.
Inhibitor modelling
Thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors decrease the temperature or increase the
pressure at which hydrates will form from a given gas mixture.
The CPA-based hydrate model includes parameters for water with methanol,
ethanol, MEG, DEG, TEG and salts. The RKSAINFO-based model also includes
parameters for some less-common inhibitors: iso-propanol, propylene glycol and
glycerol.
The treatment of hydrate inhibition has the following features:
The model can explicitly represent all the effects of inhibitors
including the depression of the hydrate formation temperature, the
depression of the freezing point of water, the reduction in the
vapour pressure of water (i.e. the dehydrating effect) and the
partitioning of water and inhibitor between the oil, gas and aqueous
phases.
The model has been developed using all available data for mixtures
of water with methanol, ethanol, MEG, DEG and TEG. This
involves representing simultaneously hydrate dissociation
temperatures, depression of freezing point data and vapour-liquid
equilibrium data.
An electrolyte model is available in Multiflash, and a salinity
calculator tool is provided (see “Salt calculator” on page 81) which
allows the salt composition to be entered in a variety of ways. The
Electrolyte model includes the ions: Na+, K+, Ca++, Cl- and Br-,
and the salinity calculator can be used to convert a water analysis
that includes other ions into an equivalent amount of Na+, K+,
Ca++ , Cl- and Br-, or salt pseudo-component.
The solubility of hydrocarbons and light gases in water/inhibitor
mixtures has also been represented.
Viscosity
SuperTRAPP Model
The SuperTRAPP method is a predictive extended corresponding states model
that uses propane as a reference fluid. It can predict the viscosity of petroleum
fluids and well-defined components over the entire phase range from the dilute
gas to the dense fluid. The Infochem implementation of SuperTRAPP model
includes modification to ensure that the viscosity of aqueous solutions of
methanol, ethanol MEG, DEG and TEG or salts and ions are predicted
reasonably well. Overall the SuperTRAPP method is the most versatile method
for viscosity predictions and its performance is generally better than the other
methods available in Multiflash. We would recommend this method for oil and
gas application. It is the default viscosity model for use with equations of state.
Reference: Huber, M. L. & Hanley, H.J.M. (1996) The corresponding-states
principle: Dense Fluids. In J. Millat, J. H. Dymond & C. A. Nieto (Eds.),
Transport properties of Fluids: Their correlation, Prediction and Estimation.
Cambridge University Press.
Pedersen Model
This is a predictive corresponding states model originally developed for oil and
gas systems. It is based on accurate correlations for the viscosity and density of
the reference substance which is methane. The model is applicable to both gas
and liquid phases. The Infochem implementation of the Pedersen model includes
modifications to ensure that the viscosity of liquid water, methanol, ethanol,
MEG, DEG and TEG and aqueous solutions of these components or salt are
predicted reasonably well. We would recommend this method for oil and gas
applications.
Reference: Pedersen, Fredenslund and Thomassen, Properties of Oils and
Natural Gases, Gulf Publishing Co., (1989).
Twu Model
This is a predictive model suitable for oils. It is based on a correlation of the API
monograph for kinematic viscosity plus a mixing rule for blending oils. It is only
applicable to liquids.
Reference: Twu, Generalised method for predicting viscosities of petroleum
fractions, AIChE Journal, 32, 2091, (1986).
Lohrenz-Bray-Clark method
This model is a predictive model which relates gas and liquid densities to a
fourth degree polynomial in reduced density.
In Multiflash the fluid densities are derived from any chosen equation of state,
rather than the correlations proposed by Lohrenz et al. This has the advantage
that there is no discontinuity in the dense phase region when moving between
liquid-like and gas-like regions.
Thermal conductivity
SuperTRAPP thermal conductivity method
The SuperTRAPP method is an extended corresponding states model that uses
propane as a reference fluid. It is applicable to both gas and liquid phases. The
model can be used for petroleum fluids and well-defined components. The
thermal conductivity is defined as the sum of internal and translational
contributions. The latter are divided into three contributions: dilute gas, residual
and critical enhancement. The Multiflash model does not include a critical
enhancement term. For pure substances this can result in under-prediction of the
thermal conductivity near the critical region. However for a mixture the critical
enhancement is usually very small and negligible. The performance of the Super
TRAPP method is generally better than the CLS method.
Surface Tension
Linear Gradient Theory model
The Linear Gradient Theory model uses the properties of the phases in
equilibrium to determine the interfacial tension. The key property is the density
gradient that exists across the interface. With this model it is possible to estimate
the interfacial tension between Liquid/Gas and Liquid/Liquid phases. It can be
used in combination with the any EOS-based fluid model except: LKP, CSMA;
the asphaltene model.
Reference: Zuo, Y. X. and Stenby, E. H., A Linear Gradient Theory Model for
Calculating Interfacial Tensions of Mixtures, Journal of Colloid & Interface
Science, 182 p12, Elsevier (1996).
Diffusion coefficient
Fuller method
The Fuller method calculates gas phase diffusion coefficients. It is an empirical
modification of Chapman-Enskog theory.
Hayduk-Minhas method
The Hayduk-Minhas method calculates liquid phase diffusion coefficients. It
consists of a number of empirical correlations for different classes of mixture.
Under each tab are listed similar types of models or models for different
applications. Unless you have already set other default model preferences (see
below) the Cubic EoS tab is displayed with RKSA as the default model. The
default transport property models are shown. Other models can be selected or the
transport property calculations can be turned off by selecting None. Diffusion
coefficient models can be added if required.
For most model choices up to four phases may be considered. These are: gas,
liquid1, liquid2 and water. You can limit the number of phases to be considered.
For example, you may know that your problem has only a gas and one possible
liquid phase. In this case deselecting liquid2 and water may speed up
calculations and make the phase equilibrium easier to solve.
Once you are satisfied with your model selection click the Define Model button
and you will see a message to confirming your choice.
Hydrates
From the Select menu choose Model Set and then click on the Hydrates tab.
The name assigned to each pure solid phase is “SOLID” plus the compound
name, e.g. ‘SOLIDEICOSANE’ (except in the case of water where it will be
ICE).
Waxes
The wax model in Multiflash is the Coutinho model, described in “Modelling
wax ” on page 42. To define the wax model select the Waxes tab. Fluid phases
are represented by the RKSA model.
For more information on how to use the wax model see “Case studies – Wax
precipitation” on page 260.
Asphaltenes
To define the asphaltene model select the ‘Asphaltenes’ tab. Fluid phases are
represented by the RKSA model. Water is not one of the default phases but may
be added if required. Click on Define Model and then Close.
For more information on how to make best use of the asphaltene model see
“Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation” on page 267.
If you define only one type of solid you will be asked to use the individual solid
model tab.
Troubleshooting - models
Although each version of Multiflash is thoroughly tested it is always possible
that you may come across problems. Please report any errors to us so that they
can be investigated and corrected.
There are other problems related to using Multiflash that can be resolved by the
user. Some of those related to models are discussed below; others will be
outlined in the relevant section.
A BIP dataset is assigned when the model is defined. The number of BIP
datasets listed depends on the models that use BIPs and the number of BIPs for
the model (see below). In the above example RKSBIP identifies the BIPs for the
RKS EoS and LGSTBIP identifies the BIPs for the LG surface tension model.
Select the RKSBIP dataset and click on Edit to view or change BIP values or the
temperature dependence of the BIPs.
The Write to Output button displays the information in the results window:
show bipset RKSBIP;
BIPSET: RKSBIP
COMPS ORDER VALUES
1 2 0 0.5055762
TEMPERATURE FUNCTION: EOS UNITS: none
The output includes the name of the BIP set. The Infochem convention is to use
the name of the model followed by BIP, e.g. RKSBIP, PRBIP, PR78BIP,
PR78ABIP, RKSABIP, RKSABIP3 (for RKSA + Infochem mixing rule ),
LKBIP, LKPBIP, WILSONBIP2, NRTLBIP3, UNIQUACBIP2 for VLE
In this case the water methanol asymmetric parameters have also been fitted with
a linear temperature dependence.
In a third example we consider a mixture of water, methanol, methane, and
ethane, and the RKS-HVP model. The HVP mixing rule can work with two
different types of BIPs, 1) "VDW-like" parameters (i.e., kij), which are
symmetrical, dimensionless, and are equal to those used in the classical mixing
rule of the RKS equation. 2) "HVP-like" parameters, which are composed of
symmetrical (ij) and asymmetrical (gij/R) BIPs, and where the asymmetrical
parameters have units of K.
The third BIP, GERGBIP-3 is the weighting factor of the binary high accuracy
departure functions. By default, it is set to zero. If the mixing rule has the
departure function equation available for the binary system, a non-zero value
will be displayed otherwise it will be zero.
Units
Reference: We cannot stress often enough that to obtain correct results the BIPs entered
Dechema Chemistry Data must match the Multiflash definition and be in the correct units. A very good
Series (CDS) source of phase equilibrium data and BIPs is the Dechema Chemistry Data
ISSN 0840-9645 Series which is in several volumes. It is useful to note that their standard
Volume I to XVI convention is to report activity model BIPs for VLE in cal/mol. Either these
Publisher: Dechema need to be converted to J/mol for use in Multiflash or the Units for BIPs must be
changed to cal/mol. Similarly, the LLE BIPs for UNIQUAC and NRTL either
need to be multiplied by the gas constant R (8.314 JK-1mol-1) for use in
Multiflash or the BIP units must be set to K.
BIP databank
The names of the main BIP databanks for equations of state and activity
coefficient models are INFOBIPS and OILANDGAS, which are the names
included automatically in all the relevant model sets. From Multiflash 4.2, the
BIPs for all the relevant model sets are defined from INFOBIPS and BIPs
correlations are obtained from OILANDGAS.
Introduction
Multiflash recognises two types of component. Normal components are pure
compounds such as hydrocarbons, petrochemicals and chemicals which may
exist as gas, liquid or solid depending on conditions of temperature and pressure.
A petroleum fraction is a pseudo component, usually a complex mixture of
hydrocarbons, whose aggregate properties are characterised by standard tests, the
results of which may be found in PVT laboratory reports.
The physical properties for each type of component are stored or defined
differently.
Normal components
The physical properties of normal components are usually stored in databanks.
Multiflash offers two, INFODATA and DIPPRTM. INFODATA is the Infochem
fluids databank which contains data on several hundred compounds and is
always supplied as part of Multiflash. DIPPR, produced under the auspices of
AIChE, currently has data for around 2000 compounds, and is extended
annually. DIPPR is offered as an optional module for Multiflash. For details of
how to find a list of components or to search for a specific compound see
“Selecting components” on page 66.
Petroleum fractions
Petroleum fractions are discussed in detail in the section “Petroleum Fluids”
Defining a mixture
In this section we describe how to define a mixture containing normal
components. To define a mixture including petroleum fractions or to set up fluid
characterisation based on a PVT laboratory report see “Petroleum fluids” on
page 89.
The maximum number of components in any mixture in the
current version of Multiflash is 200.
From the Select menu choose Components or click on the Select Components
toolbar button
This will display the Select Components dialogue box
Selecting components
If the specified data source is a databank, e.g. INFODATA or DIPPR, then the
components for any stream can be selected in a variety of ways depending on
your knowledge of the contents of the databank and the name or synonym by
which your chosen component is listed in the bank. If you are uncertain about
any of these then there are various search strategies in place to help you find the
components you need.
You can enter the name of the component you wish to add to the mixture in the
Enter Name box; it may be in upper- or lower-case or any combination. Press
<Enter> or click the Add button..
If you make a spelling error or if the component is not in the selected data bank
you will get an error message
Synonyms
If you are not certain whether a particular name in the databank list represents
the component of interest to you, or if are not sure that you have the correct
name for a component, you may wish to check the alternative names (synonyms)
stored for that compound.
Click the Synonyms option button and type the name in the Enter name box.
Press <Enter> or click the Search button.
The list of synonyms stored for this component will be displayed. If this proves
to be the component you wanted you can then choose the synonym to be used in
the Multiflash output to identify the component by selecting it in the normal way
(double clicking on the name or highlighting the name with a single click and
using the Add button).
You can also search the databanks using a partial formula. You m ay
replace the number of any of the atoms in a component by a *, but you must
name all the different atoms in the compound you are searching for. For
example, C2Cl*H* will find all ethanes that contain chlorine.
Adding a component
Components are added to the selected list for a mixture as described earlier, by:
Double clicking on a component in a list.
By pressing the <Enter> key after entering a name in the text box
(with Name option button selected).
By selecting the compound from a list and clicking on the Add
button.
If you try to add the same component twice you will be warned, for example,
Inserting a component
If you want to add a component to the selected list, but in a particular position,
perhaps so that the compounds are in order of carbon number in the program
output, then:
Deleting components
If you wish to remove one or more components from the selected list then, in the
Compounds selected text box:
Select the component(s), then
Click on the Delete button
The compound(s) will then be removed from the list.
Replacing a component
If you wish to replace one component with another you can do this without first
deleting it from the selected list.
Select the component to be replaced
Select the new component (either by typing in the name or using one of the other
selection methods)
Click on Replace.
The new component replaces the highlighted component.
Note that when you replace an existing component the amount
of the new component in the mixture remains the same as the
amount of the component it replaced unless you change the
composition in the Composition drop down table.
Any of these data may be overwritten by typing the new value in the appropriate
cell in the correct units. The units for the constant properties may be changed
using the Units button. Temperature-dependent property correlations always use
Kelvin as the unit of temperature. You can also use this Edit facility to change
the name of the component for the duration of any calculations.
The data record can also be displayed in the main window using the Write to
Output button.
User-defined components
You may add user-defined pure components, for instance when the component
you require is not available in our databanks. However, you should note that for
this option you must supply all the data required for the models you use. This
will include constants such as the critical properties and coefficients for the
temperature dependent correlations such as perfect gas Cp etc. The minimum
data requirements for different models are listed in “Models and input
requirements” on page 74. This option is not recommended for petroleum
fractions; see “Petroleum fluids” on page 89.
Constants
Click Edit to enter constant values.. The Value column will initially be empty.
Enter the property values for your component, e.g.
You can change the units if necessary. Not all properties must be given a value;
it depends on the models you use.
Temperature-dependent properties
To enter a temperature dependent property, such as the perfect gas heat capacity,
choose the property and click on Edit, or double click on the property
description. A form will be displayed showing the component name and property
but with the remaining text boxes blank.
The equation types available for each property are set out in the User Guide for
Models and Physical Properties, together with a description of each equation
and the number and order of the coefficients. All equations are specified as a
function of temperature in kelvin and you should only enter coefficients which
have been fitted in kelvin. Click on OK to define the property.
Stream types
It is possible to define a number of stream types in Multiflash. Each stream type
consists of a subset of all the defined components and may be associated with its
own set of models. The stream type concept is not particularly useful in the
Multiflash GUI. It is primarily intended to support process simulation
applications where different sets of components (with different models) may be
present in different unit operations or sections of a flowsheet.
A simple example, shown in the Multiflash Excel manual, is to describe a mainly
hydrocarbon stream containing some water and glycol using a cubic equation of
state for high and low pressure separator flashes but to change to an activity
model to look at glycol regeneration from the recombined water streams.
We will describe how to set up stream types in the Multiflash GUI. However,
using the GUI, the composition of a sub-stream cannot be changed without
altering the composition of the overall stream and it is difficult to show a
realistic practical application in the GUI.
Initially we have defined an input stream containing 4 hydrocarbons, a petroleum
fraction, water and MEG and supplied a composition.
Once you have clicked on Define Model, a message box will confirm that the
model has been successfully defined. Click on OK to activate the Define Stream
Type text box.
Click on Define Stream Type, then Close and Close again to return to the
Multiflash main window.
You can use the Tools/Show/Streamtypes menu item to display the list of
defined stream types.
show Sts;
NO. OF STREAM TYPES 2
1 OVERALL
2 MEG
If you wish to assign BIPs for this stream you do this using Tools/BIPs, Click on
the model/BIP name for the stream and enter the values in the BIP grid.
If you try to define a further stream with the same name as a previous stream
type you will be warned that the stream exists and asked if you wish to replace it.
However, you can define a further stream with the same components and model
if you call it by another name.
To Delete a stream type choose the Select/Stream Type/Delete option, highlight
the name of the stream to be deleted and click on Delete Stream Type.
You can then carry out any Multiflash calculations using that stream with its
selected components and the composition defined in the drop down Composition
table.
Hydrate inhibitors
Some of the pure components in INFODATA act as hydrate inhibitors, see
“Inhibitor modelling” on page 42. The most common are methanol, ethanol,
MEG, DEG, TEG and salts. Any of these can be included in the component list
and their composition defined as shown in “Specifying compositions” on page
137. Indeed this is the way you should specify isopropanol, propylene glycol and
glycerol. However, for methanol, ethanol, glycols and salt you can also use the
Inhibitor Calculator.
Click the Add button. The components will be added to the component list with
the amounts as specified. The total percentages of all inhibitors must sum to be
less than 100.
Salt calculator
The salt calculator provides a way of specifying the concentration of various
salts in water using commonly-reported laboratory measurements. You can
include the ions in your component list by selecting them from INFODATA.
However, an easier approach is to use the “Salts / Ions” tab in the Inhibitor
Calculator.
Electrolyte model
The electrolyte model is a detailed model of the ionic species in mixed
electrolyte solutions. It includes the following ions: Na+, K+, Ca++, Cl- and Br- .
The effect of other ions is obtained by determining an equivalent amount of
those listed. Alternatively, the RKSA-Infochem model can deal with ions by
defining an equivalent amount of salt pseudo-component.
The water content of your mixture can be defined from Select Components and
the Composition box, or entered on the Alcohols/Glycols tab as described above.
Click on the “Salt / Ions” tab. You can then define your salt from:
Clicking on the Add button initiates the calculation of the amounts of salt
pseudo-component or Na+, K+, Ca++, Cl- and Br- ions to be added to the
mixture in the input units set for amounts.
In the cases of an ion analysis or a salt analysis you can choose to express the
salt concentration in terms of equivalent amounts of salt pseudo-component,
Na+, K+, Ca++, Cl- and Br- ions, or just in terms of Na+ and Cl- ions by
clicking the corresponding option button.
Clicking on the Add button will display a table of the salts added, e.g.
The corresponding ions or the salt pseudo-component will be added to the list of
components in Multiflash and the amount of salt pseudo-component or of each
ion will be entered in the Composition drop-down table.
If you define only negative or positive ions in an Ion Analysis table an error
message will be displayed.
If you have selected a fluid phase model that does not include the electrolyte
model and then use the salt calculator to add ions a warning will be displayed.
If you wish to add both inhibitors such as methanol and salts you should enter
the required concentrations in the Alcohols/Glycols tab and then the salts in the
Electrolyte Model tab. Clicking on Add will then add the correct level of chosen
inhibitors and ions.
Troubleshooting - components
TIP If the component you cannot find in the databank is present only in small or
trace amounts it may be possible to substitute a similar compound without
significant error. However, this will clearly depend on the particular calculation
and application.
TIP If you have some components of similar type and size in your mixture,
preferably present in small amounts, then it may be worth combining them to
reduce the overall number of components. This is particularly useful when
dealing with natural gases and gas condensates that have been analysed in great
detail.
Introduction
Petroleum fluids are typically complex mixtures consisting of many thousands of
hydrocarbon components. It is not practical to identify all these components by
analytical methods. Even if it were possible to carry out an analysis it would not
be feasible to model the physical properties of the fluid by including all the
identified components.
The practical approach adopted in the oil and gas industry is to base the model of
a fluid on limited compositional analysis and other standard tests that are carried
out by commercial PVT laboratories. In this section we describe how to use the
information in a PVT laboratory report to construct a compositional fluid model
in Multiflash; this is what is meant by the term characterisation. Characterising
a petroleum fluid is an essential pre-requisite to studying the phase behaviour
and other properties of the fluid. Many applications are discussed in the Case
Studies that are included in this User Guide.
The objectives of the Multiflash characterisation procedure can be summarised
as:
To make optimum use of measured data.
Construct a compositional model that is not restricted to a
particular thermodynamic model.
Ensure that phase behaviour calculations not sensitive to the
number of pseudocomponents.
Achieve high fidelity based on compositional information.
Allow model tuning to reproduce reliable experimental
measurements.
C36+
Molecular Weight (g mol-1) 625
Density at 60°F (g cm-3) 0.9925
Component list
A list of possible components is provided based on what is typically reported by
a PVT laboratory. The data for real components is taken from the databank
specified at the top of the form. From C9 onwards the list contains SCNs. The
real components in the list may be configured to your requirements.
If there are components included that do not appear in your analysis they may be
ignored or, if you prefer, they may be deleted by selecting them and clicking the
Component Delete button.
If you have additional components that you wish to add put the cursor in the
component cell above which you wish to add a new compound and click on
Component Insert button above the composition table. You will be able to
select from a list of valid components:
If you wish to add this component to carry out phase equilibria calculations then
you should characterise your fluid without the component present, return to the
main window and then add the component using Select Components.
If a proposed new component is already in the list and the amount of the
component is left blank, then the component will be ignored and the PVT
characterisation will proceed as normal. If the component is already in the list
with either a positive or zero amount then an error message will be generated
when you try to do the characterisation.
