SPE 118893

Practical and Robust Isenthalpic/Isothermal Flashes for Thermal Fluids

Terry W. Stone/Schlumberger, James S. Nolen/Consultant

Copyright 2009, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2009 SPE Reservoir Simulation Symposium held in The Woodlands, Texas, USA, 2–4 February 2009.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
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reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
This paper describes in detail computational techniques and formulations for constructing a phase envelope and/or
subsequent isenthalpic/isothermal flash calculations that are practical for multiphase fluids in a non-isothermal environment.
These methods were designed especially for heavy oil applications and use in numerical simulators. The methods are based
on a fluid characterized by pressure and temperature dependent K-values. Although these procedures may be extended to
more general N-phase systems, the paper gives full details for a 3-phase oil/gas/water system. Any number of hydrocarbon
components may be present and water may exist as a liquid and/or a vapor. The presence of non-volatile and/or non-
condensable hydrocarbon components is treated.

Introduction
Reservoir simulators require a robust means to evaluate both the state of a multi-component, multi-phase fluid and the vapor-
liquid equilibrium (VLE). In contrast to black oil and compositional PVT calculations, thermal fluid VLE needs to account
for water vapor. It is common in thermal simulation to use correlated or tabular hydrocarbon component K-values which are
dependent on pressure and temperature1 rather than predict these from an EOS. Although more limited in the range of
pressure and temperature where the correlation or table is valid, i.e. away from meta-stable/critical regions and with non-
complex fluids, the reduced functionality and monotonicity are valuable characteristics for robustness.

Other methods exist for calculating thermal fluid VLE. A thermodynamically rigorous method presented by Brantferger,
Pope et al.2 discusses a Newton-type entropy maximization algorithm combined with a Gibbs stability test to yield the
number of phases. Other methods include those discussed by Agarwal et al.3 which are based on successively calling a (P,T)
flash in order to match a given total enthalpy, simultaneously solving an energy balance equation and Rachford-Rice equation
and a hybrid of the above.

Algorithms discussed in this paper have been tested thoroughly in a new reservoir simulator4 over a number of years. They
are being used in a mass-variable based conventional and multi-segment well model and also in some circumstances to
determine the state of reservoir grid cells.

Background of the Method

If sufficient heat is added to liquid water, it boils. If more heat is added, then the liquid will disappear and all water will exist
in a vapor phase. If sufficient heat is added to a liquid water and oil mixture, it will also boil and at first three phases are
formed. Add more heat yet and one liquid phase will disappear. If the oil is light such as a light olive oil or sewing machine
oil, then the oil will probably vaporize first. On the other hand if the oil is heavy and not very volatile then the water will boil
away first. If heat continues to be added to the system, all volatile liquid components will eventually vaporize. If some
components in the system are truly non-volatile, then there will always be a liquid phase whose presence is independent of
the amount of energy in the system. Similarly, if components are characterized as non-condensable, then a gas phase will
always be present which contains these components.

Start the method with a pressure P , component feed zi (hydrocarbons and/or water), and a total enthalpy htot . We restrict
the model of volatility of each component to be determined by pressure and temperature dependent K-values. That is, the
mole fraction of a hydrocarbon component in the gas phase yi is determined by an equilibrium K-value multiplied by the
2 SPE 118893

mole fraction of that component in a base or master phase xi , i.e. yi = K i (P, T ) ⋅ xi . The water K-value, K w , is assumed
Psat , w (T )
monotonic in temperature. Usually this is modelled with a Henry’s Law, K w = , where Psat, w (T ) is the water
P
saturation pressure as determined from steam tables.

Appearance or disappearance of a given phase will occur at certain phase transition temperatures, T1 ≥ T2 ≥ T3 . In
particular a temperature T3 is designated to be the temperature at which gas first appears, T2 is a temperature at which one
of the liquid phases will disappear and T1 is a temperature at which the final liquid phase leaves the system and all
components exist in the gas phase, as shown in Figure 1.