The mfconfig.dat file is an ASCII text file that needs to contain the following
type of instructions.
The file must start with the keywords “pvtanalysis info components” in that
order separated by blanks. Then the user types in the names of the components to
be displayed. Single carbon number cuts are specified by the letter “C” followed
by the carbon number. The ampersand is shorthand for creating a list of single
carbon number cuts, so in this example “C6 & C100” creates a list of all the cuts
from C6 to C100 inclusive. The ampersand can only be used once before the last
name in the list of components. The file must be terminated with two
semicolons.
In this case it is necessary to enter the correct value of the recombination gas-oil
ratio (GOR) as reported by the laboratory. Often there are several GORs reported
that refer to different separators and it is essential to make sure that the
appropriate value is used. The gas composition may be entered in either molar or
mass units since all the gas phase components have a well-defined molecular
weight. The liquid phase composition should be entered in mass units if possible.
It is usually best to use the reservoir fluid composition provided by the
laboratory because this avoids the complication of recombining the gas and
liquid.
Compositions can be entered in either mass or mole % by using the drop down
menu at the top of the column and different units can be chosen for gas and
liquid. However, changing from mass % to mole % once amounts have been
entered will not lead to a unit conversion, the same values will be retained but in
different units.
As amounts are entered the Total % will be updated. If the Total % does not
equal 100% you will be offered the option to normalise the percentages before
the characterisation is carried out. Although the pseudo components will
normally run sequentially in terms of single carbon number it is possible to have
data from a non-laboratory source where the SCNs are not sequential. You can
still enter these, leaving gaps as appropriate; if the PVT analysis is saved or
For the Liquid+Gas input the ‘Single fluid’ field is replaced by a ‘Total liquid’
field.
SG is the specific gravity relative to water at 60ºF and 1 atm. It is also possible
to specify the density in API degrees. You can convert from API gravity to SG
gravity using the following formula:
SG = 141.5/(API + 131.5)
The MW and SG of the Stock Tank Oil (STO) can be measured quite reliably
and are the best values to enter. The properties of the heaviest SCN (plus
fraction) are not normally measured and are obtained by calculation. The values
should not be used unless no other information is available. If none of these
values is supplied Multiflash will estimate the values based on the fluid
distribution you have supplied.
Our general advice is that if you have a lean gas or light condensate, i.e. where
the C6+ fraction is only a minor proportion of the total fluid, you should allow
the program to estimate the MW and SG. For heavier condensates with a detailed
analysis to C20 or above it is also probably better not to specify a MW. For oils
you should, preferably, enter the MW and SG of the STO as these are usually
measured values.
In order to provide some guidance when running Multiflash we have supplied
some warning messages. If the molar fraction of C6+ is <0.5 and you supply a
molecular weight or specific gravity a warning message will be generated to ask
you if this is correct.
Also, if you supply a molecular weight which does not appear compatible with
the carbon number distribution you have entered you may see either of the
following warning messages:
or
If the molecular weight appears to be too large this may still be correct you
should just check the entry. If the molecular weight appears to be too small, it is
probably because the molecular weight of the heaviest SCN is less than that
allocated to the previous SCN in the distribution. This usually indicates a
mistaken entry, but this is not always the case and the program will continue
with the characterisation should you choose to ignore the warnings.
SARA Analysis
A SARA(Saturates, Aromatics, Resins and Asphaltenes) analysis is the industry
standard fractionation method for dividing crude oils into four components
according to their polarizability and polarity. The analysis is usually expressed in
mass % relative to the stabilised oil.
Pseudocomponents
The Pseudocomponents section of the form provides control on how the
petroleum fraction pseudocomponents are generated.
The ‘Start pseudocomponents at’ box sets the lowest SCN at which to generate
lumped pseudocomponents, i.e. pseudocomponents that represent a group of
SCNs. The default setting is C6 but it may be changed using the scroll buttons.
For example, if set to C10 this means that C6, C7, C8 and C9 will be represented
by individual pseudocomponents and lumped pseudocomponents will start at
C10.
The smallest SCN from which you can start the pseudo component split is C6.
The largest number depends on the carbon number distribution and on the SCN
components defined in the component list. If you try to start from a larger SCN
than the heaviest SCN in the component list you will get a warning:
If you wish to start the pseudocomponent split at a larger SCN than the heaviest
SCN you will need to add additional SCN components to the component list.
The ‘Number of pseudocomponents required’ box sets the number of lumped
pseudocomponents that will be generated. The default value is 15 but in many
cases a smaller number of lumped pseudocomponents will be quite adequate.
The maximum number of components in Multiflash is 200. If you input a larger
number of pseudo components than that Multiflash will change it to 200.
If a wax content has been specified the corresponding boxes for n-paraffin
pseudocomponents will be active. The default setting and recommended value
for the n-paraffin pseudo-components is 15.
The carbon number distribution entered and the function used to extrapolate the
heavy end will be displayed.
The values can be exported to Excel by Clicking the “Write To Excel” button on
the plot form.
If you do not wish to see this plot then it can be disabled by unchecking the
“Display SCN distribution” check box in the bottom left-hand corner of the PVT
Lab Analysis form.
Close the Carbon Number Distribution plot and the PVT Lab Analysis form. The
components and amounts generated will be displayed in the main window. For
example
The facility allows you to define compatible pseudo components for several
fluids with the same carbon number ranges.
Distillation curves
Distillation curves are generated by standard experiments that report the amount
of an oil that is distilled as a function of temperature. They are more common for
refinery applications than in the upstream oil industry. The fourth tab on the
PVTLab Fluid Analysis form may be used to enter either TBP data or D86 data.
TBP distillation
True boiling point (TBP) distillation is the default distillation type on the
‘Distillation Curves’ tab.
Multiflash converts D86 curves into an equivalent TBP curve using the method
of Riazi and Daubert which is described in Analytical Correlations Interconvert
Distillation Curve Types from Oil & Gas Journal, 84, 50, 25 August 1986. The
resulting TBP curve is then characterised on pressing the ‘Do Characterisation’
button. The regression for this case is shown in the following plot.
n-Paraffin distribution
In the first tab the total fluid composition is entered as for the standard PVT
analysis in mole or mass percent, which would be expected to add to 100%. If it
does not a warning message provides the opportunity to normalise it. The n-
paraffin distribution is that measured for the STO, again in mass or mole%.
These units can be set independently of those used for the total fluid. The n-
paraffin distribution in the stock tank oil would normally be expected to sum to
substantially less than 100%. We check that the total for the n-paraffins is less
than 100%.
Characterisation
You can control the starting point for n-paraffin lumped pseudocomponents and
the number of lumped n-paraffin pseudocomponents in a similar way to the
procedure described on page 98.
The default starting point for n-paraffin pseudocomponents is N6 (n-paraffin
with 6 carbon atoms) and the default number of lumped n-paraffin
pseudocomponents is 15. It may be possible to use fewer pseudocomponents but
if the number is too small the wax phase will not be well-described and
Clicking on the Do Characterisation button will analyse the data and start the
characterisation procedure. The measured and fitted distributions are displayed
for n-paraffins and non-n-paraffins if the compositions are given in a same unit.
An example is shown below.
After closing this form and the PVTLab Fluid Analysis form the list of n-
paraffin and non-n-paraffin pseudocomponents is displayed in the main window.
Sensitivity to characterisation
Not all the PVT analyses we have tested are well reproduced by the PVT
characterisation fitting method. If this happens, it may be due to the
inconsistency between the SCN distribution and the information for the
molecular weight and/or specific gravity for the plus fraction or STO or total
fluid. If you do see a warning related to the inconsistency, use the phase
envelope tracer to see how the phase envelope is affected by characterising the
fluid with and without the information for the molecular weight and/or specific
gravity.
Presence of water
Defining a water cut using the PVT analysis form will alter the amount of water
in the overall stream but without changing the amounts of any components
which are not hydrocarbons and are not in the list of discrete components. It can
therefore affect the composition of an aqueous phase defined elsewhere in the
program.
On the form, the user-entered values are displayed in red and the values
calculated by Multiflash are in black. By default the type of petroleum fraction,
that is given in the form under the Extended properties Tab, is set to Normal.
Click the OK button to close the form.
If not all the properties are known, the rest of the physical properties for the
petroleum fractions will be estimated by Multiflash and displayed in black as
shown below.
To confirm the deleting click the Yes button on the following message dialog.
Delumping tool
The PVT Analysis tool in Multiflash is used to characterise a fluid based on an
existing analysis carried out in the PVT lab. As mentioned in the previous
chapter, the objective of the characterization procedure is to produce a mixture
of components that more closely describes the analysed fluid.
The produced components can be lumped into pseudocomponents in order to get
a simpler mixture while preserving the main characteristics of the fluid such as
bubble points.
To launch the Delump tool click the Delump button: . The following
window will appear if there is a current defined fluid.
The Current Fluid table (1) displays the components and amounts of the current
fluid. After delumping it will display the components and amounts of the
delumped fluid.
The Delumping status (2) shows the current status of the delumping tool. In this
case it shows that the current fluid is not delumped.
The Fluid summary (3) lists the number of components of each type:
Real components: methane, ethane, etc
Petroleum fractions: standard petroleum fractions, C6, C7, C7+, etc
Normal paraffin fractions: fractions n-paraffin components, N6, N7,
N7+, etc
Iso-paraffin: petroleum fractions that are not part of the n-paraffin
distribution, example I6, I7, etc
The number of components of each type has increased and new options are now
available for the delumped fluid.
Clicking the “Revert” button puts the fluid in its original lumped state.
It is now possible to export the delumped fluid to the PVT Lab Fluid Analysis
tool by clicking the “Open PVT tool” button. It will open the standard PVT lab
Fluid analysis tool if no n-paraffins are present and the PVT lab Fluid analysis
with n-paraffin distribution tool otherwise.
If the fluid has no n-paraffin analysis, one can be added by ticking the “Add
n-Paraffin analysis” on the Delump Fluid form.
By ticking this option the “PVT lab Fluid analysis with n-paraffin distribution”
tool will open instead of the standard one.
After the PVT tool is opened the user has the option to change the number of
pseudo-components, add molecular weight, specific gravity, SARA analysis and
water cut if necessary and to re-characterise the fluid.
and enter the values for one or more experimental dew points and the type of
dew point you are calculating (the Upper retrograde solution is the default setting
for dew point). Click on the Match button and the vapour pressure of the
fractions will be adjusted until the calculated and experimental values match.
A plot will show a comparison of the matched data to the experimental data -
and the unmatched calculations.
where C17+ is the 19th component. The adjusted Mathias Copeman parameters
MCRKS1 and MCRKS2 for the RKSA model will be reflected in the pure
component record.
If only bubble point data are available then these are entered using the bubble
point data table. If no bubble point data is available at all, it is still possible to
match GOR. To fit the GOR you must enter the conditions at which the supplied
GOR were measured and the GOR itself. The units may either be standard cubic
feet per barrel of liquid at the T,P specified or the equivalent in standard m3/m3.
The liquid density is optional but, if provided, must be at the same T,P
conditions as the GOR. The experimental value for water phase fraction has to
be expressed as volume percentage of the total liquid phase obtained at the
separator condition: hydrocarbon and water. A choice of units is provided for
liquid density including specific gravity in relation to water. The GOR and liquid
density units in the bubble point matching form are not affected if the Units
option is changed. The T,P units may be changed but in GOR conditions and
bubble point units must be the same. The plot will show the phase envelope
before and after matching with the information specified in the Match Bubble
Point / GOR Data form.
For the case with water cut specified in the matching, the phase envelopes for
both the unmatched and matched case are the fluid without presence of water.
The GOR and the water phase fraction are matched by changing the fluid
composition: change non-aqueous components to match GOR and change water
amount to match water cut. The output shows the original and adjusted
composition for each fluid component and the ratio of the two. The initial
amount of water will always be set to zero, even if it is not zero before using the
matching facility.
The ratio of adjusted composition to original data may also indicate possible
inconsistencies.
Similarly any GOR entered as part of the PVT Analysis and used to calculate the
recombined fluid composition is ignored for the purposes of Bubble point/GOR
matching and is not checked for consistency. Any amount of water added during
PVT characterization, where a water cut was asked, will also be discarded.
Matching Density/Volume
The procedure for matching density/volume is similar to matching dew and
bubble points. The matching is flexible and, as with the viscosity, the phase to be
matched can be specified.
In this case the amended property values are the coefficients for the Peneloux
volume shift parameter.
match table volume OVERALL temperatures 381.15 381.15 381.15
381.15 350 350 350 350;pressures 360 350 340 330 100 80 60
40;Volume kg/m3 202.375 268.229 253.93 249.228 93 73 55 35;;;
PETROLEUM FRACTIONS PHYSICAL PROPERTIES: PENELOUX VOLUME
SHIFTS/(m3/mol)
CONST. TERM TEMP. DEP. TERM
10P 0.00171839 -4.31382E-6
11P 0.00198798 -5.00294E-6
12P 0.00222093 -5.58758E-6
13P 0.00241593 -6.07539E-6
The table can be used to match WAT or the amount of wax precipitated for a
given pressure as the temperature falls. In the case of WAT you may wish to
give the amount of wax as zero mass(or mole)%, in which case it does not matter
of you specify the wax as a function of the oil plus wax phase or total fluid.
However, it may be more realistic to give a positive amount of wax that reflects
the nature of the measurement technique used. We recommend 0.045mass% for
CPM or 0.3mass% for DSC.
Once you have entered the data , click on the Match button and the melting
temperature and the enthalpy of melting of petroleum fractions will be adjusted
to match the information provided. The adjusted melting temperature or
enthalpies will be displayed in the main window.
If the data are for a fixed wax phase fraction, the wax phase boundary line at the
fixed phase fraction is plotted.
Make sure LIQUID1 or LIQUID2 is selected from the list of possible phases and
enter the temperature and pressure conditions as well as the liquid viscosity data
to be matched. The matching procedure works by altering the reference viscosity
of the petroleum fractions and these will be reported in the main window,
together with a comparison of the experimental and fitted values of viscosity.
For example
The reference viscosities will also be reflected in the pure component data record
for the petroleum fractions.
The matching facility will attempt to match the data supplied whether or not it
appears physically realistic. No warning will be issued if liquid viscosities
increase with increasing temperature.
To display the blending form, click on the button or the Tools/Blend Fluids
input menu item.
Model definition
One of the fluids can be selected as providing the model definition for the fluid
blend. The models and phases defined for the blended fluid are then the same as
for the selected fluid. Likewise the information stored for all the associated
utilities such as matching, PVT analysis, the inhibitor and salinity calculator, etc.
will be taken from the same selected fluid. Alternatively, no fluid need be
selected in which case the definition of blended fluid will include only the
components and their properties with no associated model definitions or utility
information.
If the blended fluids are asphaltenic, the parameters of the asphaltene models for
each of the constituent fluids will be averaged to give a prediction of possible
asphaltene precipitation in the blend. However, to obtain this prediction the user
must select a model definition for one fluid as, if no models are selected, the
asphaltene model parameters will be lost.
Blending procedure
The blending procedure is initiated by clicking OK. If there is a fluid currently
defined in Multiflash, a warning will appear as follows:
On clicking Yes, the previous fluid definition is lost, and the blend becomes the
currently defined fluid. If No is clicked, nothing happens giving the user the
option to save the current fluid description, for example, before proceeding.
In the example below, 5 kg of fluid described in file PetFluid.mfl is blended with
1 kg of fluid described in file Blackoil.mfl. The models and associated
information for the blend are set the same as those in file Blackoil.mfl.
The model definitions used in Blackoil.mfl are selected as the ones to be used for
the blended fluid. On pressing OK, the blending procedure creates a model for
the fluid blend in Multiflash. The phase envelope for the blend can then be added
to the existing plots using VLE Autoplot. The procedure can then be repeated by
going back to the Blend Fluids window and specifying ).5 moles of both oils,
pressing OK and calculating the phase envelope. Finally the process can be
repeated with 0.75 moles of Petfluid.mfl and 0.25 moles of Blackoil.mfl. The
resulting diagram will appear as shown:
Next the same calculations are repeated for waxycrude.mfl and the results to
give the following phase diagram. The wax line occurs at a higher temperature
for waxycrude.mfl because the fluid contains heavier n-paraffin components.
As expected, the vapour-liquid phase envelope for the blended crude has mixed
effects from both crudes. The waxy oil is much heavier and has much stronger
effect on the phase envelope of the blended crude at the higher temperature end,
whereas the waxy condensate has more contribution to lower temperature end.
However, the blended wax line is very similar to that of waxycrude.mfl because
the heavier n-paraffins in waxycrude.mfl continue to dominate the point of wax
precipitation in the blended mixture.
Next, the asphaltenic crude asphex3.mfl is loaded and the bubble point line is
plotted. The asphaltene line is then selected and plotted from 150 bar upwards.
Finally 0.5 moles of both oils are blended together with the model definition
obtained from the asphex2.mfl fluid. The bubblepoint line and asphaltene
envelope of the blended mixture are plotted. The result is shown below. The
bubble point line is intermediate between those of the two original oils. The
properties of the resins and asphaltenes in the blend is calculated from those of
the original oils using simple averaging rules; in this case the predicted
asphaltene line of the blend is closer to that of asphex2.mfl. The predicted
behaviour is highly speculative as there are no data in the public domain which
can be used to support any model for the blending of asphaltenic crudes. So for
engineering calculations the predictions must be treated with caution.
For the details on how to plot the bubblepoint line and asphaltene envelopes,
refer to the Asphaltenes case study chapter.
Introduction
Once you have chosen the model for your mixture and selected the components,
the next step is to specify the input conditions for the problem. In Multiflash
these may be:
Component compositions
Temperature
Pressure
Volume
Enthalpy
Entropy
Internal energy
The component compositions must be specified but only a subset of the other
conditions are needed depending on the calculation to be carried out. Input
conditions may be specified in a wide range of units; for information on how to
change the units see “Changing units” on page 170. The units currently selected
are displayed next to each input field.
As you may wish to change the input conditions frequently, the majority are
grouped together in the Conditions section of the main window.
If input conditions are defined in a problem setup file they will be displayed
when the file is loaded.
Specifying compositions
Component compositions can be specified or modified in three places. Normally,
they will be defined in the drop down table under Compositions. However, it is
possible to enter them under the PVT Lab. Fluid Analysis Form (see ”PVT Lab
Analysis” on page 89) or to enter the composition of an inhibitor through the
Inhibitor Calculator (see “Inhibitor calculator” on page 79).
To specify the amount of any component in a mixture using the drop down table
under Compositions activate the table by clicking on the Compositions button.
Note that you can copy the composition of a phase from the results window and
paste this into the Composition table to carry out further calculations.
Introduction
The calculations available in Multiflash may be divided into two broad
categories. Firstly there are simple flash calculations where two quantities such
as pressure and temperature are specified and the amounts and compositions of
all phases at equilibrium are calculated. Other calculation options such as the
Phase Envelope or Reid Vapour Pressure depend on a sequence of flashes to
follow a phase boundary or to simulate a laboratory procedure.
Before carrying out any calculation you must specify the components,
compositions and model(s). The other input conditions appropriate to the
calculation must also be set. For example, the pressure and temperature for a PT
flash. After you have performed a calculation any of the input conditions can be
changed and further calculations carried out.
Most of the calculations in Multiflash work with a single fluid composition and
return a result for a single set of input conditions. If you need to carry out many
calculations and generate tabular output this can be done easily using the
Multiflash Excel interface.. See the separate document User Guide for Multiflash
Excel Interface for details.
Click on the tool bar button , or, alternatively, choose P,T, Flash from the
Standard Flashes list in the Calculate menu.
Isenthalpic flashes
These are flashes at fixed enthalpy. The most useful is the P,H flash which is
used when studying flow through valves or pipelines. A typical calculation
sequence is:
Determine the enthalpy of a stream at a given P,T (isothermal flash) and enter
the calculated enthalpy in the Conditions section
Drop the pressure by entering a lower pressure under Conditions
Click on the button or specify P,H flash from the menu bar.
The P,H flash also has a unique solution.
You can also plot lines of constant enthalpy on a phase diagram. See the
description on page 148.
Isentropic flashes
The isentropic, fixed entropy, flashes are used when you are looking at adiabatic
and reversible processes such as a turbo expander where you would use the P,S
flash. Like the P,H flash the P,S flash has a unique solution. The H,S flash has
applications in the turbine industry.
As with the isenthalpic flash, enter the value for the entropy which you want to
remain fixed in the Entropy box, and enter the value for the other variable
(usually P or H). The P,S flash may be activated through either the tool bar
button or the menu, but the latter is the only option for activating the H,S flash.
You can also plot lines of constant entropy on a phase diagram. See the
description on page 148.
Isochoric flashes
The isochoric or fixed volume flashes are used when looking at closed systems,
such as vessels. The two most used are the T,V flash where you know the
temperature and the U,V flash where you know the internal energy. Both of
these flash specifications have unique solutions. Neither of these flashes has a
tool bar button assigned, both are activated only through Calculate in the Menu
bar.
You can also plot lines of constant volume on a phase diagram. See the
description on page 148.
Phases
Multiflash is a multiphase phase equilibrium program that can handle up to
twenty possible phases at any time with the current configuration. Any
individual calculation will consider the possibility of all specified phases but the
maximum which may exist together at equilibrium is limited to seven. The phase
types that are included in the current version of Multiflash are
Vapour
Liquid
Pure solid
Fixed composition solid
Hydrate
Wax
Asphaltene
It is clearly possible to have more than one of all these types except vapour.
However, the software and models are structured such that it would not be
sensible to define more than one wax or asphaltene. In order to identify each
phase uniquely they are assigned names and, in some cases, key components, see
“What the model definition means” on page 312. The standard set of names used
for the different phases is listed below.
Phase names
GAS vapour phase
Key components
A key component helps to identify a particular phase. The rule used is that the
key component should be present in the phase to the maximum amount relative
to the total mixture composition. Alternatively a minimum key component can
be specified; this means that the component should be present in the phase in the
minimum relative concentration.
Since version Multiflash 4.4, multiple key components can be specified for the
phases.
The phases set up by the Multiflash GUI identify one liquid phase (WATER)
with aqueous components as key components as the key component and the
other two liquid phases (LIQUID1 and LIQUID2) with aqueous components as a
minimum key component. The aqueous key components are the mostly used
polar components such water, methanol, ethanol, glycols, etc.
Key components are only needed when a flash calculation must identify a phase
uniquely (e.g. search for a particular phase fraction). Examples are the fixed
phase fraction flash or a phase envelope calculation.
If you request any of these calculations for a phase without a specified key
component, an error message will be returned. For example, if you try to
calculate the water dew point when there is no water in the mixture you will see
the following message:
*** ERROR 20148 ***
Key components of fixed phase not present or in
trace amounts.
*** ERROR 21011 ***
Illegal input specification
The critical point is where the gas and liquid phases become identical, having
the same density and composition. It is also possible to have liquid-liquid critical
points where two liquid phases become identical. The cricondentherm is the
maximum temperature at which a two phase mixture can exist and the
cricondenbar is the maximum pressure at which a two phase mixture can exist.
If the pressure is reduced along an isotherm from the liquid or dense gas region
(to the left of the critical point) it reaches its bubble point, where the light
components no longer remain dissolved in the heavier liquid components and
separate off as a gas.
In gas condensates the gaseous components are in excess and the heavier liquid
components in the minority. In this case, as the pressure is reduced (to the right
of the critical point) the liquids drop out of the gas phase at the retrograde dew
point and the amount of liquid increases as the pressure decreases. This is known
as retrograde. condensation.. As the pressure is reduced further, the liquid
components evaporate again and the liquid disappears at the normal dew point.
For example, consider the phase envelope shown above, which has a large
retrograde region. Taking a temperature of 300oF, for example, there are two
dew points; one at 2.5 psia (the normal dew point) and one at 2977 psia (the
retrograde dew point). The Type of Solution setting allows Multiflash to
calculate either the normal or retrograde solution to a fixed phase fraction flash.
Phase Envelopes
The Phase Envelope utility will trace any phase boundary including gas, liquid
and solid on pressure-temperature co-ordinates. The phase envelope utility will
work with any Multiflash model but some models, such as activity coefficient
models, are only valid at low pressures and will not produce closed phase
boundaries.
Other features include:
the ability to trace selected phase boundaries on the basis of mass
or volume fraction in addition to mole fraction and the nucleation
boundary.
the flexibility to include the plotting of constant enthalpy, entropy,
volume or free energy boundaries.
A generalisation of the plotting facility so that for any chosen
phase boundary it is possible to plot any phase or property against
another.
The use the Phase Envelope utility click on the Phase Envelope toolbar button,
VLEAutoPlot
The VLEAutoPlot button will generate a vapour-liquid phase boundary starting
from the dew point line at low pressure. This is the usual phase envelope
calculation. None of the settings on the Phase tab or Initial Values tab are used
by this option.
It is possible that the message box shown below will be displayed
The default for the maximum number of points to calculate is 100. This may not
be sufficient to complete the phase boundary. Clicking on Yes will allow the
calculations and plot to continue. If the calculations have reached any limit
within the 100 points the message will not appear.
Phase tab
The Type of Solution, Select Phase, Select Basis and Phase Fraction boxes are
used when you click on the Plot button.
The Select Phase box allows you to select the specific phase for which you wish
to plot a boundary, for example WATER. The Phase Fraction box sets the value
of fraction of the phase selected to be plotted. For example, to plot the water dew
point line select the WATER phase and set the phase fraction to 0 and click on
Plot. A phase fraction of zero should always be used to plot the boundary where
a phase first appears (or disappears). Phase fractions greater than zero will plot
lines where the selected phase is present with the fraction specified. As with the
dew, bubble and fixed phase fraction calculations there may not be a solution for
The mole fraction, mass fraction and volume fraction properties refer to the
fraction of the specified phase. To calculate a phase appearance boundary (with a
fraction of 0) it is recommended that you select the mole fraction basis.
Selecting enthalpy, entropy, volume or internal energy will disable the Type of
Solution and Select phase boxes because the property line plotted is the total for
all the phases present. The value of the property to be plotted should be entered
in the units shown. The units can be changed by clicking on the Units button.
Click the Plot button to plot the constant property line.
The Initial Values section allows you to set a pressure or temperature value for
the start of the phase boundary or property plot.. The Start from setting selects
either the pressure or temperature as the starting point and the Initial value to
section sets the initial direction for the pressure or temperature.
Pressure increasing from 1 bar is the default setting and is usually a good choice
for many phase boundaries. However, you should be aware that occasionally
there may not be a solution for a particular boundary at this pressure and it may
be necessary to vary initial conditions to start the tracing of the phase boundary.
When plotting phase boundaries for solids it is often a good strategy to start from
a high pressure and change the direction to decrease.
Frame Tab
The Frame tab allows you to set P,T boundaries for the calculation and to set the
properties you wish to see displayed on the x and y axes.
The section headed For Calculation allows setting of minimum and maximum
values for temperature and pressure that will be used when calculating a phase
boundary or property line. It is usually best not to enter any limits because the
ranges for the calculation are usually unknown in advance. If the initial point on
a line falls outside the specified range no further calculations will be done.
The For Plotting section controls how the results of the calculation are
displayed. Normally the x-axis displays temperature and the y-axis displays
pressure. However these settings can be changed to enthalpy, entropy, volume,
internal energy or the fraction of any phase. All the possibilities are shown in the
drop-down list for each axis. The minimum and maximum values for plotting on
each axis can also be set. If the T,P range for calculation is limited then the
plotted values will also be limited irrespective of the plotting range set.
By changing the plotting variables it is also possible to look at the liquid mole
fraction as a function of temperature.
If you wish to return to the standard P,T axes to plot you must remember to alter
the axes yourself in the Frame tab, they will not be reset automatically.
The Frame tab also allows you to change the maximum number of points
calculated at any one time. A limit is needed because some phase boundaries do
not have a natural end point or form closed loops. The default value for the
maximum is 100. This limit can be increased if desired.
Options
The Options button allows you to delete or customise each line on the plot.
You can change the label, the colour and line style. Tool bar buttons on the plot
window also give access to the controls of the graphics package. The Edit button
Enter the data to be plotted (which can be pasted) and click on Save and Plot.
Several data series can be added.
Write to Excel
Although you can call all Multiflash functions directly from an Excel
spreadsheet, including the Phase envelope function, you can also transfer the plot
and phase boundary points generated in the Multiflash GUI to Excel. Once you
are happy with a plot clicking on Write to Excel will generate a spreadsheet with
a Chart corresponding to the tabular values reflected in the main window with
the values themselves posted to a worksheet.
The “Write to Excel” facility is supported for Excel 97 onwards.
Right-clicking the mouse displays the PT Flash button. Click on this button to
carry out a PT flash at the conditions shown. The output is displayed in the main
window.
Wax calculations
As with other solids, a wax phase can be included in any flash calculation in
Multiflash. In addition there are two dedicated calculations involving wax.
Enter the pressure for the calculation in the pressure box and click Calculate. The
curve is displayed in the plot window and a table of values is shown in the
Multiflash output window
Wax Precipitation Curve
Pressure: 1. bar
Tolerance calculations
Tolerance calculations are used to determine the amount of a component or
mixture that must be added to the original stream to achieve a given phase split.
A typical application is to determine how much inhibitor is required to suppress
hydrate formation. Another example might be to determine the amount of water
needed to saturate a gas. Tolerance calculations are carried out at fixed
temperature and pressure and for a fixed phase fraction specified in moles.
To carry out a tolerance calculation specify the model and the components in
your stream. These should include the component or components for which you
wish to determine the amount to be added. In the Composition table specify the
composition for your mixture. The component/components for which the
tolerance calculation is being carried out need not be there in zero amount if they
are already present in the stream. However, it is more usual to set their
composition to zero, for example zero amount of methanol when you wish to
calculate the amount needed to inhibit hydrate formation. Using
Calculate/Tolerance Calculation opens the following window
In the Phase Specified tab window set the phase and the fraction of that phase
for the fixed phase element of the flash. In the Composition of Second Fluid tab
enter the amount of the single component (usually 1.0) or the composition of the
mixture to be added to the main stream to meet the phase fraction constraint set.
Note that this example assumes that you have a DIPPR databank license this is
because ETBE is not available in Infodata databank and must be defined from
the DIPPR databank.
If you do not have a DIPPR license, the example ReidVP_ex2.mfl can be used
instead. This is a mixture of different gasoline components (in the range C5-C7)
and ethanol. As ethanol is part of the mixture, the CPA model should be used to
ensure realistic predictions (the RKSA model will wrongly predict liquid-liquid
phase splitting).
As you can see the phase envelope turns up at low temperatures and high
pressures. This is also typical of phase envelopes with a significant amount of
hydrogen where you may not find a solution for the bubble point at low
temperatures.
What can you do if the method used to find a solution is not capable of solving
the problem posed? There are various strategies which may help:
Introduction
A significant proportion of the apparent errors and problems reported for
Multiflash can be tracked down to a mismatch between the units the user thinks
he/she is using and those currently set in the software. The importance of
matching units cannot be stressed too much. Having said that, what units are
available for you to select?
Internally all Multiflash calculations are carried out in SI units. This cannot be
changed. Unless altered by the user, the default input and output units are also SI
and any numerical input values for any property will be assumed to be in SI.
The input values of component amounts for any calculation are total amounts.
The output defaults are that individual compositions of any phase are given as
fractions but the amount of each phase is the total amount.
Default units
In the absence of any other information the default input and output units are
also SI. However, if you prefer to work in other units most of the time it is
possible to set these as your preferred option. This is done through the Tools
menu by selecting the Preferences/General option.
Under the Default Units tab select your choice of units for any property. In the
example below the default unit for pressure is set to bar rather than Pa.
Changing units
You may change any of the input or output units at any time. This does not affect
the default unit settings described above.
From the Select menu choose Units or click on the Select input and output units
toolbar button . This displays the Unit Selection window:
Troubleshooting - units
The only problems we have encountered with units arise from a mismatch of
those currently set in the software and those assumed by the user. It is always
worth checking the units are what you expect if you run into problems.
Introduction
The numerical output from Multiflash appears in the results window which
occupies the bulk of the main window. The output is also written automatically
to a log file called MFLASH.LOG. It is also possible to print results or to write
them to another file of your choice. How you do this will be discussed in
“Writing the results to a file” on page 174.
The banner contains information on the serial number for your copy of
Multiflash; the time and date of the current run for documentary purposes and
information on the path of the Multiflash application files location. It also shows
the contents of the MFCONFIG.DAT file if you have one. The path for the
location of the Multiflash log file can be found from the “About Multiflash …”
under the Help menu of the Multiflash main window.
When a problem setup file (.mfl file) is loaded the contents of the files are also
displayed in this window.
Before the output from each calculation, the results window displays a separator
followed by a comment line to identify the calculation. For example
Dew point at fixed T:
A confirmation message may be displayed be certain menu options. For
example, the Clear Problem Setup option in the File menu shows the following
message to confirm that the previous setup has been removed
Clear current problem setup
Font
The default font for displaying results in the output window is Lucida Console,
10 pt. This can be changed through the Tools menu by selecting the
Preferences/General option and the Sheet Configuration tab and clicking on
the Fonts button.
The possible fonts available will depend on the particular PC installation. When
changing fonts we recommend that you always choose a mono-spaced font so
that the column format is retained.
A file save dialogue allows you to choose the file name and folder. The default
extension for output files is .out, but you may choose any extension that is
allowed by Windows.
Calculation output
Calculation output will vary slightly depending on the type of calculation and the
level of physical property output specified but will be in the style
PHASE1
GAS
Diffusion coefficient (m2/s )
ACETONE WATER
ACETONE 8.00080E-06 1.86663E-05
WATER 1.86663E-05 4.29283E-05
PHASE2
LIQUID1
Diffusion coefficient (m2/s )
ACETONE WATER
ACETONE 7.15035E-09 2.96215E-09
WATER 2.96215E-09 4.55884E-09
Enthalpy definition
In Multiflash the enthalpy is calculated as
Activity Models
For activity methods the default route for calculating the enthalpy is as described
above. However, there are two additional routes by which the enthalpy of each
component can be calculated. Although the alternatives described below are
available, it is recommended that they should only be used if the consequences
and implications are well-understood.
Entropy definition
In Multiflash the entropy is calculated as
S S ref S pg S res
Where:
S res is the residual entropy which is calculated from the thermodynamic model
specified for thermal properties.
Although the absolute entropy can be argued to have a physical interpretation, in
practise, it is entropy differences that are experimentally accessible and S ref can
be chosen at will.
Multiflash has three possible reference states that are user selectable. By default
we set to zero the entropy of each pure component in the perfect gas state at
298.15K and 1 atm. This datum is referred to as the ‘compound’ datum in the
units selection window of Multiflash. See “Units” on page 169.
The ‘elements’ datum sets the entropy of each element to zero in the perfect gas
state at 298.15K and 1 atm. This datum produces values that are much larger
numerically than the ‘compound’ datum but entropy differences between two
states are the same. When calculating chemical reaction equilibrium the
‘elements’ datum must be used.
The third possibility is the ‘standard’ datum which is sometimes called the
‘third-law or ‘absolute’ entropy. This means that the reference entropy is chosen
so that the entropy of each component in the perfect gas state at 298.15K and 1
atm is equal to the standard entropy of that component. The standard entropy is
relative to a zero value at absolute zero. The standard datum may also be used in
chemical reaction analysis since the results are equivalent to the elements datum.
Activity Models
The two alternative calculation routes for the enthalpy have corresponding routes
for the entropy. They always apply to both properties.
The output from the Show Problem option is essentially identical to the
information written to an .mfl file is the current problem setup is saved.
Troubleshooting - output
Problems relating to the flash calculations, which may be reflected in the output,
have been dealt with earlier. However, some problems directly related to the
output may be worth mentioning.
Phase labelling
The phase names attached to each of the possible phases which may form
enables you to keep track of the phase output. One case where some confusion
may arise is for dense phases, where it is not possible to decide unambiguously
whether the dense fluid is a liquid or a gas. In this case the phase name may
change with slight alterations in conditions. A change in the phase label does not
affect the correctness of the results or phase properties, it is only the label
attached to the phase that is ambiguous.
Fonts
Occasionally users have reported not being able to read the output in the results
window. This appears to be the result of particular PC installations where the
font type or size has been re-set to choices that are incompatible with the display.
To change the font setting see “Font” on page 174.
Introduction
In addition to using Multiflash to do stand-alone calculations it is possible to
create property data files for use by other application programs. In addition,
Multiflash can also import files from other programs (e.g., PVTSim) to perform
calculations. Multiflash can currently produce Pipesim PVT files, files for input
to OLGA, property files for Prosper, and CAPE-OPEN property package files.
Multiflash can also import CHC files from PVTSim.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Interfaces with other programs 183
Click on Calculate table
An alternative to entering each pressure and temperature individually is to use
the Equidistant Points Tab which allows you to enter start and end points for P
and T and an increment or a number of points.
Assuming there are no problems the output will go directly to the .PVT file, it
will not be sent to the results window. In the results window you will see the
message
Pipesim table written to file: pipe1.pvt
If there are problems calculating any of the entries in the table the following
message is displayed
OLGA
OLGA is a general purpose transient simulator for modelling fluid flow in flow
lines and pipeline systems. It is a product licensed by the SPT Group.
Multiflash can produce a PVT data file for use in OLGA. The file contains all
the physical property information required by OLGA. It consists of a series of
flash calculations on a grid of pressure and temperature values. The information
stored includes all the properties required by OLGA for either two-phase or
three-phase problems as set out in SPT Technical Note No. 1. From Multiflash
184 Interfaces with other programs User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
4.4, the maximum dimension of the temperature and pressure grid has been
extended up to 100.
To generate the file:
Define the models (which must include models for surface tension, thermal
conductivity and viscosity) and the mixture (components and composition) as
usual
Select OLGA from the Table menu, then
Fill in the dialogue box with the pressure and temperature grid points and the
name of the output file. The recognised extension for OLGA tables is .tab. This
will be allocated automatically if you use the Browse facility to identify a
suitable folder and save the file there. Alternatively you can type in the .tab
extension as part of the file name. If you want the file saved in a folder directory
you must enter the full pathname, otherwise the file will be saved in the current
default directory. If the file already exists, the fluid PVT table will be added to
the end of the existing file if the append box is ticked, otherwise the entire file
will be overwritten with the new PVT table.
OLGA requires a File id (starting with a letter not a number). If you don't
provide one, Multiflash will assign one automatically.
Click on Calculate table
If the file already exists and the append box is not ticked, a warning message will
be displayed
Clicking Yes causes the file to be overwritten with the new table. Clicking No
means nothing will happen.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Interfaces with other programs 185
Assuming there are no problems with the calculations the output will go directly
to the .named file, it will not be sent to the results window. In the results window
you will see the message
Olga table written to file: oil.tab
Similarly to the Pipesim table option you have the choice of entering the P and T
points for the table or specifying ranges and increments or the number of points.
If any of the input is unacceptable, such as specifying negative pressures or
absolute temperatures or if Multiflash cannot solve the flash calculation at any
grid point then a warning message will appear. This may be an indication that
you have incorrect input
186 Interfaces with other programs User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
same style of warning will appear if an existing wax file is about to be
overwritten. If the wax file box is left blank, the wax calculations are omitted.
If the wax file is required but the wax model is not defined, the following
warning is displayed. Choose the Model Set option from the Select menu to
define the wax model. It should then be possible to generate the OLGA wax file.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Interfaces with other programs 187
Keyword Description Unit
GOR Gas-Oil ratio scf/sbl
OFV Oil formation volume factor RB/sbl
OVIS Oil viscosity cPoise
ODEN Oil density lb/ft3
OCOM Oil compressibility 1/psi
GFVF Gas formation volume factor ft3/scf
GVIS Gas viscosity cPoise
ZFAC Gas Z factor
GDEN Gas density lb/ft3
CGR Reservoir condensate-gas ratio bbl/MMscf
WVIS Water viscosity cPoise
WCOM Water compressibility 1/psi
CAPE-OPEN Interface
Infochem/KBC has been an active participant in developing and testing the
CAPE-OPEN (CO) standards. The Multiflash CO modules implement versions
1.0 and 1.1 of the standard and support the
PropertyPackageManager/ThermoSystem and PropertyPackage interfaces. The
interface has been tested for interoperability with Petro-SIM, Aspen+, CoCo,
ProII, gPROMS, Hysys and Simulis.
To generate a Multiflash CO Property Package for use with the Multiflash
CAPE-OPEN module simply set up the problem as usual. Instead of saving the
Problem Set-up choose the Export CO Property Package option from the File
menu. It is not necessary to specify which version of the CO interface you intend
to use.
For more information see the document the CAPE-OPEN Interface for
Multiflash 4.4 document which is installed when the interface is selected during
the installation of Multiflash.
188 Interfaces with other programs User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
PVTSim CHC file import tool
PVTSim is a general thermodynamic properties package of Calsep. The files
generated by PVTSim (.CHC files) can be easily imported into Multiflash to
perform thermodynamic calculations.
To import a CHC file simply:
1) Select Import PVTSim CHC file from the File menu. The following window
should appear:
2) Click the "Browse" button and search for the .CHC file that you desire to
import. Then click on the "Open" button.
3) Choose the options for model import regarding models for viscosity, thermal
conductivity, and surface tension. Otherwise the suggested default models will
be used.
4) Click on the phases you want to define. Otherwise the suggested default
phases will be defined.
5) Optional: if the original mixture as defined in the CHC file does not contain
water but water is desired in the mixture, simply click on the "Add water" tick
box.
6) Optional: use the GERG 2008 model to calculate the vapour phase density.
7) Click the "Import" button.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Interfaces with other programs 189
Help
Introduction
Help is provided in various ways:
This document: User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
On-line Help
Website support
Technical support
On-line help
The on-line help is accessed through the Help menu
Help Topics
Help Topics provides access to the Contents, Index and Search facilities for
Multiflash Help.
Related topics are further sub-headings and more help is displayed by selecting
any of these.
Some of the help text may be displayed in green. If this is underlined with a solid
line, clicking on the text will allow you to jump to another help screen related to
the text. If the text is underlined with a dotted line, clicking on it will result in a
pop-up box containing a glossary definition or a margin note.