These phase transition temperatures are independent of the amount of heat in a fluid sample but are uniquely determined by
the pressure P , component feed zi and equilibrium K-values K i . A by-product of the phase transition temperature
calculation is the amount of vapor V , liquid oil L and liquid water W (phase splits) that exist at each of these transitions.
Once these temperatures and phase splits are known, then phase transition enthalpies can be constructed from the individual
phase enthalpies hoil , hwater , hgas . Finally by comparing the total enthalpy of the fluid sample, htot , to these phase
transition enthalpies, the state of the system is known. These phase transition enthalpies are also called the enthalpy phase
envelope of the system.

Details of the Method

There are two basic steps in the method. In Step 1, the Phase Boundaries are determined. Step 2 is to calculate the flash or
VLE using the knowledge of the Phase Boundaries. In the first step, there are three sub-steps. Step 1a is described below
under the subheading Disappearance of the Remaining Liquid Phase, step 1b is described under the heading First
Disappearance of a Liquid Phase and step 1c is described under the heading Appearance of Gas.

Step1: Phase Boundaries

In this section, algorithms are given to calculate boundaries for appearance or disappearance of phases. The phase
boundaries to be discussed are appearance of vapor, disappearance of liquid water and disappearance of liquid oil.

The total fluid enthalpy htot is a weighted combination of the phase enthalpies, hgas , hoil and hwater ,

htot = V ⋅ hgas + L ⋅ hoil + W ⋅ hwater (1)

Phase enthalpies hgas , hoil and hwater are functions of the component enthalpies and liquid and gas phase composition xi ,
yi . These properties are not the subject of this paper but are discussed, for example, in Reference 5.

For a given pressure and feed, phase transition enthalpies are computed at the phase boundaries using appropriate
∂h
temperatures, phase splits and phase compositions. Since enthalpy is monotonic in temperature, i.e. > 0 , these phase
∂T P
transition enthalpies are unique. The total enthalpy is then compared to the phase transition enthalpies and the state is
determined.

The following describes algorithms to calculate phase transition enthalpies for appearance of a gas phase, H t , gas ,
disappearance of a water phase, H t ,wat , and disappearance of an oil phase, H t ,oil . In order to compute the phase transition
enthalpies, temperatures6 need to be computed for the disappearance of the remaining liquid phase, T1 , the first
disappearance of a liquid phase, T2 , and appearance of the gas phase, T3 .

Step 1a: Disappearance of the Remaining Liquid Phase

If there are no non-volatile hydrocarbons in the system, compute

SPE 118893 3

Tw as a solution of z w = K w (T ) (2)
zi
To as a solution of ∑ =1 (3)
i∈vhc K io (T )

where K io is a hydrocarbon component K-value. If water is the remaining liquid phase and has just disappeared with a rise
in temperature, then the mole fraction of water in the gas phase, K w , is equal to the global mole fraction of water z w which
is equation (2). Similarly, equation (3) arises when water as a liquid phase has already disappeared, there is only a trace of
liquid oil left in the system, i.e. L → 0 , consequently the vapor phase is approaching unity, i.e. V → 1 , and the volatile
hydrocarbon components in the liquid phase must still sum to 1, hence equation (3).

Set

T1 = max(Tw , To ) (4)

T1 is the temperature at which the remaining liquid phase leaves the system. If T1 = Tw , set

H t , wat = hgas (P , T1 , yi = zi ) (5)

If T1 = To and there are no non-volatile hydrocarbon components in the system, set

H t , oil = hgas (P , T1 , yi = zi ) (6)

If there are non-volatiles in the system, set

H t ,oil = ∞ (7)

Step 1b: First Disappearance of a Liquid Phase

Oil Disappeared First

If T1 = Tw , then oil disappeared from the system first and at T2 there is still some water in the system. Since oil disappeared
first, there are no non-volatile hydrocarbons present. Between T1 and T2 ,

L=0 (8)

V =
(1 − zw ) (9)
(1 − K w )
(z − K w )
W= w (10)
(1 − K w )
The numerator of equation (9) is the ratio of moles of hydrocarbon components to total moles. Since K w is the mole
fraction of water in the gas phase, then the denominator of equation (9) is the ratio of moles of hydrocarbon in the gas phase
to total moles of gas phase. Since L = 0 , moles of hydrocarbon in the gas phase are the total moles of hydrocarbon.
Consequently the ratio of numerator to denominator is moles of gas phase / total moles which is the vapor phase split V .