Selecting the Search tab button in the on-line help window allows you to specify
a particular topic you are interested in, either by typing in a description or
selecting from the list displayed.
Version Info shows the version numbers of the Multiflash dll (the calculation
engine) and the GUI.
License Info includes your serial number and the expiry date of the license.
Contact details gives information on how to contact Infochem,
Location, Configuration and Log Files shows the path for the Multiflash
application location and log files which are set by the
Tools/Preferences/General/Folders option. You should check that these folders
are set correctly if you experience problems in accessing data or messages. For
further information see the Multiflash Installation Guide.
The configuration file is an optional Multiflash command file called
MFCONFIG.dat file that is run when Multiflash starts. If it is not found the file
is not listed.
The .log file is the file which automatically records the input and output
information for any run.
Technical support
To report bugs found in Multiflash, please email us. The support email address
is: software@kbcat.com.
If you need further assistance contact us at:
Introduction
Although the primary purpose of Multiflash is to calculate the thermodynamic
properties of mixtures there may be occasions when you simply want to know
the properties of a pure component, particularly those from a particular data
source. This is quite simple.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Pure component data 197
Click on the Define Model button and then on OK,
For more information on models see “Models” on page 29.
From the Select menu choose Components or click on the toolbar button
Specify the data source and component in the Select Components window
The default data source is the Infodata databank. To change this click on the
down-arrow to the right of the data source box and choose another databank
from the list.
Type the component name in the Enter name box and press the enter key or click
the Add button. Other ways of selecting components are described in the section
“Defining a mixture” on page 65 .
198 Case studies - Pure component data User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Enter a composition for the stream
In this case where we have a pure component the composition is not important
provided it is a positive value.
In the main window, click on the Compositions button, and enter a value of 1.0
in the right-hand column of the table next to octane.
The input for this example is summarised in file octane.mfl.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Pure component data 199
The reported pressure is the saturated vapour pressure at 400K, the other
properties are listed below the phase equilibrium output. As we are dealing with
a pure component exactly the same property results would be obtained if we had
specified a dew point flash at the same temperature.
The next temperature can be entered in the temperature box in the Conditions
section and the bubble point flash repeated at this temperature.
As we are dealing with a single component this will be the only choice available
and should be highlighted. Click on a property in the property list and double-
click or click on the Edit button to view or change the property. For constants the
properties are displayed in the current units but these can be changed. For
temperature-dependent properties such as the vapour pressure, the identifier of
the correlating equation and the equation coefficients are displayed. It is usually
not advisable to change correlation coefficients unless you are entering new
values from some alternative data source. The equation identifiers are defined in
the User Guide for Models and Physical Properties.
You can also print the properties in the results window by clicking Write to
Output. This output can then can be saved or copied into other files.
show components "OCTANE" data ;
1 OCTANE
MOLECULARWEIGHT 114.231 g/mol
TCRIT 569.32 K
PCRIT 2497000 Pa
VCRIT 2056.359 mol/m3
ACENTRICFACTOR 0.396
TBOIL 398.82 K
HFORMATION -208446.9 J/mol
SSTANDARD 466.7252 J/mol/K
200 Case studies - Pure component data User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
TMELT 216.37 K
HMELT 20740. J/mol
SMELT J/mol/K
CPMELT 50.00791 J/mol/K
VMELT 50814.48 mol/m3
RUNIQUAC 5.8486
QUNIQUAC 4.9360
THLWATER K
VHLWATER m3/mol
DIPOLEMOMENT 0. debye
POLARIZABILITY Å3
QUADRUPOLEMOMENT debye Å
PARACHOR 351.4 (dyn cm-1) 1/4 cm3/mol
RADGYR 4.68040E-10 m
HOCASS 0.
GFORMATION 16000. J/mol
SFORMATION -752.7986 J/mol/K
TTRIPLE 216.38 K
PTRIPLE 2.1083 Pa
HCOMBUSTION -5074150 J/mol
V25 6120.925 mol/m3
SOLUPAR 15447.5 (J/m3)1/2
SOLIDSOLUPAR (J/m3)1/2
ZCRIT 0.2587676
REFRACTINDEX 1.39505
TFLASH 286. K
TAUTO 479. K
FLAMLOWER 0.8 vol %
FLAMUPPER 6.5 vol %
SPGRAVITY 0.7066211
EXPANSIVITY 1/K
OMARKS
OMBRKS
OMAPR
OMBPR
CNUMBER
REFVISCOSITY Pas
REFVISST Pas
REFVISPD Pas
REFVISTW Pas
REFVISLB Pas
LJEVISC J/K
LJBVISC m
EOSC
TYPE 1.
HDATUM 1.
SDATUM 1.
COMPREFNO 93.
MCRKS1
MCRKS2
MCRKS3
MCPR1
MCPR2
MCPR3
HYDOC
HYD1
HYD2
HYD3
ASSBETA
ASDBETA
ASSEPSILON J/mol
ASDEPSILON
ASSGAMMA
ASDGAMMA
ASSDELTA 1/K
ASDDELTA
ASSFF
ASDFF
ASSAC J m3/(mol)2
ASSBC m3/mol
ASSKAPPA
SAFTKAPPA
SAFTEPSILON K
SAFTGAMMA
SAFTFF
SAFTEK 242.78 K
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Pure component data 201
SAFTSIGMA 3.8373E-10 m
SAFTLAMBDA
SAFTM 3.8176
SAFTQ
SAFTFRQ
VSRKS1 m3/mol
VSRKS2 m3/mol/K
VSRKS3 m3 K/mol
VSPR1 m3/mol
VSPR2 m3/mol/K
VSPR3 m3 K/mol
CPIDEAL 1. -32384.514 -3721.3925 4.
76 290. -1.3945 5.6339999
-5.7709999 0. 0. 10000.
CPSOLID 5. -24. 1.9471999 -0.0085359998
1.34E-5 2.094E-8 20. 216.37
PSAT 3. -7.9121099 1.38007 -3.8043499
-4.50132 260. 568.95
HVAP 1. 54909.031 .3775 0.
0. 0. 0. 568.381
LDENS 1. 2032.52 5407.5898 0.375
0. 568.381
LVISC 2. -20.462999 1497.4 1.3789999
0. 0. 216.38 398.83
VVISC 1. 3.1191E-08 0.92925 55.092
0. 216.38 1000.
LTHCOND 5. 0.21867631 -0.00038267 2.1762921e-7
0. 0. 216.38 500
VTHCOND 1. -8758. 0.8448 -2.71210E+10
0. 339. 1000.
STENSION 1. 0.05278999 1.2323 0.
0. 0. 216.38 568.7
CPLIQUID 5. 224.83 -0.18663 .00095890998
0. 0. 216.38 460.
SDENS 5. 8340.9004 -3.1515 0.
0. 0. 133.15 216.38
VIRIALCOEFF 1. .00027389999 -5.65219E-04 -3.63347E-04
-1.161662E-05 2.58796E-06 284.38 1500.
DIELECTRIC
CARNUMBER 000111-65-9
FORMULA C8H18
FAMILYCODE AA
UNIFAC CH3 2 CH2 6
The output includes the pure component constant properties and the coefficients
for the temperature dependent property correlations. The definitions of the pure
component correlations are given in the User Guide for Models and Physical
Properties.
Excel interface
If you wish to produce tabular output or for graphical output for properties other
than phase boundaries the most convenient tool is the Multiflash Excel interface.
The example file PURE.xls shows how to construct the following table of
properties for octane.
Liquid properties on the saturation line
TEMP PRESSURE CP ENTHALPY DENSITY VISCOSITY THCOND SURTEN
202 Case studies - Pure component data User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
450 346415. 359.7 4045 5042 0.0001605 0.09055 0.007696
For more information on the Excel interface see the document: User Guide for
Multiflash Excel Interface.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Pure component data 203
Case studies - Phase equilibria
Introduction
The main purpose of Multiflash is to determine the phase equilibria and
thermodynamic properties of complex mixtures. The simple tutorial shown
earlier, see “Getting Started” on page 13, was based on calculating the phase
equilibria of a binary hydrocarbon system. Here we will look at a more complex
hydrocarbon system and the phase equilibria of a polar mixture.
Finally, click on OK in the message box and Close in the Model set dialogue
box.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 205
Specify the components
The INFODATA databank will be the default data source and this is acceptable
for this case study, so we can move directly to specifying the components. You
can activate the Select Components dialogue box by either
The various methods for selecting or searching for components have been shown
before, see “Selecting components” on page 66. As our current system contains
simple well known compounds they have been selected by
Choosing the Name option button
Typing the component name in the Enter name text box
and pressing the enter key after the name to load it for Multiflash
or
Clicking on Add to load the component.
Click on Close to load the components
Define the composition
Click on Compositions in the Conditions section, and
Type in the compositions in the drop down table. For our example it is:
Methane 0.45
Ethane 0.20
Propane 0.10
Butane 0.10
Hexane 0.10
Decane 0.05
206 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
no particular reason to prefer one over the other; for this particular example we
will fix the temperature and have our output pressure in bar.
To change the pressure units, click on the Select input and output units button
, then in the Tab control click on Pressure and click in the Output option
button box against bar. (You can also change the input units for pressure if you
wish.)
Having specified the model, components, compositions and units,
Enter the first temperature, 250K, in the Conditions section and
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 207
Click on Do flash.
The calculated dew point pressure is now 115 bar for the retrograde region,
whereas for the “normal” dew point the calculated pressure was 28.2 bar. This
confirms that we have a retrograde region for this system.
To calculate the full dew point curve you therefore need to increase the
temperature at 1K intervals above 460K, using the normal T, dew point flash,
until you meet the first convergence failure, at which point you are just beyond
the cricondentherm. You should now switch to fixed phase fraction flashes at
fixed temperature, set the options as described and reduce the temperature in
small steps. In this way the retrograde dew point curve can be generated back to
403 K.
Phase envelope
The same problem can be investigated more easily using the phase envelope
calculator. Set up the problem as before, but instead of carrying out individual
dew and bubble point calculations
208 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
The output in the results window will allow you do identify the critical point
explicitly
70C 402.731 147.11
Click on Do flash
Repeat the calculation at increasing temperatures to obtain the water dew point
line.
Alternatively, plot the water dew point line using the Phase Envelope calculator
by selecting the water phase at 0.0 molar phase fraction.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 209
Including a petroleum fraction
The heaviest component in our hydrocarbon stream is decane, but often the
heavier end of oil or gas condensate systems is defined as a petroleum fraction
rather than as a single specified component. Each petroleum fraction will consist
of a mixture of components and the fraction as a whole will be defined in terms
of its molecular weight, density and possibly boiling point, although the first two
properties are the most likely to be reported. Often the heavy end will be
reported as a single fraction, e.g. C7+, although sometimes a more detailed
analysis may be available breaking the heavy end down into several fractions.
Multiflash includes petroleum fraction correlations which may be used to predict
the thermodynamic and transport properties of the fraction based on the data
available, see “Defining petroleum fractions” on page 109.
For this case study we will remove decane and water from our stream and
replace decane with a petroleum fraction of molecular weight 234 and specific
gravity 0.838.
To delete components
Assuming the stream definition for the last case study is loaded
Click on Select components button
In the Select Components dialogue box, select water in the list of components
selected for Multiflash, then click on Delete. This will remove water from the
list. Repeat this for decane. You should now be left with methane, ethane,
propane, butane and hexane.
To add the petroleum fraction
In the Select components dialogue box, click the “Add/Remove Petroleum
Fractions” button to launch the Petroleum Fraction Input form.
Enter C7+ in the Component name column, 234 for Molecular Weight and
0.838 for specific gravity on the form.
210 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Click on Calculate or OK button to include the fraction in the defined stream. If
Calculate button is clicked, the rest of the physical properties which will be
calculated are displayed in black on the form. The user-entered values are in red.
Click on Close
In the main window click on Composition and enter 0.05 for the amount of
C7+.
The petroleum fraction is now included in the stream definition and the phase
envelope calculation may be repeated with the new stream, although the
cricondenbar, cricondentherm and retrograde regions will now be different.
If you only know that the petroleum fraction is C7+ but do not have a reported
MW or specific gravity you can simply fill in 7 as the Carbon number as follows
and click Calculate button
and Multiflash will determine the properties from a set of standard tables. The
calculated values by Multiflash are displayed in black and user-entered values
are in red.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 211
Other flash calculations
Many engineering applications involve a wide range of flash calculations, not
just those related to determining the phase envelope. For example, an isenthalpic
flash at fixed pressure can be used to simulate the expansion of a stream through
a valve
Basing this case study on the simple hydrocarbon stream (and model) we first
defined
Methane 0.45
Ethane 0.20
Propane 0.10
Butane 0.10
Hexane 0.10
Decane 0.05
we must initially carry out a P,T flash at the upstream conditions to determine
the enthalpy and then a P,H flash at the exit pressure.
Having loaded the model set and stream information
Enter the upstream temperature, 300K and pressure, 50 bar
Click on the P,T flash button
The calculated total enthalpy is -10539.6 J/mol
212 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
The stream is then throttled isenthalpically to 10 bar, by
Entering the new pressure, 10 bar under Conditions
Entering the calculated enthalpy under Conditions
Clicking on the P,H flash button
The calculated temperature at outlet has dropped to 273.134K.
You can also add the isenthalpic boundary for -10539.6 J/mol to your phase
envelope.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 213
PVT Analysis
Many users will receive a PVT Analysis for the composition of an oil or gas
from one of the PVT laboratories and wish to use this as input to Multiflash.
These reports follow a fairly standard format and the PVT Lab Analysis form
endeavours to reproduce this to make entering information as easy as possible.
The facility to add or delete components from the generated list is also useful.
The form is discussed in detail in section “PVT Lab Analysis” on page 89.
The case study we are considering here is based on a problem setup file called
pvt_anal2.mfl.
To enter a PVT Analysis when you have no measured n-paraffin distribution
either choose the Select/PVT Lab Input menu option or click on the icon.
The Lab Analysis form will then be displayed.
Initially we will consider a case where you only have a single fluid composition.
First select the data source for your discrete (i.e. well-defined) pure components.
214 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
This can be Infodata or DIPPR. In this example we use Infodata. Next at the top
of the column headed Single fluid you can choose either mass or mol % as
appropriate by clicking on the down arrow. If your PVT report offers a choice of
mole or mass %, it is the mass % that is the experimentally measured data and
should be given preference for separator oils. For this case the composition is
provided as mass%. Next enter the compositions of the discrete components and
the compositions of the petroleum cuts. In the form the pseudocomponents or
single carbon number (SCN) cuts are labelled C6, C7 etc. In your PVT
Laboratory report they may be referred to as hexanes, heptanes, etc., with the
heaviest being labelled as a plus fraction such as C20+ or eicosanes+. In our
example the heaviest SCN is C20.
The overall percentage will be totalled as you enter the compositions. If the final
total is not 100 you will be offered the opportunity to normalise the compositions
when you characterise the fluid.
You can enter further information to define the stream, such as the molecular
weight of the Stock Tank Oil (STO), the total fluid or the heaviest SCN or the
specific gravity of either the heaviest SCN or the STO. We have provided
general advice on when such data should be supplied in “Petroleum fluids” on
page 89. As the fluid in question has a heavy end (C6+) which comprises more
than 50% of the stream we should supply this information if possible. We have
therefore entered the molecular weight of the heaviest SCN but if you have the
molecular weight of the total fluid available this may be preferable as this is
again the measured quantity.
You are now ready to define the basis of your characterisation by choosing
where in your existing analysis you want to start redistributing the remaining
fluid into new pseudocomponents and how many pseudocomponents you want to
split this heavy end into. We’ve started with the simplest case where we have
chosen to start the split at the heaviest SCN and only allocate one
pseudocomponent. Effectively we are only allocating physical properties to the
existing SCNs. Click on the Do Characterisation button and you will see a
message box such as
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 215
Click on OK and Close to return to the main window where the new fluid
composition will be reported
The output lists the components and their composition in the units requested.
The additional column indicates the lower boundaries of the particular cut, for
example C6 comprises the cut from C5.5 to C6.5.
Properties of the individual pseudocomponents may be viewed using Tools/Pure
Component Data as usual and further calculations can be carried out on the basis
of this characterisation.
At this point, having successfully characterised the fluid, you can also save the
input as an .mfl file.
A useful way of seeing how changing characterisations alter the results of phase
calculations is to use the phase envelope generator. For instance, plot the phase
envelope of this fluid.
216 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
You can investigate various aspects of the characterisation and the sensitivity of
the phase envelope to changing these.
You can include an n-paraffin distribution by ticking the Estimate Wax Content
box located in the PVT analysis form. Set the starting point for the n-paraffin to
N6 with 15 n-paraffins. In this case the names and compositions of the fraction
cuts will differ,
If you return to the PVT Lab Analysis form and instead of the heaviest SCN
choose "Single fluid" and enter a MW of 68. Do the characterisation (without n-
paraffins) and plot the phase envelope. Then see what the effect is of extending
the heaviest SCN to further fractions, by leaving C20 as the start of the
pseudocomponents but choosing to split it into 5 pseudocomponents.
Alternatively you can group the components by starting the pseudocomponent
split at C8 and grouping the plus fraction into 15 pseudocomponents. You can
see that this alters the cricondenbar but the major effect is on the
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 217
cricondentherm. (The line for C8, 15PF is on top of the line for C20, 8PF).
Next, return to the original fluid definition and re-plot the phase envelope (first
clear the previous plot), then in the PVT Analysis form enter a water cut. This is
defined in terms of the volume percentage of the total fluid that is water. In this
case choose 3 %. In the main window plot the new phase envelope and the water
phase boundary.
Finally, return to the original fluid analysis again and this time add a separator
gas. Here we will look at a simple problem where the gas is 100 % methane
added at a GOR of 100 m3/m3. Move to the Liquid + Gas tab and enter 100 next
to methane in the left hand column headed "Gas" and in the Recombined fluid
section of the PVT form set the GOR units to m3/m3 and enter 100.
218 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Do the characterisation and return to the main window and plot the new phase
envelope by clicking on VLE AutoPlot.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 219
Now, plot the phase envelope and then return to the PVT Analysis. This time
check the box for user defined cuts. Clicking on "Define Cuts" button will show
a drop down box that allows you to set the SCN cuts for the specified number of
pseudo components (in this case 5).
After setting the SCN to 6, 10, 20, 30, and 40, and performing the
characterization, the results window shows the amounts and starting points for
the new SCN.
For these user defined SCNs the phase envelope is identical to the original.
220 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
A more distorted distribution (e.g., with cuts at SCN of 6, 30, 35, 37, and 40),
may affect the phase envelope more.
TBP curves
If your PVT analysis data, instead of a detailed SCN/Composition report, is
based on assay data, such as a True Boiling Point (TBP) curve or a D86 analysis,
you can enter this and convert the data to fixed carbon number cuts.
Go to the PVT Analysis and click on the tab marked Distillation Curves and
enter your data. This case study is based on the TBP.mfl file, which has volume
% and boiling point data but no Molecular weight or specific gravity.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 221
Once you have entered this, proceed as usual and do the characterisation If this is
successful the plot will show the comparison of data and fitted distribution,
and the carbon number distribution will be reported in the results window.
222 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Once you have defined a fluid model you can carry out calculations or plot the
phase boundary as for any fluid.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 223
The remainder of the form is the standard PVT, except that you do not provide
molecular weight or specific gravity. You can choose the pseudocomponent
distribution as normal, depending on the final application. In this case the chosen
split is 15 fractions from C6+. Clicking on Do Characterisation generates the
message that the characterisation has been successfully completed – in this case
there is no compositional information to generate the compositional plot. The
new composition is echoed in the main window and the phase envelope can be
plotted as before.
Additional data can be added such as the Watson K-factor and/or the Gas
analysis.
Plotting the phase envelopes shows the effect of including this data.
224 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Delumping tool – Case study
A simple fluid with only one petroleum fraction is used as a starting point for
this delumping example. The composition of the fluid is given in the following
table.
Example fluid:
Component Amount (mol)
Methane 95
Ethane 3
Propane 2
Co2 0.1
N2 0.15
C6+ 5
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 225
Click the “Delump” button.
From only one component in the plus fraction, 60 components were generated.
Now, click “Close” to close the delump tool. When prompted to use the
delumped fluid as it is click “yes”.
226 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
The resulting fluid may be saved into an MFL file for future reference with the
name “full_delumped.mfl”.
Open the Delumping tool again by clicking the “Delump” button. Click the
“Open PVT tool” button. The following window will appear:
Then, click “Do Characterisation” to characterise the fluid with the default
settings. Note that the first petroleum fraction is C14, which states that the
original C6+ was heavier than the name implied.
After characterising the fluid, with the default settings the resulting components
and amounts are displayed in Multiflash main window:
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 227
A comparison of the different fluids can now be made, in terms of the shape of
the phase envelope. As an example the default RKS (Advanced) model is used.
Note that this is a very simple example to illustrate how to use the delumping
tool. The delumping procedure is more reliable if the original fluid contains
more than 1 petroleum fraction. For this simple fluid the phase envelopes of the
delumped and the re-characterised fluids differ from the original fluid, while
better agreement is usually obtained when the original fluid contains more
information (more petroleum fractions).
An example with a more complex fluid and with wax is shown below.
Open the file “wax.mfl” that is shipped with Multiflash. In this file the original
fluid has 30 petroleum fractions.
Use the same procedure as described above. The resulting phase envelopes are
shown below:
228 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Refrigerant mixtures
Several of our customers have used Multiflash to determine the properties of
refrigerants. A number of pure refrigerants are included in the INFODATA
databank and in the CSMA model. We have also fitted data for a large number of
refrigerant mixtures and the BIPs have been stored in the INFOBIPS databank.
For mixtures we have used the RKSA model to determine the thermodynamic
properties of the mixture except for the liquid volume/density which is
calculated using the ideal solution model. This model combination has been
included in a model configuration file called refrig.mfl.
To determine the properties of any refrigerant mixture, first load refrig.mfl using
File/Load problem setup. The refrigerant mixture can then be defined as normal
using Select Components and providing the composition. However, there are
several well defined refrigerant mixtures which have been allocated refrigerant
numbers e.g. R407A. This is a mixture of the pure refrigerants, R32, R125 and
R134A, with a fixed composition (in mass percentages) of 20/40/40. To help our
users we have set up .mfl files defining components/compositions for
R401A
R401B
R401C
R402A
R402B
R404A
R405A
R406A
R407A
R407B
R407C
R407D
R407E
R408A
R409A
R409B
R410A
R410B
R411A
R411B
R414B
R417A
R500
R501
R502
R503
R504
R507A
R508A
R508B
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 229
Load R407A.mfl
Specify pressure, e.g. 25 bar or 25e5 Pa
Click on the P, Dew point flash icon or menu item
And the results will be displayed in the results window
Dew point at fixed P:
Polar systems
For polar systems, not related to oil and gas problems, the best model is often an
activity model, such as Wilson-E, NRTL, UNIQUAC or UNIFAC, but binary
interaction parameters are usually needed to obtain accurate results. For the first
three models, Multiflash has BIPs available for many binary pairs but where
these are missing you need to supply them. The UNIFAC BIPs are generated
from group structures. Before carrying out phase equilibrium calculations for
polar streams using an activity coefficient model we recommend that you check
the availability of BIPs for your system and look up interaction parameters for
the binary pairs where none are available from INFOBIPs. An alternative is to fit
experimental data to a model used in Multiflash or generate data from UNIFAC
and fit this to the model of your choice. We have provided sample spreadsheets
which allow you to do both using the Excel interface.
Reference: Dechema A good source of experimental data and BIPs is the series of volumes in the
Chemistry Data Series “Chemistry Data Series”, published by Dechema. The UNIFAC model will
provide estimates of vapour-liquid and liquid-liquid equilibria without the need
Vols I to XIV, Dechema
for BIPs.
230 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
random, the data by Kojima et al, Kagaku Kogaku 32, 149 (1968) and based the
example on one experimental point
Pressure 760 mmHg
Temperature 60.39 degC
x(acetone) 0.4000
y(acetone) 0.8426
We can use Multiflash to see how well different models and different sets of
parameters represent this data. Depending on the relative importance to your
application of accurate temperature or phase composition we can fix P and x and
calculate T and y using a bubble point calculation at fixed P or fix P and T and
calculate x and y with a P,T flash.
We would usually suggest using activity coefficient models to predict phase
behaviour for non-ideal mixtures. If you have BIPs available either from
INFOBIPS or from any other source for any particular activity model then this is
the model you should use.
Specify the mixture by
Clicking on the Select components button
With the Infochem fluids databank as the default data source
Type acetone in the Enter name text box and
Click on the Add button.
Select water in the same way
Click on Close
In the Composition drop-down table enter 0.4 mol of acetone and 0.6 mol of
water.
Set the units (from Select/Units from the menu option or the select units button)
in the Tab control so that the input and output temperatures are in degC and the
pressures in mmHg.
Enter 760 mmHg as the pressure
Select a suitable model
Select in order Select/Model Set/Activity Models/WilsonE to choose the Wilson
E model
To check whether BIPs are stored in INFOBIPs for this mixture go to
Tools/BIPs and when the Show BIP Value box appears click on Edit.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 231
Dechema for that particular experimental dataset, remembering that the BIPs
must be in the correct units.
You can repeat the calculation using the UNIFAC model where BIPs are
calculated on the basis of group structure. The corresponding results are a bubble
point temperature of 60.9 degC and a vapour phase fraction of acetone of 0.824.
Entering BIPs
You may have a mixture where there are no stored BIPs. Take for example the
system carbon tetrachloride/hexane. If you repeat the earlier steps to select
components, units and models and again look at the BIPs using the Tools options
you will see that for the Wilson-E model no BIPs are available.
232 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Enter the new BIPs in the selected units
Temperature/K y1
Wilson E No BIPs 344.3 0.270
BIPs: 266.6, 461.9 342.9 0.288
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 233
You can see from the results the importance of using interaction parameters for
non-ideal systems. All the calculations were carried out with the ideal model for
the vapour phase. For this system using the Virial (HOC) model, or RK for the
vapour phase model does not give significant differences. However, for some
components, such as acetic acid which may dimerise, using the Virial (HOC)
model would be beneficial.
You could also enter different BIPs for this system and examine the sensitivity
of the results to these variations.
Liquid-liquid equilibria
Many non-ideal polar systems exhibit liquid-liquid equilibria. To model these
systems you must choose an activity model capable of predicting two liquid
phases, the Wilson model cannot do this.
Two suitable models are UNIQUAC LLE and NRTL LLE. The LLE version of
NRTL usually has the parameter set to 0.2 by default. Again to obtain
realistic results you should enter BIPs and we have incorporated BIP data for
over 300 systems into our INFOLLBIPs databank. If you take UNIQUAC or
NRTL parameters taken from the Dechema Chemistry data Series they will be
in K so you must choose the correct input units or convert them by multiplying
by the gas constant (8.314 JK-1mol-1).
A typical mixture which exhibits liquid/liquid behaviour is butanol/water
Dechema Chemistry Data Series. Volume V, Part 1, page 236.
If you have set up a problem with only one gas and one liquid phase defined you
may see a warning message above a vapour-liquid or one liquid phase solution.
Two different warnings will be given depending on the problem:
Flash at fixed P and T:
*** WARNING -20001 ***
Unstable solution, more phases exist.
T =298.25K P=1.00000E+05Pa ? CONVERGED ..UNSTABLE
234 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Vapour-liquid-liquid equilibria
The situation is a little more complicated if you have VLLE. None of the activity
models that can handle VLLE do this well without specific tuning of the BIPs.
The VLE variants of UNIQUAC and NRTL are configured to be used with GAS
and Liquid1 and the LLE variants with Liquid1 and Liquid2. To calculate VLLE
with either you must first "Switch-on" the missing phase.
The only difference is the source of BIPs and we have increased the options by
allowing two BIP databanks to be in force at any time. The LLE model options
are configured to first search INFOLLBIPs, then to supplement any missing
BIPs from INFOBIPs. The VLE variants are configured only to search
INFOBIPs. For VLLE it may therefore be preferable to use the LLE model
variant. However, it is difficult to make an absolute recommendation, trying both
approaches and assessing the differences might be useful. You can also add
INFOLLBIPS to a VLE variant using Tools/Command and entering
bipdata INFOBIPS INFOLLBIPS;
Azeotropes
You can use Multiflash to identify azeotropes; the temperature and pressure
where the composition of the liquid and gas phase are identical. They can be
investigated by carrying out a series of flash calculations but this is time-
consuming. For binary azeotropes you might wish to consider using the Excel
interface. Below is a plot of gas phase versus liquid phase composition for the
propanol water system using Excel. The azeotrope is identified at a mole fraction
of 0.46 propanol. The plot was generated using the Wilson-E model, and by
making a series of bubble point calculations at 1 bar at varying composition of
the liquid phase.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 235
You can vary the pressure or temperature and see the effect on the azeotropic
point, or investigate the effect of adding a third component.
Eutectics
Similarly, you can use Multiflash to determine a eutectic, although again this is
most easily seen using an Excel spreadsheet. An example would be a mixture of
benzene and naphthalene. In addition to defining a fluid phase model, for
example RKSA, you also need to allocate the freeze-out model to each
component. Using the Multiflash functions in Excel you then carry out a series
of fixed phase fraction calculations to identify, for a given pressure, the
temperature at which solid benzene and solid naphthalene form. A plot of the
predicted temperature versus composition for both shows the eutectic point. For
the RKSA fluid phase model and 1 bar this is predicted to be at 269.9 K and a
mole fraction of benzene of .871.
236 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Polymers
The PC-SAFT equation of state in Multiflash can be used to model the phase
behaviour of polymers, solvents and gases. PC-SAFT is a complex equation and
to be able to develop a robust implementation capable of predicting multiple
phases is unusual. Owing to the high molecular weight, and correspondingly low
mole fractions, of polymers in solution considerable effort has gone into
improving the phase algorithms in Multiflash, but we are aware that further
improvements may be necessary.
Data input
The Infochem/KBC databanks do not contain any data for polymer components.
Polymers should be defined using the Multiflash User Defined component route
(Select/Components) and either saved as part of a complete .mfl file or a partial
file containing the polymer data only.
The required input data are:
Critical temperature (TCRIT), critical pressure (PCRIT), acentric factor
(ACENTRICFACTOR),
PC-SAFT parameters (SAFTEK, SAFTSIGMA, SAFTM, SAFTKAPPA,
SAFTEPSILON, SAFTFF)
Ideal gas Cp (CPIDEAL).
Users should note that TCRIT, PCRIT and ACENTRICFACTOR are necessary
to generate starting values for flash calculations. They are not required by the
PC-SAFT model, and therefore do not affect the calculated results. Also
SAFTKAPPA, SAFTEPSILON and SAFTFF are only needed for associating
components.
If your system is polydisperse, i.e. has the same polymer but with a range of
molecular weight, then you can enter several polymers with varying properties,
each called by a different name. This is analogous to setting up different
petroleum fractions, although we do not yet have a facility to help the user set up
the data for polymers.
Using PC-SAFT, every pseudocomponent for a given polymer must be assigned
the same values of the pure-compound parameters SAFTSIGMA (in metres, not
Ångstrom units) and SAFTEK. In addition, the SAFTM parameter must be
specified. This is normally quoted as a ratio to the molecular weight, so it has to
be calculated for each polymer pseudocomponent knowing the molecular weight.
For polystyrene, for example, Gross and Sadowski give the ratio as 0.019, so for
a polystyrene pseudocomponent of molecular weight 100000, the SAFTM
parameter should be set to 1000000.019=1900, etc.
Our example polymer.mfl describes a simple binary of polystyrene plus butane.
The required properties of polystyrene are included in the input file, as are the
pure component SAFT parameters for butane. Load the input file in the normal
way and carry out a P,T flash at the input conditions supplied. The results show a
liquid-liquid split as expected.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 237
You can also carry other flashes, such as a bubble point calculation
238 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
The series of papers by Sadowski et al, detailed in the "Models and Physical
Properties Guide”, are a useful source of input parameters for PC-SAFT for
several polymers.
N.B. Occasionally the phase labels, LIQUID1 and LIQUID2 may be
interchanged. If this causes confusion they can be forced to stay the same by
defining a key component for one of the liquid phases. You can use the
Tools/Command menu option and enter the command
Key liquid2 heaviest:
Before PC-SAFT was implemented, Flory-Huggins was sometimes used for
polymer calculations. This is still possible but not recommended. To apply the
Flory Huggins model, in addition to the critical parameters required by the
Multiflash algorithms the additional data needed are: vapour pressure (PSAT),
saturated liquid density (LDENS), solubility parameter (SOLUPAR) and molar
volume at 25°C (V25).
Estimated properties have been included in the file polymer3.mfl for polystyrene
and the predicted bubble point for the polystyrene-butane binary shown below.
Co-Polymers
PC-SAFT can also be applied to co-polymers. Multiflash allows the user to
define up to four polymer segments which can be used to define any number of
homopolymers or copolymers. If the polymer is formed from only one type of
segment, it is a homopolymer of that segment; if it is formed of two or more
types of segment, it is a copolymer.
We will look at an example where the constituent segments are ethylene and
propylene (PE and PP). The fluid is set up in the copol.mfl file. The appropriate
PC-SAFT parameters were taken from papers by Sadowski et al. as are the BIPs.
A co-polymer structure (PEP1) has to be defined, as well as the physical
properties of the co-polymer. The MW, T, P and acentric factor are required
although the latter three are only used as starting values and arbitrary numbers
may be assigned as long as Tc is high and Pc very low in line with the low
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 239
volatility of polymers. Next a “template” has to be created to indicate the
structure of the co-polymer. This is done by specifying "Bond Fractions", i.e.,
the total fraction of bonds between different type of segments. For example, in
the case where there are regular alternating ethylene and propylene segments, the
fraction of PP-PE bonds is equal to 1.0 (all bonds are of type PP-PE).
Conversely, the fractions of direct PE-PE or PP-PP bonds will be equal to zero
(no PE-PE or PP-PP bonds are present because the monomers alternate).
To specify the bond structure, we select Tools/Pure Component Data/SAFT
bond fractions. After clicking on Edit we get
The names of the constituent segments are entered as shown. The pattern of bond
fractions shown is that for an alternating co-polymer as described above. In the
case of a random co-polymer, the bond fraction pattern would be:
Bond Fracs
0.25
0.5 0.25
Our input file, copol.mfl, has a co-polymer with a MW of 96400 g/mol. It is
present at 15 wt% in a solvent, 1-butene (85 wt%). Calculation of the polymer
cloud point is a difficult calculation. You can calculate this using a series of P,T
flashes to see, for a given temperature, the pressure at which a second liquid
phase appears or disappears. Another useful technique is to set the temperature
of interest and calculate a bubble point. For this fluid the bubble point at 100
degC is shown below.
If you only have a gas and one liquid phase at the bubble point, then changing
the pressure will not result in a liquid-liquid separation. If at the bubble point
you have gas and two liquid phases then you can calculate the cloud point, the
240 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
point at which a second liquid phase appears, using the fixed phase fraction flash
at specified T, even though this is not completely straight forward. The solution
type should be set to “unspecified” and it may sometimes be necessary to use
starting values. Depending on the mixture you might need to look for liquid1
(rather than liquid2) to find the cloud point. That is the case for this fluid.
(Starting value for pressure should be 82 bar).
A PT flash calculation for this mixture at 100 degC and 83 bar returns one phase,
with label liquid1.
It might therefore be counterintuitive that to find the cloud point you need to
look for liquid1 rather than liquid2, but a flash at 100 degC and 82 bar shows us
that it really is the phase liquid1 which appears/disappears at the cloud point.
Labelling the phases for a system like this is not straight forward, which is the
reason for these somewhat surprising results. When two liquid phases are present
it is straight forward to keep track of which is which, in the sense that the solvent
phase is labelled liquid1 and the polymer phase is labelled liquid2. The problem
is when only one liquid phase is present. Because the amount of polymer is
reasonably small the combined phase is given the label of the solvent phase. This
is what causes the problem at the cloud point, where the solvent starts coming
out of the combined phase, and forms an almost pure solvent phase, and the new
phase really is liquid1, and the existing phase changes label to liquid2.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Phase equilibria 241
A complex picture of the phase behaviour of co-polymers of the same type but
differing molecular weight can be built up as shown in the following figure.
M=.709kg/mol
250 M=5.9kg/mol
M=26kg/mol
200 M= 96.4kg/mol
P/bar
150
100
50
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
T/C
242 Case studies - Phase equilibria User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Case studies - Hydrate
dissociation, formation and
inhibition
Introduction
This section is only applicable if your copy of Multiflash includes the hydrates
option.
Natural gas hydrates are solid ice-like compounds of water and the light
components of natural gas. Also, some heavier hydrocarbons found in gas
condensates and oils are known to form hydrates if smaller molecules such as
methane or nitrogen are present to stabilise the structure. Hydrates may form at
temperatures above the ice point and are therefore a serious concern in oil and
gas processing operations. The phase behaviour of systems involving hydrates
can be very complex because up to seven phases must normally be considered,
even without considering the possibility of scale formation. The behaviour is
particularly complex if there is significant mutual solubility between phases, e.g.
when inhibitors or CO2 are present. Multiflash offers a powerful set of
thermodynamic models and calculation techniques for modelling hydrates.
The models used in Multiflash for hydrates and hydrate inhibition have been
briefly described, see “Hydrate model” on page 39, or our separate guide to
models and physical properties. Components known to form hydrates are also
listed.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition 243
Therefore the selection of Phase Nucleation does not increase the number of
phases associated with the model used.
If you have a high concentration of salt then you may need to consider the
possibility of salt precipitation. Multiflash can consider the formation of chloride
and bromide scales. As this may not be a problem for many systems this option
is not considered by default. If you think you may have a problem you should
check the Halide Scales box. This will increase the number of phases that must
be considered but the additional phases will be added automatically when the
box is checked, the user does not have to do anything.
Hydrate model
The thermodynamic hydrate model consists of lattice parameters for the empty
hydrate and parameters for the interaction of gas molecules with water in the
hydrate. There are different parameter values for each hydrate structure, Hydrate
1, 2 and H. In addition the hydrate must be associated with a liquid phase model
that is used to obtain the properties of water. It is important that this is the same
model that is used for water as a fluid phase.
244 Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Nucleation model
This model can be used to predict the nucleation of any hydrate phases and
provides an estimate of the temperature or pressure at which hydrates can be
realistically expected to form. The nucleation model is based on the statistical
theory of nucleation in multicomponent systems.
With the Infochem/KBC hydrate model described above and the nucleation
model, the hydrate formation and dissociation boundaries can be predicted.
Between these two boundaries is the area of hydrate risk.
Ice model
Ice is treated as a pure solid phase. The Infochem/KBC freeze-out model can be
used to model the solidification of any component. As with the hydrate phase it
is necessary to associate the solid phase model with a liquid phase model that is
used to obtain the properties of water. It is important that this is the same liquid
model that is associated with the hydrate phase. The nucleation model can also
be used to predict the temperature or pressure at which ice starts to nucleate.
Scale model
In its general form, the freeze-out model can be applied to any solid phase of
fixed composition, which must be defined. The model can for example be
applied to hydrated salts such as monoethylene glycol (MEG) monohydrate or to
crystalline mineral salts, i.e. scales.
Phases
In most cases six phase descriptors (PDs) are required: gas, hydrocarbon liquid,
aqueous liquid, hydrate 1, hydrate 2 and ice. At high pressures and/or low
temperatures the “gas” phase may become liquid-like and a second non-aqueous
liquid PD is needed. This is also the case if there is a significant amount of CO2
or H2S present. When considering structure H hydrates an additional phase
descriptor is needed for hydrate H.
In most practical cases a natural gas contains propane and the stable hydrate
structure will be hydrate 2, although for very lean gases at higher pressures
hydrate 1 may be the most stable form. Key components are defined to
distinguish between the hydrocarbon and aqueous liquid phases.
The phase names used in the hydrate models are: GAS, LIQUID1, LIQUID2,
Water, Ice, HYDRATE1, HYDRATE2 and HYDRATEH. You can apply Phase
Nucleation to both hydrates and ice, defined by the hydrate model. If Phase
Nucleation is selected, this means that the nucleation model is defined and can
be used to predict the nucleation of any of the hydrate phases or ice.
In contrast to the thermodynamic hydrate model which allows all possible phases
to be present when carrying out calculations, the nucleation model considers
only the nucleation of the specified phase. At low pressures this can lead to
predictions that the hydrate nucleation temperature is higher than the dissociation
temperature. However, this is not a real situation as ice is not being considered
except for nucleation.
If Halide scales are to be considered then further phase descriptors are required.
These must represent the correct fixed composition of the scale, these are: NaCl,
NaCl.2H2O, KCl, CaCl2.2H2O, CaCl2.4H2O, CaCl2.6H2O, NaBr,
NaBr.2(H2O), KBr, CaBr2.6(H2O).
The addition of these phase descriptors is done automatically by Multiflash when
the "halide scales" option is selected.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition 245
Hydrate calculations with Multiflash
In principle, hydrate calculations with Multiflash are no different from flash
calculations for fluid phases alone. Multiflash treats fluid and solid phases on the
same basis and the full range of flashes can be carried out for streams with
hydrates.
An important point to note is that you must include water in the mixture
explicitly if you wish to do hydrate calculations. Unlike some other programs
Multiflash does not assume that water is present unless you specify it. The
amount of water may influence the results of the calculations, particularly when
inhibitors or water-soluble gases are present.
Click on OK once the hydrate model set has been successfully defined and
loaded.
Specifying the components and composition
The fluid for this case study is defined in the following table:
Component Moles
METHANE 85.93
ETHANE 6.75
PROPANE 3.13
ISOBUTANE 0.71
BUTANE 0.88
PENTANE 0.57
246 Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
CO2 1.31
N2 0.72
WATER 10
Define the normal components in the usual way; click on the Select
components button, enter the component name in the Enter name text box and
press the enter key or click on Add to select them for loading into Multiflash.
Close to go back to the main window. Click on composition and enter the
correct number of moles for each component.
Alternatively. Load the hydrate.mfl input file.
Enter the temperature, 270K and the pressure, 1 MPa (remember to change the
standard pressure units from Pa to MPa). The input units are defined in moles
but the output units for this example are in g.
Click on the P,T flash button
You will see the following results in the results window.