At T2 , 1 ≥ zw ≥ K w because T2 < T1 and z w = K w (T1 ) > K w (T2 ) . Also at T2 ,

zi z (1 − K w (T2 ))
xi = = i , i ∈ vhc (11)
K io (T2 ) ⋅ V K io (T2 )(1 − z w )
4 SPE 118893

where vhc refers to the set of volatile hydrocarbons. The temperature T2 is found by iterating ∑x
i∈vhc
i = 1 . It follows that

∑y i
i = 1 since

zi (1 − zw − znchc ) , y znchc
∑ y = ∑V
i∈vhc
i
i∈vhc
=
V
w = K w , ynchc =
V
(12)

and using the definition of V above.

A phase transition enthalpy for disappearance of oil can then be calculated as

H t , oil = V ⋅ hgas (P, T2 , yi ) + W ⋅ hwat (P, T2 ) (13)

Water Disappeared First

If T1 = To , then water disappeared first, and at T2 there is still some oil in the system. Between T1 and T2 ,

W =0 (14)
z z
At T2 , water has completely vaporized, hence y w = w = K w or V = w and L = 1 − V . Then
V Kw
zi ⋅ K w (T2 )
xi (T2 ) = , i ∈ vhc (15)
K w (T2 ) − z w (1 − K io (T2 ))

and T2 can be obtained by solving a Rachford-Rice equation

znchc K w (T2 ) z K (T )(1 − K io (T2 )) z K (T )

0 = ∑ (xi − yi ) = − K w (T2 ) − +∑ i w 2 + nvhc w 2 (16)
i∈c zw i∈vhc K w (T2 ) − z w (1 − K io (T2 )) K w (T2 ) − z w

which is chosen over solving either ∑x

i
i = 1 or ∑y
i
i = 1 for this case because there are circumstances where ∑yi
i ≅1

while ∑x
i
i has good variation in temperature, or vice versa. Solving Rachford-Rice gains the best of both circumstances.

zw
To aid in solving this equation, temperatures can be found that bracket the solution. Since V = and since
Kw

V ≤ 1 − znvhc , then K w (T2 ) ≥

zw
and this equation can be solved to give a lower bound on T2 . Also since
(1 − znvhc )
V ≥ z w + znchc , then K w (T2 ) ≤
zw
and again this equation can be solved to give an upper bound on T2 .
z w + znchc

The phase transition enthalpy for disappearance of water can then be calculated as

H t , wat = L ⋅ hoil (P, T2 , xi ) + V ⋅ hgas (P, T2 , yi ) (17)

Step 1c: Appearance of Gas

Let T3 be the temperature at which gas first appears. If there are no non-condensable hydrocarbons in the system,

W = zw (18)
SPE 118893 5

L = 1 − zw (19)

and T3 can be iterated from ∑y i

i = 1 , which can be expressed as

K w (T3 ) + K io (T3 ) ⋅ zi = 1
1
(1 − zw ) i∑
(20)
∈vhc

If there are no volatile hydrocarbon components in the system, the above equation reduces to T3 = Tvap , wat because of the
zi (1 − zw ) = 1 .
Henry’s law used for K w . Oil phase mole fractions sum to 1 since ∑x = ∑ L =
i∈hc
i
i∈hc L

A phase transition enthalpy for appearance of gas can be calculated as

H t , gas = L ⋅ hoil (P, T3 , xi ) + W ⋅ hwat (P, T3 ) (21)

unless there are non-condensable components in the system in which case

H t , gas = −∞ (22)

Step 2: Flash Equations Depending on Phase State

With knowledge of the state of the system, various simplifications can be made to solve the VLE. In the following
subsections, only the 2- and 3-phase systems with a gas phase are discussed.