Hydrate2 is formed at the specified conditions, and you can see that this is in
agreement with the phase diagram. Note that the output shows the amount of
hydrate formed just as it does for other phases. Clicking on the Phase Envelope
button , selecting Hydrate 2 phase and setting HYDRATE2 phase fraction
equal to 0.0, the HYDRATE2 phase boundary can be generated by clicking the
Plot button.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition 247
formation temperature is the point at which the nucleation of hydrates occurs and
hydrates will form. Between these two points is the area of hydrate risk where
hydrates may or may not form depending on the time scale (see figure below)
and the kinetic consideration.
P
H yd r a t e z o n e H yd r a t e H yd r a t e fr ee
r r is k
e
s
s
u
r H yd r a t e fo r m a t io n cu r ve H yd r a t e d is s o cia t io n cu r ve
e
Click on Do flash
The results,
248 Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
show that the Hydrate 2 is the most stable form and first begins to form at
276.1K.
It is important with the fixed phase fraction flash to specify the correct hydrate
structure to search for. If Hydrate1 was specified in the above example the
calculation would fail because there is no solution where Hydrate1 is more stable
than Hydrate2. In most cases of practical interest hydrate2 is the structure
formed, although hydrate1 may be more stable at high pressures for streams
containing a high concentration of methane or H2S. If hydrate1 were to be more
stable it would be present in non-zero amount in the list of phases formed. If in
doubt you can check with the P,T flash option which reports which hydrate
structures are stable at any T and P.
Then, go to the Fixed Phase Fraction Flash – at specified P dialog box and
select Nucleation from “Select basis” . Set the phase fraction text box to zero as
before and then click the "Do flash" button.
If you try to calculate the hydrate formation temperature without first defining
the nucleation model, then the calculation will not converge and error messages
will appear:
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition 249
Hydrate formation and dissociation pressure at
given temperature
The hydrate formation or dissociation pressure calculation is analogous to the
formation or dissociation temperature calculation, but is carried out with the
fixed phase fraction flash at specified T option (using the appropriate button
or menu option). The following example finds the hydrate dissociation pressure
for the above mixture at 270K.
The hydrate first forms at 0.598 MPa. Under these conditions the hydrate forms
from the ice phase rather than the liquid water phase. The hydrate formation
pressure at the same temperature is 1.26 MPa.
250 Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Hydrate phase boundary
You can also use the phase envelope calculator to plot the hydrate phase
boundaries for formation and dissociation for this stream by using the
thermodynamic hydrate model and nucleation model - and add experimental
data if available.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition 251
In the results window you will see,
The first column shows the overall composition at the hydrate dissociation point.
The amount of second fluid added is the number of grams of water specified by
the tolerance calculation which must be mixed with the original water-free
stream to meet the condition of zero hydrate phase at the chosen P and T.
252 Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
After pressing the Add button, the following window will show up stating that
20 wt% methanol is approximately equivalent to adding 1.405 moles of
methanol to 10 mole of water
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition 253
The results show that the addition of this concentration of methanol is sufficient
to prevent hydrate formation even though some has been lost to the gas phase.
You can see that, compared to the earlier calculation in the absence of methanol,
the addition of methanol has reduced the hydrate dissociation temperature from
276.1 K to 266.5 K. Virtually all the methanol is in the aqueous phase at these
conditions.
254 Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Amount of inhibitor required to suppress
hydrates
Multiflash can determine the amount of inhibitor that must be added to the
system at a given pressure and temperature in order to suppress hydrates. This is
another example of a tolerance calculation and is therefore specified using the
Tolerance Calculation from the Calculate menu.
The overall compositions must be specified on an inhibitor-free basis. The
inhibitor is entered as a second stream using the tolerance calculation. The
phase required to be fixed and phase fraction can be specified in the Select
phase and Enter phase fraction boxes, zero phase fraction of hydrate2 in this
case. The tolerance calculation combines the two mixtures in different ratios
until the specified condition is met. The following example finds the amount of
methanol that must be added to suppress hydrates for the above mixture at 270K
and 1 MPa.
Remove methanol from the main stream by clicking on Composition and
entering 0.0 mol for methanol. Note that methanol must still be in the
Composition list.
Select Calculate, then Tolerance Calculation to activate the Tolerance
Calculation dialogue box.
Select the required phase (HYDRATE2) from Select phase box.
Set this phase fraction to zero.
Click the Composition of Second Fluid tab to specify the composition of
methanol as 1.0 mole and leave the remainder zero.
Click Calculate to carry out the tolerance calculation.
Click Close to go back to the main window.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition 255
The first column shows the overall composition at the hydrate dissociation point.
The predicted methanol concentration required is 1.3% on a mass basis with
respect to the total stream, approximately 13.6 mass % with respect to water in
the feed. The amount of second fluid added is the number of grams of the
mixture specified by the tolerance calculation (in this case pure methanol) which
must be mixed with the original inhibitor-free stream to meet the condition of
zero hydrate phases
Salt inhibition
The Electrolyte model treats the salts either as being composed of only Na+ and
Cl- ions or of Na+, K+, Ca++ , Cl- and Br- ions.
Unfortunately, the information supplied for the amount of salt in brine,
formation or production water is not usually specified in the input format
required. To help you with the conversion we have provided a Salinity
Calculator, see “Salt calculator” on page 81 that converts various analyses into
the equivalent amount of sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride and bromide
ions.
Load the hydrate.mfl file:
Change the Model set from CPA-Infochem to CPA-Infochem + Electrolyte
(Remember to Define Model).
Select the Inhibitor Calculator from the Tools menu and the tab “Salts / Ions /
Salt Analysis”
For this particular example there is information on the composition of the
formation water.
mass%
NaCl 6.993
CaCl2 0.735
MgCl2 0.186
KCl 0.066
SrCl2 0.099
BaCl2 0.036
Enter this data into the Salt Calculator
256 Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
By clicking on Add the Salinity Calculator will determine the ion concentration
that needs to be added to the 10 mole of water in the mixture.
and this amount will be automatically entered in the Composition drop down
table.
Specify the fixed phase flash at constant pressure, setting hydrate2 to 0.0, and
click on Do flash
The output shows that the hydrate dissociation temperature at 1 MPa for this
stream is reduced from 276.1K to 272.77K.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition 257
Scale precipitation
This feature allows for precipitation of NaCl, NaCl.2(H2O), KCl,
CaCl2.6(H2O), CaCl.4(H2O), CaCl.2)H2O), NaBr, NaBr.2(H2O), KBr and
CaBr2.6(H2O). This is activated by ticking the Halide Scales box in the
Hydrates Model Set but can only be defined with “CPA Infochem + Electrolyte”
fluid phase model option. If you have not specified such an option a warning
message is generated.
For our example the salt concentration is not high enough to trigger the
precipitation of a scale for hydrate calculations at 1 MPa. In principle, you can
use fixed phase fraction flashes to see when any of the scales will form. But the
temperatures may well be below those of operational interest. For example
selecting NaCl.2(H2O)
258 Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
A similar calculation looking for the formation of CaCl2.6(H2O) produces seven
phases but at 240.6K.
A more likely scenario occurs if the salt concentration is higher, e.g. 30wt%
equivalent of NaCl. A flash at temperatures higher than hydrate dissociation
conditions will show NaCl forming
whereas at the lower temperatures where a hydrate phase is present you will see
NaCl.2(H2O) being formed.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies - Hydrate dissociation, formation and inhibition 259
Case studies – Wax precipitation
Introduction
This section is only applicable if your copy of Multiflash includes the Wax
option.
Waxes are far more difficult to understand than pure solids because they are
complex mixtures of solid hydrocarbons that freeze out of crude oils if the
temperature is low enough. Waxes are mainly formed from normal paraffins, but
iso-paraffins and naphthenes are also present. As with hydrates the formation of
waxes is a serious concern in oil and gas processing.
Before discussing the modelling of wax precipitation it is worth referring to a
paper by Erickson et al. SPE 26604, (1993). which compares the results of
measuring wax appearance temperatures (WAT) using three different
experimental techniques. For twelve oils, where there were measurements made
by at least two different techniques, there was only one case of complete
agreement between two methods. Otherwise the minimum difference between
techniques was 8 ºF, the maximum difference was 55 ºF, whilst the average
difference was 24 ºF. It appears that the accuracy of WAT measurements has
improved in recent years, but it is still difficult to measure; it is realistic when
assessing results to assume that experimental error in WAT values may amount
to several degrees. We recommend measurements made by Cross Polar
Microscopy (CPM) if available.
We also recommend that positive amounts of precipitated wax are used to
identify the WAT, rather than the strict thermodynamic interpretation of zero
percent, the onset of wax phase formation. The suggested default values are
0.045 wt% for reproducing CPM measurements and 0.3 wt% for DSC. The
equivalent defaults for mol% are 0.015 mol% for CPM and 0.1 mol% for DSC
but there is no automatic conversion between mass and mol%. The mass or
mole% of wax is related to the liquid plus wax phases.
260 Case studies – Wax precipitation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
With a limited experimental data set it is not possible to make any definitive
statements concerning the accuracy of the model in predicting the WAT.
However it is clear that Coutinho's model provides a much improved prediction
of the amount of wax precipitated as a function of temperature compared with
other published thermodynamic models.
Go to the PVT Analysis form to characterise your fluid. The use of this is
described in detail in “PVT Lab Analysis” on page 89. If you have an n-paraffin
distribution then you should open the PVT Analysis with n-paraffins using the
button. However, in this example (input file wax.mfl), there is no n-paraffin
distribution, only a wax content. So, in this case you should use the normal
button.
Enter the fluid composition and set both the pseudocomponents and n-paraffins
to be split from C6 (or N6) into fifteen fractions.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Wax precipitation 261
If you fail to enter a wax content or to ask for this to be estimated then you will
still be able to characterise the fluid, but when you try to calculate the WAT you
will see a warning message box indicating that you don’t have an n-paraffin
distribution.
Provided you have n-paraffins in your fluid characterisation, you can then
calculate the WAT at any pressure, by using the WAT, button.
The pressure will be taken from the Pressure text box in the main window. From
a study of many waxy fluids we recommend using a small positive amount of
wax to identify the WAT and suggest default values for the most common
measurement techniques. The default for CPM is preset, but this can be altered
to any value, including 0%. Click on Calculate WAT to initiate the calculation.
Our example for this case study is based on a supplied problem set up file called
wax.mfl. This particular fluid has a reported experimental WAT based on two
different measurement techniques. At 1 bar, using CPM the reported WAT was
262 Case studies – Wax precipitation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
53ºC and using DSC was 40 ºC. The predicted WAT for the CPM default is
49.5ºC and for the suggested DSC default is 37.7ºC.
You may wish to vary the n-paraffin distribution for the Coutinho model and see
the effect on the predicted WAT. One suggestion is to extend the heavy end as
far as possible. You can do this by setting the start of the n-paraffin distribution
to something like N90 and only splitting into 1 n-paraffin. You will be warned
that the distribution has been extended as far as possible and the highest n-
paraffin will be lower than the N90 set. In this case the heaviest n-paraffin is n-
76+ and the WAT for the CPM default is 46.4 C. Extending the n-paraffin
distribution does not necessarily increase the WAT, as there are competing
effects from both the properties of the new heaviest n-paraffin and the solubility
of the reduced amount of this fraction.
If you have measured values for the WAT, then you can tune the
pseudocomponent properties for the model to match these values. This is done
using the Tools/Matching/Wax Phase option. The Matching option is described
in “Matching wax data/WAT” on page 123.
For this particular example we can take the WAT at 1 bar to be 53ºC from the
CPM measurement and use the characterisation as before where the n-paraffin
lumping starts after N90, leading to a single continuous SCN n-paraffin
distribution. Then enter the value or values for the WAT temperatures and
corresponding pressures and phase fractions. The fraction chosen can be zero but
should probably reflect the suggested defaults for the technique used for the
WAT measurement.
The matching facility will amend the values for the melting temperature and the
change of enthalpy on melting of the n-paraffin fractions.
The wax boundary can be plotted using the phase envelope button and choosing
the WAX phase. For plotting a wax phase boundary with a finite amount of wax
present to reflect the technique used in the wax measurements, the value such as
0.045wt% by CPM and 0.3 wt% by DSC has to be converted to the value related
to the total fluid if the gas phase is present. In this case, where we are
considering dead oil, 0.00045 mass fraction may be used to plot the wax phase
boundary.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Wax precipitation 263
For a live oil the amount of wax will be defined with respect to the total fluid.
This will vary with pressure, so in this case it may be better to choose a zero
mass fraction for the plot. The wax boundary for a live oil has a distinctly
different shape. The D marks the point where the wax boundary crosses the
bubble point line.
264 Case studies – Wax precipitation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
There is also an option to set the starting temperature to any other value. The
maximum number of points is twenty but the actual number of points will
depend on the WAT, the units used and a sensible step.
The pressure will be taken as that specified in the pressure text box on the wax
precipitation curve form. The wax precipitation curve below was generated using
wax.mfl as supplied. The numeric values are also reported in the main window
of Multiflash. A series of wax precipitation curves can be calculated within the
form to see the effect of pressures on the amount of waxes precipitated.
If you require additional results below 0 ºC, you can also use a command entered
in the Tools/Command box. The format of the command is:
WAXPC value_pressure value_Tstart value_Tincrement;
The wax precipitation curve calculated from the specified starting value is
reported in the main window.
Additionally, you can use the Add Data button to add the measured WAT if you
wish. The calculated values and the experimental data can be exported to an
Excel file from the form for further editing if necessary.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Wax precipitation 265
266 Case studies – Wax precipitation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Case studies – Asphaltene
flocculation
Introduction
One of the major problems for the oil industry is the precipitation of heavy
organics during production, transportation and refining or processing of crude
oil. Asphaltenes are polar compounds that are stabilised in crude oil by the
presence of resins. If the oil is diluted by light hydrocarbons, the concentration
of resins goes down and a point may be reached where the asphaltene is no
longer stabilised and it flocculates to form a solid deposit. Because the
stabilising action of the resins works through the mechanism of polar
interactions, their effect becomes weaker as the temperature rises, i.e.
flocculation may occur as the temperature increases. However, as the
temperature increases further the asphaltene re-dissolves in the oil. Thus,
depending on the temperature and the composition of the oil, it is possible to find
cases where flocculation both increases and decreases with increasing
temperature.
The Infochem model for asphaltenes is based on a cubic equation of state but has
additional terms to describe the association of asphaltene molecules and their
solvation by resins. The parameters for the model were initially developed from
a study of nearly thirty sets of experimental measurements of asphaltene
precipitation which includes both proprietary and public domain data. The model
is complex and to ensure reliable results we recommend that you follow the
procedure we suggest until you are familiar with the model and the behaviour of
your particular fluid.
The asphaltene model in Multiflash is primarily intended for calculating
asphaltene precipitation from live oils. We are aware that many users have only
titration data for dead (STO) oils. We have investigated how to use this titration
data to set the asphaltene model parameters and this is discussed later in the case
study.
Input data
The ideal input data for the model are:
A compositional analysis of the live oil
The amount of asphaltene in the oil and the ratio of resin to
asphaltene, often determined from the SARA analysis of a stock
tank oil.
One set of asphaltene precipitation conditions.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 267
Bubble point (optional) to “tune” the petroleum fraction properties.
For some samples you may only know the absolute weight % of asphaltenes and
resins in the total live oil but not the full SARA analysis. In these cases you can
just use the weight % of resins and asphaltenes in the stock tank oil and ignore
the text boxes for saturates and aromatics in the PVT Lab Fluid Analysis dialog
box. For the asphaltene model, the saturates and aromatics part of SARA are
only used to normalise the weight % of resins and asphaltenes.
The % asphaltene is taken to be that precipitated by n-heptane. Some
laboratories report the wt % asphaltene precipitated by n-pentane. It is difficult
to give exact guidance on how to convert the values of asphaltenes between n-
pentane and n-heptane precipitation as this can vary from oil to oil and
laboratory to laboratory. In general we have found that the wt % asphaltene
precipitated by n-pentane is approximately twice that precipitated by n-heptane.
However, ratios may vary from 1.3 to 2.7.
If you do not have the complete data set we have developed correlations to
assign the required parameters. The minimum set of data in this case are:
A compositional analysis of the live oil
Reservoir temperature
Bubble point (optional), to “tune” the petroleum fraction properties.
Obviously, the more data available the better the model predictions.
The prediction of asphaltene precipitation is not as sensitive to the
characterisation of the fluid as the wax model. The PVT characterisation method
has been improved to characterise asphaltenes correctly regardless of the number
of pseudo-components requested for the whole fluid. However, we suggest you
consider using a common characterisation procedure for any comparison. By
default, the PVT Analysis facility starts the pseudocomponent split at C6 and
split the fractions into 15 components.
Finally, to model asphaltene precipitation reliably, two model parameters should
be determined by matching two asphaltene precipitation onset data at two
different temperatures. If such experimental data are available, then the data
should be used to optimize the model parameters to reproduce the experimental
data. If you do not have asphaltene precipitation onset data, two additional data
may be used for tuning. They are the STO asphaltene titration onset data using
n-heptane and reservoir condition. Using reservoir condition, based on the
screening procedure suggested by de Boer et al (SPE 24987, 1992), assumes that
the asphaltene is nearly saturated at the reservoir condition.
268 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
The default phases for the asphaltene model are gas, liquid1 and asphaltene. In
principle the Water phase can be included but the asphaltene model is developed
with the reservoir fluids that water is not considered. Therefore it is better not to
include water phase.
However if water is included in the fluid, the asphaltene model parameters
should be produced for the fluid composition excluding water. In this case, more
caution should be taken when plotting the asphaltene phase envelopes as the
presence of water in the mixture makes the phase equilibrium calculation more
complex.
The next step is to characterise your fluid. Go to the PVT Analysis form,
described in detail in “PVT Lab Analysis” on page 89. Enter the fluid analysis
and set the Start pseudocomponents to C6 and the number of pseudocomponents
to 15. Enter any data you have on the molecular weight and/or specific gravity.
The final step in the characterisation is to enter any data you have on the weight
of asphaltene in the oil and the ratio of resin to asphaltene.
The example we are going to look at next is based on a supplied problem set up
file, asphex.mfl. We have assumed in this example that a full SARA analysis is
available, but later in the case study we will go back and look at the options if
you don’t have so much data.
If you load asphex.mfl the PVT Analysis form will look like this:
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 269
Once you are happy the data is correct Click on Do Characterisation. In this
case a message box will tell you the characterisation has been successfully
completed and show a plot of the data and fitted distribution. You can then Click
on OK and on Close to go back to the main window.
If you have any warnings or errors associated with your own examples then the
relevant message box will appear. Those related to fluid characterisation in
general are described in “PVT Lab Analysis” on page 89.
The asphaltene model in Multiflash was developed based on experimental data
where the resin/asphaltene (R/A) ratio was always greater than 2.5. However,
some of our users have reported values below this, possibly because the SARA
analysis was based on a different experimental technique.
Depending on the actual R/A entered you may find that model parameters cannot
be generated. We have added a warning message if R/A is below 2. Initially, on
characterisation you will be warned of a possible problem.
You can ignore this warning message and see if model parameters can still be
produced. You can also increase the resin/asphaltene ratio manually or delete the
Resin amount from the SARA Analysis and tick the Estimate RA box in which
case the model will generate a default R/A ratio.
After characterisation the asphaltene component is named as ASPHALTENE,
and the resin component(s) by an “R” prefix, e.g. R65+.
Asphaltene matching
The next stage is to use the matching facility to “tune” the pseudocomponent
properties and optimize the asphaltene model parameter.
Multiflash allows for different tuning methods, based on the available
experimental data. The matching of the bubble points is recommended,
270 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
especially for light oils, although not always necessary. In any case, the use of
the matching procedure for the asphaltene phase is strongly recommended.
Although the default asphaltene model parameters are available for the case
where no information is available, it is usually not recommended to use the
default setting. For any cases without any measured asphaltene data, it is
recommended at lease that the reservoir condition should be used to tune the
model parameters.
For matching multiple bubble points, we suggest you to use the Tools/Matching
Bubble point form first before matching any asphaltene data. On the other hand,
if you have only one measured bubble point, the bubbelpoint can be specified on
the asphaltene matching form together with the asphaltene data. Note that the
bubble point is always matched first before matching the asphaltene data.
For this example we have several bubble points. Enter these into the
Tool/Matching/Bubble point table.
Use the Tools/Matching/Asphaltene Phase to display the dialogue box, and enter
the available data to obtain the asphaltene model parameters.
There are three types of asphaltene data that can be used for tuning the
asphaltene model parameters, which are summarised as follows.
1. Asphaltene upper onset data, ideally at two different temperatures.
2. Asphaltene onset titration data
3. Reservoir conditions (pressure and temperature)
In our example below, we have used the reservoir conditions (241 oF, 8500 psi).
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 271
Click on Match and then on Close: the optimised model parameter values will
be displayed in the main window. The asphaltene model has now been defined.
PLEASE NOTE: If all the three asphaltene data sets mentioned above are
available, the most adequate data would be the asphaltene upper onsets, followed
by the titration data and finally the reservoir conditions. Only one set of data will
be saved in the MFL file after matching.