Gas-Oil System: H t , wat ≤ htot ≤ H t , oil

In this case, water as a liquid is not present and in this enthalpy range, equation (14) holds. To determine temperature and the
vapor phase split, solve an equation similar to equation (16),

0 = ∑ ( xi − yi ) = −
(zw + znchc ) + zi (1 − K io (T )) znvhc
i∈hc V
∑ 1 − V (1 − K (T )) + 1 − V
i∈vhc
(23)
io

and

htot − hoil (T , xi )
V= (24)
hgas (T , yi ) − hoil (T , xi )

Here the subscript nchc refers to the set of non-condensable hydrocarbons. Equations (23) and (24) are functions of T and
V only and are solved simultaneously.
In a thermal, compositional formulation, the oil and gas phase enthalpies are usually computed by a mole fraction weighted
sum of the component enthalpies. These component enthalpies are frequently characterized by a specific heat, possibly a
second order in temperature coefficient and heats of vaporization. Sometimes, users select identical or similar coefficients
for all components. In this case, the oil and gas phase enthalpies can simply be characterized as functions of pressure and
temperature only (the pressure dependence often arising only from the water liquid/vapor enthalpies and/or an infrequently
used Joule-Thompson coefficient). When all of the phase enthalpies can be characterized by (P, T ) only, then equation (24)
can be substituted into equation (23) to obtain a single equation in temperature.

Gas-Water System: H t , oil ≤ htot ≤ H t , wat

For this range of enthalpies, the oil phase is absent and equations (8) – (10) hold. A temperature can be found by solving
6 SPE 118893

0 = htot −
(1 − zw ) h (T , y (T )) − (zw − K w (T )) h (T )
(1 − K w (T )) gas i (1 − K w (T )) wat
(25)

In this gas-water state, the phase splits are only functions of temperature and sample feed.

Oil-Gas-Water System: H t , gas ≤ htot ≤ min(H t , oil , H t , wat )

This is the three phase region. Solve a Rachford-Rice equation similar to (23)

zi (1 − K io (T ))
0 = ∑ ( xi − yi ) = − K w (T ) −
z nchc znvhc
+∑ + (26)
i∈hc V i∈vhc1 − z w − V (1 − K w (T ) − K io (T )) 1 − z w − V (1 − K w (T ))

and again

htot = Vhgas + [1 − V (1 − K w ) − z w ]hoil + ( z w − VK w )hwater (27)

which can be solved simultaneously with (26) for T and V . For the special case where phase enthalpies are functions of
pressure and temperature only, then (27) can be solved for V and substituted into (26) to obtain a single equation in
temperature T . If all of the hydrocarbon feed is non-volatile, the vapor split is evaluated as a steam quality calculation that
is then corrected for the presence of the non-volatile components.

Methods for Handling Trace Amounts of Component

Presence of trace amounts of either hydrocarbon or water can present difficulties in convergence of the above equations. An
imprecise solution of a particular flash state can immediately affect convergence of mass conservation equations being solved
on a reservoir grid or wellbore. In this section, methods are presented to handle the most important of these situations.

Starting Guess for an Oil-Gas-Water System with Traces of Low Volatility Components

Equations (26) and (27) can be the hardest of the flash equations to solve. Problems often arise when traces of non-volatile
or approximately non-volatile components are present. The problem lies in converging the liquid oil phase split, L , whose
magnitude must be ≥ znvhc + zanvhc . Here, znvhc refers to the sum of all hydrocarbon feed that have a zero K-value, z anvhc
is the sum of all hydrocarbon feed that is approximately non-volatile. To help solve these equations in this case, good initial
estimates for T and V can be obtained as follows:

Since

L = 1 − z w − V (1 − K w ) ≥ znvhc + zanvhc (28)

then

V ≥ (1 − z w − znvhc − zanvhc ) / (1 − K w (T )) (29)

Use the equality in (29) for this starting guess. Since the liquid phase split L → 0 , then
zi (1 − K w (T ))
yi → yi (T ) =
zi
= . The starting guess in T and hence V is then obtained by solving an
V (1 − z w − znvhc − zanvhc )
energy balance

htot = V (T ) ⋅ hgas (T , yi (T )) + (1 − V (T )) ⋅ hwater (T ) (30)

This equation has good monotonic properties in the variable T and converges quickly. Determination of zanvhc is made
during solution of equation (30) by testing whether the current K-value of a component is less than a threshold.
SPE 118893 7

Trace of hydrocarbon in a Gas-Water System

When the sum of the hydrocarbon feed falls to less than a threshold in a gas-water state, the vapor split is calculated as a
steam quality,

htot − hwat
V= (31)
hsteam − hwat

As an aid to the molar conservation equations, derivatives of T and V are calculated assuming the hydrocarbon components
are present, i.e. are evaluated as one-sided derivatives.