Saturation P at reservoir T
In the case where only one asphaltene upper onset is available, the reservoir
saturation pressure could be treated as an another asphaltene upper onset
pressure at reservoir temperature provided that no asphaltene precipitation is
found experimentally at the reservoir condition. The reservoir saturation
pressure at reservoir temperature is usually measured. If not, the calculated
saturation pressure at the reservoir temperature can be used instead.
272 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Click on Plot to display the phase boundary. This will usually show a point, or
points, of discontinuity at high pressure, labelled D. This is the point where the
asphaltene precipitation envelope crosses the bubble point line.
These points can be very useful for setting an appropriate starting pressure for
the asphaltene phase envelope or for providing starting values, if these are
required. For this example go back to the Phase Envelope and this time set:
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 273
the phase to ASPHALTENE,
the fraction of the asphaltene phase to zero,
the solution type to unspecified
the Initial value for pressure to 3500 psi with pressure
increasing.
After clicking on Plot button, Multiflash will ask if you want more points to be
plotted. Click Yes, until the asphaltene boundary becomes complete.
For other examples you may have to set the pressure to decrease or to plot the
upper and lower boundaries separately. The upper boundary uses the
Unspecified solution or Upper retrograde type solution, while the lower
boundary, select the Normal type of solution. Alternatively you can try
specifying temperature rather than pressure and/or providing a starting value. We
have found asphaltene boundaries most difficult to plot for very light oils.
If you have a known set of conditions and want to see if, and how much,
asphaltene is present, you can use a simple P,T flash. Enter the temperature and
pressure, for example 200 F and 4000 psi, Click on the P,T icon, or Select the
P,T flash from the Calculate\Standard flashes menu. The phases present, and the
composition and amount of each phase, will be reported in the main window.
Before doing this you may find it useful to set the units for amounts to mass as
this usually reflects the units of measurement.
274 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
If you want to know the pressure at which asphaltene will start to precipitate at
any given temperature then you should use a flash at fixed phase fraction and
temperature. Set the temperature, in this case 200 F. Click on the icon or select
the calculation option and the dialogue box will be displayed.
Select the ASPHALTENE phase and set the molar phase fraction to zero. To
calculate the pressure at which asphaltene will first appear for pressures above
the bubble point, select Unspecified or Upper retrograde as the solution type and
Click on Do Flash. Multiflash will calculate the pressure on the upper
asphaltene phase boundary, in this case 7958.74 psi. To obtain the pressure for
the lower asphaltene phase boundary, below the bubble point, follow the same
procedure but set the Type of solution to Normal. In this case the reported
pressure is 1865.08 psi.
You can determine the amount of asphaltene precipitated at any set of P,T
conditions using an PT flash as described earlier.
However, a simpler way for understanding the asphaltene precipitation as a
function of pressure is to use the asphaltene precipitation curve button, .
Clicking on this will activate the asphaltene precipitation curve form to produce
a table of the asphaltene mass percentage as a function of pressures with respect
to the liquid plus asphaltene precipitated at a given temperature. The starting
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 275
pressure depends on the asphaltene precipitation upper onset pressure and the
finishing pressure is related to the lower boundary of the asphaltene precipitation
onset. The temperature will be taken as that specified in the temperature text box
on the asphaltene precipitation curve form.
The asphaltene precipitation curve below was generated using asphex.mfl. Load
this file, re-characterise the fluid, match the bubble points and then match the
asphaltene phase using the reservoir conditions, as explained before. A series of
asphaltene precipitation curves can then be calculated within the form to see the
effect of temperature on the amount of asphaltenes precipitated. The maximum
point in the precipitation curve corresponds to the bubblepoint, where the
asphaltene precipitation reaches its maximum.
276 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
However, if two asphaltene upper onset data are available for adjusting the
model parameters, the difference in the asphaltene envelope caused by the
presence of n-paraffins will be reduced. The formation of a solid wax phase
actually enhances the asphaltene solubility in the oil for this case and the
asphaltene envelope in the low temperature region is lowered as a result of the
presence of solid waxes. The new marked “D” along the asphaltene envelope are
the points where the wax phase boundary cross the asphaltene phase envelope.
For more details on simultaneously calculating asphaltene, wax and hydrate solid
phases, refer to “Case studies – Combined solids” on page 287.
Data Availability
This example of asphaltene precipitation was based on a data set which
comprised the compositional fluid analysis, a SARA analysis, bubble points and
the reservoir conditions. In this case, the bubble points were close to the
unmatched predictions and so matching to bubble points might not be expected
to make a major difference to the asphaltene predictions. However, even in this
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 277
case you can see a noticeable effect from the matching.
There are other data that may be missing and have an effect on the predictions.
Rematch the bubble point and asphaltene phase at the reservoir conditions as
before and plot the asphaltene precipitation envelope (APE). It is important to
include this step; the matched properties are re-set to default values when
the fluid is re-characterised.
The default procedure estimates both the weight % of asphaltene and the
resin/asphaltene ratio. For this particular example the predicted weight % of
asphaltene is very close to the reported value with 0.7 wt% asphaltene predicted
compared to the experimental data of 0.5 wt%.
278 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
No resin – asphaltene ratio
Even if you do not have a SARA analysis you may have the weight %
asphaltene. In that case you only need to estimate the Resin/Asphaltene ratio.
Proceed as before, enter the wt% asphaltene (0.5 %) in the correct text box in the
PVT Analysis, but still tick the Estimate RA box. Repeat the matching of bubble
point and reservoir conditions again and plot the APE.
Although the estimated R/A ratio is lower, at 13, than the original, at 22, the
resultant APE is very close. This is the result of two factors: once you reach a
certain level of R/A the effect of increasing the R/A is reduced and the difference
is compensated by slightly different model parameters obtained from matching
to a specific precipitation point or reservoir condition.
No reservoir pressure
If you only have the reservoir temperature we have included a facility to estimate
this. Simply enter the bubble point data and reservoir temperature as before and
initiate the matching procedure.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 279
For this particular example the resultant APE is reasonably close to the APE
calculated from the real reservoir conditions.
As a corollary to this we have noticed that you usually generate very
conservative APEs when you have a very over-pressured reservoir. If you have a
bubble point measurement at the same temperature as the reservoir temperature
and the reservoir pressure is more than 2.5 times the bubble point a warning
message is generated.
You can continue to match to your reservoir conditions although it may also be
beneficial to generate the model parameters with an estimated reservoir pressure
to see the likely sensitivity.
If the bubble point is matched at a different temperature from the reservoir
temperature no warning is issued.
280 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
The results from using this route are very variable, depending on the fluid
analysis and we cannot fully recommend its use. In this case the result would be
a much more conservative APE.
For comparison purposes we have matched to each point individually and then to
both points.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 281
To add data to the plot, you can use the Add Data option in the phase envelope
plotter to include the measured precipitation points and the reservoir conditions.
Gas injection
It is known that as gas is injected into a reservoir the likelihood of asphaltene
precipitation is increased. The asphaltene model predicts this trend correctly.
Return to the original APE, calculated from the asphex.mfl input file with
matched bubble points and reservoir conditions. You can mimic gas injection by
increasing the amount of methane by adding more moles of methane in the drop
down composition box. If you increase the amount of methane from 8.32g to 12g
and re-plot the APE you will see that the fluid bubble point line is at higher
pressures and the APE has expanded.
282 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
When looking at the effect of gas injection you should, of course, not rematch
the fluid bubble point or asphaltene precipitation data as doing this will alter the
petroleum fraction properties and set the matched model parameters to the
default values. Usually the model parameters are matched with the asphaltene
precipitation data of the original reservoir fluid, and then the same model
parameters are used for modelling the asphaltene phase behaviour of the original
reservoir fluids with gas injection.
You should not use the PVT Analysis GOR option to add the injection gas to the
reservoir fluid. Any re-characterisation cancels the properties and parameters
derived from earlier matching and, as you now have a different fluid, the values
of bubble point and reservoir conditions used for matching are no longer valid. If
you have a complex injection gas and want to study the effect of different gas
injection rates then we suggest the use of an Excel spreadsheet or use the
blending procedure in Multiflash to blend the injection gas stream and the
reservoir fluid.
Please note that the reservoir fluid with bubblepoints matched and asphaltene
model tuned should be selected for the model definition in the blending form, so
that the asphaltene model parameters are based on the original reservoir fluid. If
the asphaltene precipitation data are available for the blended mixtures, the data
should be matched after blending.
Titration
The Infochem/KBC asphaltene model is intended for use in predicting the
asphaltene phase behaviour of live oils and the generation of the model
parameters is based on asphaltene studies of live fluids. However, live oil
asphaltene studies can be expensive, particularly with the requirement to obtain
and transport bottom hole samples. Some of our users have asked whether
titration measurements on dead oils could be used to generate the model
parameters. To date we have only been able to obtain limited samples of titration
data and have traced only one oil, in the public domain, where there is
information on both asphaltenes in the live oil and reported titration on the
associated stock tank oil (STO), enabling us to compare results. However, we
understand that some of our users have applied this approach successfully, and
the procedure for using titration data has been automated.
The studies have been limited to titration with n-heptane.
Our example is based on the titration.mfl file provided. The file includes the live
oil composition and the wt% of asphaltene and resins. The reported value of
asphaltene was 1.9 wt%, that of resins was 16.1 wt% for the STO. Characterise
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 283
the fluid composition as usual and return to the main menu. Then go to
Tools/Matching/Asphaltene phase. The reported onset amount of heptane to just
cause asphaltenes to precipitate from the STO at ambient conditions is 1.4 cm3
per g tank oil. This has been converted to .962 g n-heptane using the known
density. Enter this value and the bubble point (54.4 ºC and 156.2 bar) and click
on Match.
The asphaltene model parameters will be reported in the main window as usual
and the APE can now be plotted. The resultant APE is compared below to those
generated from matching to a known flocculation point of 54.4 ºC and 200 bar
and to a combination of reservoir temperature (54.4º C) and bubble point (54.4
ºC and 156.2 bar)
The APE predicted from matching to titration of the STO is very close to the
APE from asphaltene precipitation measurements and both are less conservative
than using reservoir conditions to provide the model parameters. It is believed
this has been the experience for other fluids.
284 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
If your titration data does not include the amount of heptane required to initiate
asphaltene precipitation and if this has to be deduced from other titration results,
then the procedure for parameter generation is slightly more complicated and
requires the use of an Excel spreadsheet. In the Multiflash GUI either
characterise the STO, if this composition is provided, or flash the characterised
live oil to STO conditions, using the RKSA model to ensure that no separate
asphaltene phase is formed. If you have bubble point data it is important that you
match these before flashing to STO conditions. Using the STO composition,
change the model set to asphaltene, match the asphaltene precipitation to
ambient conditions and save the problem using the File/Save Problem Setup
option.
You then need to create an Excel worksheet to read this .mfl file. Details of how
to do this are described in the Excel manual, but we have provided an example
spreadsheet, titration_sto.xls.
For our example we have generated the file STO.mfl from the fluid used in our
titration example. This is the file that should be used in the Excel spreadsheet. In
the spreadsheet you then need to do two things: add a new component to the list,
heptane, and add a command line describing the asphaltene parameters. This can
be copied from the Multiflash GUI by using Tools/Show/Problem to display the
commands. The command line can be copied and pasted to the spreadsheet but
for fitting purposes it must be set up so that the RAP parameter appears in a
single cell so that it can be optimised using the Excel Solver, e.g.
include c:\work directory\sto.mfl";
model MREFASPHALTENE RAEQUIL DATA AAPREEXP
1.00000000 AAEXP 1.00000000 RAPREEXP
.636986
RAEXP
0.96698
;
component heptane;
The spreadsheet, titration_sto.xls, is set up to optimise the value of RAPREEXP
(RAP) using the Excel Tools/Solver by comparing the calculated wt% of
asphaltene deposited for given amounts of heptane to the experimental wt%
deposited.
For our particular example the data reported in the paper included a live oil and a
STO composition, a wt% asphaltene for the STO, an asphaltene precipitation
point and five points for the heptane titration.
The reported titration data are plotted below
1.8
1.6
1.4
wt% asphaltene
1.2
0.8 Exptl
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
g C7/g oil
Fitting to the onset precipitation point using the matching facility produced the
following parameters
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation 285
RAP 0.94176
RAE 0.96636
Whereas fitting to the other four points in Excel gave parameters
RAP 0.94999
RAE 0.96636
These parameters represent the STO titration data well, but the amount of
heptane to just initiate precipitation is slightly higher. You can check the
predicted value for the amount of n-heptane required for the onset of asphaltene
precipitation using a tolerance calculation with heptane as the second fluid. The
predicted amount is .997 g/g oil rather than .962.
2.00
1.80
1.60
1.40
wt% asphaltene
1.20
1.00
RAP fit
0.80 Exptl
0.60 predicted onset
0.40
0.20
0.00
0.000 5.000 10.000 15.000 20.000 25.000 30.000 35.000 40.000
g C7/g oil
It is clearly preferable to generate the live oil APE from live oil data. Some
predictions are possible from titration data but it is important that all data are
compatible, particularly the compositions of the STO and the flashed liquid and
the physical properties of pseudo components by matching to bubble point data
in both cases if you have them.
For this example we also had a measured precipitation point and you can see the
APEs resulting from the different approaches.
286 Case studies – Asphaltene flocculation User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Case studies – Combined solids
Introduction
The previous three case studies looked at solid formation for hydrates, waxes
and asphaltenes as separate problems. However, for some fluids at certain
conditions it is possible that any or all of these may form at the same time. The
formation of any one will affect the overall composition of the fluid and may
therefore affect the formation of the other solids. To examine this possibility we
have included a Combined Solids model option. The particular model options for
each solid have been chosen to provide the best Infochem can offer whilst
ensuring compatibility. The common fluid phase model is RKSA. The hydrate
models therefore use RKSAINFO as the fluid model, combined with the
Electrolyte salt model. The wax model is the Coutinho model and the asphaltene
model is the standard Infochem model. The Combined Solids option is only
designed to look at solid formation, if you want to study more complex problems
such as hydrate inhibition you should choose the dedicated Hydrates model set.
If you only choose a single type of solid phase in the Combined Solids option
you will be asked to use the model for that type of solid instead, e.g. the hydrate
model if only hydrate phases are chosen.
Asphaltene precipitation
To understand what happens when more than one solid form a useful starting
point is to examine asphaltene precipitation alone. The example input file
provided is combsolid.mfl. This includes an oil composition to C20+ which has
a molecular weight of 81, wt% resin of 12.04 and wt% asphaltene of 0.7. The
fluid is characterised from C6 with 15 fractions. The resins and asphaltenes are
allocated as shown below:
The asphaltene model parameters are matched with a bubble point of 120F and
2650 psia and an asphaltene precipitation point of 120F and 8750 psia. The
predicted APE is plotted below (use the same strategy for plotting as described
in the asphaltene case study).
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Combined solids 287
Wax and Asphaltene precipitation
To see the effect of simultaneous wax and asphaltene precipitation we first need
to re-characterise the fluid with an n-paraffin distribution in order to apply the
Coutinho model. In the PVT form tick the box to estimate wax content as none is
known. The n-paraffin distribution is also set to C6 and 15 fractions.
The separation of the n-paraffins from the remainder of the liquid also alters the
distribution and properties of the resins and asphaltenes:
This in itself will alter the resin/asphaltene interaction. Allowing the wax to form
will then remove some of the n-paraffins from the fluid again changing the
proportion of resins in the remaining fluid.
To see the effect choose the Combined Solids option from Select/Model set and
specify wax and asphaltenes as the solid phases. Eliminate Hydrates, water and
ice for the time being.
288 Case studies – Combined solids User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
As the model has been re-defined we will need to match the asphaltene
parameters again, using the same input data. The new parameters will be slightly
different because of the altered distribution.
Now plot the gas and asphaltene boundaries as before then add the wax
boundary.
As you can see changing the resin distribution and removing some of the n-
paraffins has the effect of stabilising the asphaltene slightly.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Combined solids 289
As we have chosen to re-define the model we also need to re-match the
asphaltene parameters. This is best done in the absence of water, which is why
the initial water composition was set to zero. Using the same input data the
asphaltene parameters will be exactly the same as for the wax and asphaltene
study.
Now add the water composition, 10g. Adding too much water may cause
difficulties when plotting the APE.
With water present use the phase envelope plotter to generate all the phase
boundaries. Starting point for the asphaltene boundary may have to be changed
as it is affected by the presence of the other solids.
The wax boundary is not affected by the addition of water or the formation of
hydrate, which occurs at lower temperatures. However, the effect on the lower
APE is significant. As the hydrate is formed the light gas hydrate formers are
removed from the fluid. This is in effect the reverse of gas injection and the
asphaltene is stabilised with precipitation occurring at higher temperatures.
290 Case studies – Combined solids User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Of course with water present there is also the possibility of a separate water
phase.
If the fluid is flashed at 70F and 1750 psia Multiflash will predict the formation
of 6 phases; gas, hydrocarbon liquid, water, hydrate2, asphaltene and wax. With
only 10g of water present reducing the temperature slightly removes the water
phase owing to the formation of additional hydrate.
Of course, in practice the formation of so many phases will be affected by
kinetic factors as well as the thermodynamic equilibrium.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Combined solids 291
Case studies – Excel
spreadsheets
Introduction
There are some problems that are best approached using Excel. Some of these
are discussed in the Multiflash Excel manual, such as generating tables of pure
component data or using linked flashes or recycles for simple flowsheet
calculations.
Those presented here were set up following user requests and include generating
binary interaction parameters for activity coefficient models and linking
predictions of solid formation to a common fluid analysis. By default, the
spreadsheets are stored in the same directory with the mfl files, i.e. under the tree
\Infochem\MF44\MFL Files from the Multiflash 4.4 installation on your
computer.
Although we have not included them here, some users wish to fit their own
experimental data for components not included in their version of Multiflash. To
help users to do this we do have available a series of spreadsheets for the fitting
of pure component data. They are not issued with the standard installation but we
will supply them on request.
UNFACFIT.xls
UNIFAC is a very useful model as the binary interaction parameters are
generated from the group structures of the pure components and so reasonable
predictions of phase equilibria can be obtained for polar systems without the
need for stored BIPs.
However, there may be times when you wish to use an alternative model such as
NRTL. Although we are continually expanding our BIP databank there may be
some binary pairs in your mixture for which we do not have stored NRTL
parameters. If you do not have the time to search for experimental data for the
missing pairs, or are unable to find any, then this spreadsheet allows you to
generate the phase equilibria data from UNIFAC, providing group structures are
available for your chosen components, and then fit this data using another
activity model.
The spreadsheet has several worksheets.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Excel spreadsheets 293
Notes
The first spreadsheet consists of notes on how to use UNFICAFIT.xls and how
to enter the fitted BIPs in Multiflash.
UNIFAC
This is the worksheet where you generate the phase equilibria data (liquid and
gas phase compositions and temperature or pressure) that you are going to fit.
You specify, by entering information in the appropriate cell:
The databank to act as the source of pure component data, either
Infodata or DIPPR if you have it
The names of the two components for your binary pair
Whether you wish to generate data for an isotherm or isobar and
your chosen temperature or pressure
The required data is generated by the Multiflash functions when the calculation
in the spreadsheet is updated. It includes both column headings and plots. The
composition range is fixed and the units are SI. There is no need to change these
although it is possible.
An Error box reports the status of the data generation. This should be OK if the
UNIFAC group structures are available for your chosen components. An error
status of –13201 would indicate that the structures are missing for one or both
compounds.
Once the data has been generated you can move to the worksheet for the model
you wish to use, WilsonE, UNIQUAC VLE or NRTL VLE.
294 Case studies – Excel spreadsheets User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Multiflash are J/mole. If BIPs from external sources are used in Multiflash it is
important that either the BIP units are changed to match the input values or the
numeric values of the BIPs are changed to J/mole.
The choice of units appears once the Units button is activated in the BIP display.
J/mol is the Multiflash standard for the dimensioned activity model BIPs.
cal/mol and K are the values used in the Dechema Data Series for activity model
VLE and LLE BIPs. The “Aspen” format allows you to transfer the BIP values
for the NRTL equation from Aspen Plus without further change.
The actual input functions for the activity BIPs are as follows:
In J/mol K Aij=a + bT + cT2
In cal/mol K Aij/4.184=a + bT + cT2
In K Aij/R=a + bT + cT2
Dimensionless Aij/RT=a + b/T + cT
Aspen format Aij/RT=a + b/T + cT
For the NRTL equation, the parameter is defined as follows:
All formats except Aspen ij= a + bT + cT2
Aspen format ij= a + b(T-273.15) + c(T-273.15)2
Supplementing or overwriting BIPs” on page 59.
Although NRTL has three parameters we have chosen not to fit all three but to
default the third parameter, alpha, to 0.3. You can over-ride this if you wish but
we would suggest that values for alpha should never be negative and should
rarely be larger than 0.6.
Currently the fitting is limited to constant values for the BIPs although this could
be expanded if necessary.
VLEFIT.xls
This is substantially the same as UNIFACFIT.xls but the starting point is
experimental data rather than data generated from the UNIFAC model.
Instead of the first UNIFAC worksheet there is an Experimental worksheet to
enter the data. Again you can choose the data source for your pure component
data and indicate whether your chosen data is along an isotherm or isobar. In
order to minimise effort this spreadsheet does allow you to choose the units for
temperature and pressure to match those measured. The temperature or pressure
for the isotherm or isobar should be entered as should the values for x, y and
associated T or P.
We have chosen a limited array for data entry. If you have more data and are
familiar with Excel you can extend the range although you will need to
remember to change the cell references in the dependent worksheets. Otherwise
you should limit the data by choosing suitable points from the data available.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Excel spreadsheets 295
If you have less data then you should enter #N/A in the cells which would
otherwise be empty. This is necessary for the Excel Solver to operate correctly.
For some data sets you may have P, x or T, x but no data for gas composition, y.
In this case it is advised to enter #N/A for the y compositions. If you fail to do
this the Solver will still function provided the minimisation criterion is based on
difference in temperature or pressure, which is the default. However, the plots
for x, y will not be relevant and should be ignored.
As with UNIFACFIT.xls you can fit the experimental data to generate BIPs for
WilsonE, UNIQUAC VLE or NRTL VLE by choosing the appropriate
worksheet.
Solids.xls
Several of the engineers using the Multiflash GUI have found it fairly complex
to obtain results for solid formation particularly for asphaltenes. Improvements
to allow users to fit bubble point and asphaltene model parameters at the same
time go some way to alleviating this problem. However, we had set up a
spreadsheet, which many engineers find useful and which we will still issue as
part of the implementation. Of course you will only be able to use any worksheet
if you have licensed the appropriate model.
The Solids.xls includes the recommended PVT analysis routines and solids
models; the CPA/Electrolyte model for Hydrates, the Coutinho wax model for
waxes and the asphaltene model is standard.
The spreadsheet consists of several worksheets and each worksheet has the
relevant models built-in in hidden rows or columns. As the PVT Analysis
procedure is complex, the PVT calculations are carried out using the Multiflash
GUI, and the mfl file written and referenced in the first worksheet.
The Excel calculations are set to manual using the Tools/Options or
Formulas/Calculation Options facility depending on the Excel's version. This is
to prevent automatic calculation of the whole spreadsheet as new compositions
are entered. To update any individual worksheet use Shift F9, to update the
whole spreadsheet use F9.
PVT Analysis
The user characterises the PVT using the Multiflash GUI and enters the full
directory path and mfl file name to provide the characterised fluid information.
As all calculations in the spreadsheet have to be referenced to this fluid
characterisation we recommend that the characterisation is based on splitting the
fluid plus fraction from C6 into 15 pseudocomponents for both iso-paraffins and
n-paraffins. This controls the number of components and negates the need for the
user to modify the Excel functions to ensure that all components and
compositions are included in any calculation. The units for calculation are also
set in this worksheet.
This first worksheet includes a bubble point calculation at a temperature or
pressure set by the user. This allows you to decide whether to tune the petroleum
fraction properties to match a known bubble point or if this is unnecessary.
The list of possible components is based on the default component list used in
our PVT Analysis utility. The user enters the compositions and any other
information available such as the molecular weight and specific gravity. The
SARA analysis can be entered; the resin and asphaltene amounts are needed for
the asphaltene model although they can be estimated if required. The user can
specify the starting point and the number of fractions for the characterisation
although we would recommend staying with C6 and 15 fractions.
296 Case studies – Excel spreadsheets User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Match bubble point
If the predicted bubble point is sufficiently different from a known value then
this worksheet allows the user to match a known bubble point. The fluid
composition is taken from the characterised fluid in the PVT Analysis
worksheet. The user specifies the bubble point to be matched and the bubble
point is recalculated after the match to confirm that this has been carried out. A
new problem input specification is written into this worksheet as a result of the
match but it is in hidden rows or column.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Excel spreadsheets 297
Wax
The next worksheet is dedicated to prediction of wax precipitation, although the
worksheets for wax, asphaltene and hydrates are not inter-dependent and can be
used in any order. The user can choose to use the fluid characterisation direct
from the PVT Analysis or with petroleum fraction properties tuned to match a
bubble point.
The first set of calculations predicts the wax appearance temperature (WAT)
without any further tuning plus the amount of wax formed at a user specified
T,P. The calculation is carried out based on the fixed wax phase fraction flash
function and the amount of wax is set to be .00015 mole fraction of wax in the
liquid+wax phases. There is a function called MF_PWAT, equivalent to the
WAT button in the GUI, which calculates the WAT at a fixed mass or mole
fraction of the wax phase. This can be relative to either the total fluid or to the
liquid plus wax phases.
For matching a measured WAT for a finite amount of wax phase, a command is
used for specifying the measured WAT in the Solids.xls. For the detailed
information about how to use the commands, refer to the section of Matching
wax data in the Multiflash Command Reference manual.
The WAT is plotted automatically as a function of pressure. The starting
pressure and step can be set by the user to obtain the pressure range of choice.
These calculations can be repeated based on matching to a known WAT, if one
is available.
298 Case studies – Excel spreadsheets User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Asphaltenes
The asphaltene worksheet again offers the choice of using the PVT Analysis
characterisation direct or the characterisation after matching to a known bubble
point. For asphaltene modelling we would recommend the latter.
The options for producing the asphaltene model parameters are not as flexible in
Excel as in the Windows front end. You are limited to two options, the
flocculation or reservoir conditions and you must supply both temperature and
pressure. The matching is done by using a command with the temperature and
pressure referred to either asphaltene ADE or reservoir condition. For detailed
command information, refer to the section on Matching asphaltene deposition
point in the Multiflash Command Reference manual.
After matching the user can set either temperature or pressure and calculate the
corresponding P or T for the upper and lower boundaries of the flocculation
envelope. There is also an option for entering a set of T,P and calculating the
amount of asphaltene formed at those conditions.
Every effort has been made to plot the asphaltene precipitation envelope
automatically with starting points derived from the precipitation or reservoir
conditions. However, as the engineers using our Windows phase envelope
facility will appreciate it is difficult to make this absolutely fail-safe.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Excel spreadsheets 299
Asphaltene with gas injection
The effect of gas injection on asphaltene flocculation is perhaps most easily
calculated in Excel. The asphaltene model parameters for any fluid should be
retained when studying the effect of added gas. The gas injection worksheet is
therefore dependent on the asphaltene worksheet for the problem input
specification and the matching function is disabled. It serves only to report the
conditions chosen for matching.
The composition of the gas is entered and the ratio of gas to oil is based on a
simple molar ratio.
You can still change conditions of temperature and/or pressure to determine the
boundaries for flocculation and the amount of asphaltene flocculated. The
boundaries for asphaltene flocculation, with and without gas injection are plotted
but it cannot be guaranteed that this will be available for all fluids and gas
injection rates.
300 Case studies – Excel spreadsheets User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Hydrates
The hydrate functionality is well served in our Windows software and easily
used. We have only added a hydrate worksheet here for completeness and to
allow the engineer to carry out quick checks for possible hydrate formation. It
encapsulates the main features of our hydrate model but does not have the
flexibility of the Windows program.
The user needs to add an amount of water to the fluid and this can either be pure
water or produced water with the salt content defined by ion analysis or total
dissolved solid. The hydrate dissociation temperature can be calculated at a
single pressure or plotted as a function of pressure. The hydrate is defined as
Hydrate2 only, which is the usual hydrate formed as the spreadsheet is designed
to work with oils rather than natural gases.
There is also a section in the worksheet for looking at the use of inhibitors. These
are limited to the two most common, methanol or MEG. The spreadsheet
predicts inhibitor amounts or concentrations required for hydrate inhibition at set
conditions.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Excel spreadsheets 301
Users who want to investigate hydrate behaviour only, may find the
hydrateinfo.xls and hydratecpa.xls spreadsheets useful. They have a restricted
component list (gases and gas condensates) but offer a choice of fluid and salt
model and a wider choice of calculations.
302 Case studies – Excel spreadsheets User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Case study – Mercury
partitioning
Introduction
This section is only applicable if your Multiflash license includes the mercury
model.
Infochem has developed a mercury model for prediction of the solubility of
mercury in natural gases and condensates, and the distribution of mercury
between gas, condensate and water phases. The mercury model is available in
combination with RKSA, PR78A or CPA-Infochem fluid models.
In condensates and petroleum liquids, organomercury compounds are significant
and may be the predominant form of mercury, although it is generally agreed
that mercury in natural gas is almost all in elemental form. Dimethylmercury and
diphenylmercury are chosen to represent light and heavy organomercury
compounds respectively. The mercury model in Multiflash is based on data for
the solubility both in hydrocarbons and in water, including data which is not
accessible in public domain.
The mercury model was originally developed based on the RKSA equation of
state. This is our recommendation for the fluid phase model. However PR78A
and CPA may be chosen for compatibility with fluid characterisation base on
these models.
The phases which can be defined for this model in the model selection form are
gas, liquid1 (hydrocarbon liquid), liquid2 (hydrocarbon liquid), water, liquidHg
(liquid mercury), solidHg (solid mercury), and ice. We recommend that you do
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Excel spreadsheets 303
not define a second hydrocarbon liquid phase (liquid2) unless you anticipate the
possibility of multiple hydrocarbon liquid phases.
304 Case studies – Excel spreadsheets User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
If the mercury model is used in an Excel spreadsheet or a third party simulator,
the streams can be set to be merged and recycled automatically but in the
Multiflash GUI it is only possible to use one stream composition as input at a
time for flash calculations.
Once Hg_Example.mfl has been loaded, enter the 4 degC and 77 bar of the warm
separator condition and carry out a PT flash.
As shown above, the mercury partitions among the fluid phases (Gas, Liquid1
and Water) .
To simulate the phase separation at the cold separator condition, the gas phase
composition can be highlighted, copied and then pasted into the Composition
drop down menu to provide the feed for the PT flash for the cold separator. The
conditions for the cold separator are set to -15 degC and 41 bar, and a new PT
flash is performed. These conditions correspond to having a choke between the
two separators, which reduces the pressure from 77 bar to 41 bar, resulting in the
temperature dropping to -15 degC.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Excel spreadsheets 305
At these conditions the separator is cold enough for a separate liquid mercury
phase to form. If the stream is cooled down even further, for example to -52
degC, then solid mercury will form instead and slightly more mercury drops out.
As can be seen from above, the mercury model can calculate mercury dropping
out either as a liquid or as a solid, and a flash calculation shows whether mercury
drops out at the given conditions. In Multiflash the fixed phase fraction flash
can be used to calculate the temperature or pressure at which a pure mercury
phase will start to drop out.
If the gas from the cold separator is compressed to 100 bar, such as for gas
export, then a fixed phase fraction flash at that pressure can be used to determine
the temperature at which mercury will start to drop out.
306 Case studies – Excel spreadsheets User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
If we do the calculation for the gas output from the cold separator at -15 degC at
100 bar we can see that liquid mercury will begin to dropout at -8.7 degC.
If we use the cold separator at -52 degC and 41 bar instead, then mercury will
not dropout till the temperature is below -48 degC at 100 bar, at which point
solid mercury begins to form. This is because of the lower amount of mercury in
the gas stream from the cold separator at -52 degC compared to the gas stream
from the cold separator at -15 degC.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Excel spreadsheets 307
Other calculations
The mercury model can be used for any flash calculation such as P,S or P,H. The
model can also be used for mercury partitioning in a gas dehydrator.
TEG has been included in the component list for the example provided, but was
present at zero concentration. If the TEG is added, e.g. 0.3 moles, then the
calculations can be repeated but in this case starting with a simple dehydrator
flash at 10 degC and 110 bar. You can then see the mercury partitioning into the
aqueous TEG phase and the consequent effects.
308 Case studies – Excel spreadsheets User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
available). If a measurement of the mercury content for the evolved gas phase is
available, the amount of elemental mercury in the assumed distribution for the
separator liquid can be adjusted to match the measurement for the gas phase.
This approach is not very accurate and is not based on observations, but it will
give the best possible estimate of the distribution of mercury between the species
based on the available information, and will agree with the mercury content in
both the separator liquid and the evolved gas.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Case studies – Excel spreadsheets 309
Appendix - Multiflash
Commands
Introduction
The Multiflash command language is common to all Multiflash implementations
- Excel, VB etc. A complete list of all commands and information on how to use
them is contained in the Multiflash Command Reference manual.
In the Multiflash GUI the use of commands has largely been replaced by the
menu choices and toolbar buttons. However, there are some Multiflash facilities
that are not available as menu/toolbar options so there are a few circumstances
when it is necessary to .make direct use of Multiflash commands.
Commands
From the Tools menu choose Command. A command window will be displayed.
You can then enter a command and either press <Enter> or click on the Send
command button to send the command to Multiflash.
The command shown in this example will provide details of the specified model,
including the name of the associated BIP dataset.
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Appendix - Multiflash Commands 311
Defining phase descriptors and key components
Defining models
The standard thermodynamic and transport property models available in
Multiflash are specified in the model sets and model configuration files supplied.
However, you may wish to set up your own model definition, for example you
may wish to use an activity style mixing rule with an equation of state model.
You may also wish to group together different models to describe different
properties, such as using an equation of state to describe the properties of a
refrigerant mixture but defining the density in terms of ideal mixing.
In general the MODELS command defines a thermodynamic or transport
property model for mixtures. The command has the format:
MODEL model_id MF_model_name [Model_options]…
where
1. model_id is a user-defined name that will be used to refer to the particular
combination of the property model and options specified.
2. MF_model_name is the Multiflash name for the basic model. The
list of recognised models is given in “Models and input
requirements” on page 74. Model_options are additional
keywords that describe model variants, references to other,
previously-defined, models or references to the source of binary
interaction parameters.
Many .mfl files are provided and will provide examples of how to set up a model
definition.
312 Appendix - Multiflash Commands User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
model MPR PR PRBIP;
The definition of the default models used for the transport properties:
model MPDVISC pdvisc lfit;
model MCLSMPR cls MPR; model MMCSMPR mcs MPR;
A phase descriptor giving an identifier and a phase type for each possible phase
which may be considered in the calculation:
remove pd;
pd Gas gas MPR * * MPDVISC MCLSMPR;
pd Liquid1 liquid MPR * * MPDVISC MCLSMPR MMCSMPR;
pd Liquid2 liquid MPR * * MPDVISC MCLSMPR MMCSMPR;
pd Water liquid MPR * * MPDVISC MCLSMPR MMCSMPR;
and finally, specification of a key component for each liquid phase so that it can
be identified when multiple liquid phases are found.
key Water 007732-18-5;
key Liquid1 not 007732-18-5;
key Liquid2 not 007732-18-5;
The CAS number is that for water. This format is general and unambiguous and
allows, for instance, for cases where the user has chosen the alternative name
H2O for water. However, Multiflash will still recognise the original format of
Key Water water;
N.B. You must reload this BIP file every time you change the model as one of
the commands when a model is loaded removes existing bipsets.
If you define the bipset incorrectly, e.g. if for butane pentane the temperature
function is defined as activity with units of J/mol, then a warning message will
appear when you try to use this with the PR equation
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Appendix - Multiflash Commands 313
bipset PRBIP 1 constant activity J/mol butane
pentane 0.01 ;
*** ERROR 584 ***
Existing BIP set uses a different temperature
function
Some examples for other models are shown below:
bipset WILSONBIP2 2 constant activity j/mol acetone
water 6139 1450;
bipset NRTLBIP3 3 linear activity J/mol methanol
water .22 4.4e-3 .30 -6.6e-3 .003 0.0
314 Appendix - Multiflash Commands User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
command description notes
parameter
pd_id user-defined name that will any unique alphanumeric
be used to refer to the string, e.g. liquid1
particular instance of phase
type and associated models
phase_type a keyword that defines the 1. gas, vapour and vapour
phase type, valid settings are: are synonyms.
condensed 2. condensed means a pure
gas solid phase.
hydrate 3. solidsolution means a
liquid mixed solid phase
solidsolution
vapour
vapour
model_identifiers identifiers for up to six 1. the model identifiers are
models that will be used to the user-defined names
evaluate the thermodynamic associated with the models
and transport properties of (see description of
the phase. Models for the MODELS command)
following properties may be 2. at least one
specified in the order given: thermodynamic model must
1. fugacity (K-values) be defined (the same model
2. volume/density (optional) is then used for all
3. enthalpy/entropy thermodynamic properties)
(optional) 3. transport property models
4. viscosity (optional) need only be defined if
5. thermal conductivity output of these properties is
(optional) required
6. surface tension (optional)
erase erases (removes) the PD 1. the pd_id must have been
from the list of PDs available previously defined
for Multiflash 2. all information associated
with the PD is lost
The standard model sets and model configuration files include four phase
descriptors for GAS, LIQUID1, LIQUID2 and WATER. If you use the
Select/Freeze-out components option to apply the freeze-out model, see “Solid
freeze-out model” on page 39, a phase descriptor will be automatically generated
from the component name. However, you can change this name using the phase
descriptor command.
You may wish to erase a phase descriptor to limit the number of phases
considered when solving a flash calculation, see “Phase ” on page 178.
The KEY command is used to define a key component for a PD. A key
component helps to identify a particular phase when two or more PDs would
otherwise be indistinguishable. It is not necessary to define a key component
unless a flash calculation needs to identify phases uniquely (e.g. a search for a
particular phase fraction). The command has the format:
KEY pd_id key_component_id
or:
KEY pd_id not key_component_id
User Guide for Multiflash for Windows Appendix - Multiflash Commands 315
component name is preceded by the keyword not , this means that the
component should be present in the minimum relative concentration.
The model sets and model configuration files supplied identify one liquid phase
as having water as the key component and the other two liquid phases in terms of
not being the water phase. There may be a case where you would wish to
allocate a key component to one of these, e.g.
Key liquid2 CO2;
or
Key liquid1 heaviest
316 Appendix - Multiflash Commands User Guide for Multiflash for Windows
Units 57, 294
BIP databank 60
BIP set
Names 55
BIPs
C
A
Calculate 17
About Multiflash 194
Calculating asphaltene precipitation conditions 272
Activity coefficient equations in Multiflash 37
Calculating mercury partitioning and dropout 304
Activity coefficient methods 37
Calculating the bubble point curve 206
Activity coefficient model for gas phase 9
Calculating the dew point curve 207
Activity coefficient models 6
Calculating the water dew point line 209
see Models 37
Calculating wax appearance temperature (WAT) 261
Activity coefficients 177
Calculating wax precipitation 264
Activity model worksheets 294
Calculation options 11
Activity Models 179, 180
Calculation output 175
Adding a component 69
Calculations 2, 19
Adding a user-defined component 72
see Flash calculations 141
Adding water to the system 209
Calculations with inhibitors 252
Adding, inserting, replacing and deleting components
Can hydrates form at given P and T ? 252
69
CAPE-OPEN 7
Additional calculations 20
CAPE-OPEN Interface 188
Advanced Equation of state options 31
Carbon Dioxide high-accuracy model 36
Amount of inhibitor required to suppress hydrates
Carry out a the flash calculation 199
255
Carry out an isenthalpic flash 21
Appendix - Multiflash Commands 3
Carrying out the flash calculation 23
Applicability 36
Case studies 3, 197, 205, 243
Aqueous phase labelling 178
Asphaltenes 51, 267
Asphaltene matching 270
Combined solids 287
Asphaltene precipitation 287
Delump 225
Asphaltene with gas injection 300
Getting Started 13
Asphaltenes 51, 267, 299
Hydrate formation and inhibition 243
Case study 51, 267
Phase equilibria 205
Defining Asphaltene model 51
Polymers 237
Model 43
Pure component data 197
ASTM D86 distillation 104
PVT Analysis 214
Azeotropes 235
Refrigerants 229
Wax 50, 260
B Change the composition 20
Change the pressure 20
Backup file 26
Changing units 170
Basic characterisation properties 109
Characterisation 99, 107
Benedict-Webb-Rubin-Starling (BWRS) equation of
Check for Updates 193
state 34
Choice of Analysis method 276
Benedict-Webb-Rubin-Starling model 34
Chung-Lee-Starling model 45
Binary interaction parameters 10, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58,
Chung-Lee-Starling thermal conductivity method 45
294
Clearing previous problems 21
Displaying values 55
Combined solids 287
Supplementing and overwriting BIPs 58
Combined Solids Model 52
Temperature dependence 54
V
Vapour thermal conductivity mixing rule 46
Vapour viscosity mixing rule 45
Vapour-liquid-liquid equilibria 235
Viewing and editing pure component data 70
Viewing BIP values 55
Viscosity 44
Matching liquid viscosity 125, 126
Models 44
VLEAutoPlot 149
VLEFIT.xls 295
Volume
Specifying as a flash condition 138
Volume fraction flash 144
W
Warning option for matching and PVT form 26
Warnings 176, 181, 234
Additional phases 234
Convergence 176
Water cut 97
Water-Ammonia 35
Wax 260, 298
Case study 50, 260
Coutinho Model 42
Defining Wax model 50
Matching WAT 123
Wax and Asphaltene precipitation 288
Wax Appearance Temperature 159
Wax calculations 159
Wax Precipitation Curve 160
Waxes 50
What is a model? 29
What the model definition means 312
What types of model are available? 29
When to use activity coefficient models 38
When to use CPA. 32
When to use cubic equations of state 32
When to use equation of state methods 30
When to use LK or LKP 34
When to use PSRK 32