Isothermal Flash
An isothermal flash can be derived from the above isenthalpic flash. For a given pressure P , temperature T and feed zi ,
calculate the transition temperatures T1 , T2 , T3 as above and compare T against these to determine the state. If the state is
gas-oil, solve equation (23) for V . If the state is gas-water then there is nothing to solve since phase splits are known from
equations (8) to (10) and compositions are given. Finally, if the state is oil-gas-water, solve equation (26) for V .

Examples and Discussion

Several examples are presented to highlight various issues concerning convergence robustness of the above residual
equations.

The first example is one with two hydrocarbon components which are typical of a standard heavy oil fluid comprising a light,
soluble methane-like component and a heavier but slightly volatile component. Figure 2 plots the component K-values
including the water K-value modelled with the Henry’s law mentioned above. Table 1 presents the coefficients used for the
Crookston7 correlation which models the hydrocarbon component K-values.

The input pressures and feed were chosen to demonstrate a state that is in transition and difficult to converge. Molar feed is
mostly water with traces of hydrocarbon as seen in Table 1. Transition enthalpies shown in this Table are calculated as
discussed above. Comparison of the input total fluid enthalpy for Example 1a with the transition enthalpies in Table 1 show
that the state is oil-water-gas (OWG).

Figure 3 shows the envelope residuals for this case. The T3 residual is equation (20), the T1 calculation for Tw residual is
equation (2) and is labelled T1Tw in the Figure. The T1 calculation for To residual is equation (3) and is labelled T1To and
the residual for the T2 calculation given that oil left the system first is equation (11) and is labelled T2OF. The T3 residual
presented no convergence difficulties in this example but in general (and especially when using the Crookston correlations) it
may be S-shaped which requires a combined bisection/Newton method with damping on the temperature update. Robustness
of the T1 Tw calculation is no problem being essentially convergence of the Psat , w (T ) curve and requires only standard
newton updates. T1 To and T2 with oil leaving first require bisection/Newton with a counter on hitting min/max because
light components can sometimes drive this temperature high.

Figures 4 and 5 plot the VLE residuals for this OWG state, equations (26) and (27), about the solution T = 513.5 R and V =
3.1e-8. Figure (4) shows the cause of difficulty in convergence because of sensitivity of the VLE residual to V . A
1 − Zw
maximum vapor split can be shown to be V ≤ and the high water feed Z w together with the fact that this state has a
1 − Kw
liquid phase are the reasons for the very low solution value of V . In this case, the starting guess equation (30) (traces of low
volatility hydrocarbons are present) is vital to obtain quick convergence. This equation (30) frequently provides an excellent
prediction for the OWG VLE calculation.

Example 1b is a case where a state exists over a wide range of enthalpy but an extremely narrow range of temperature
(“narrow boiling”). This case is a modification of Example 1a with a higher input total enthalpy chosen so that the state is
gas-water (GW). As seen in Table 1, the range of temperature for this gas-water state, T2 ≤ T ≤ T1 , is a little over 2º R but
8 SPE 118893

the enthalpy range is 15,636 Btu/lb-mole. The min/max temperatures for this state, T2 and T1 , are vital to achieve
convergence. With this temperature bracketing, convergence techniques are to use damped Newton only. Figure 6 shows the
VLE residual, equation (25), for this GW state. As seen in this Figure, a pole of this residual occurs at T2 .

Example 2 presents a different set of components. The first hydrocarbon component is light although with a different
character than the light component of Example 1. A second hydrocarbon component is intermediate with low volatility, the
third component is completely non-volatile. Table 2 shows the input conditions, Crookston K-value coefficients, transition
temperatures and enthalpies. Figure 7 plots the K-values as a function of temperature. This case was chosen to demonstrate
presence of a non-volatile component, use of the T2 calculation where water has left the system first and an oil-gas VLE
calculation.

Figure 8 shows the envelope residuals as functions of temperature. The T2 residual where water disappeared first, equation
(16) and labelled as T2WF in this Figure, demonstrates the reason for the temperature bracket for this calculation as
discussed above. In this case, the temperature brackets are Tmin = 736 R, Tmax = 815 R and the zero for this residual, 812.95
R, can be seen. As also seen in this Figure, for temperatures < Tmin . the necessary condition V ≤ 1 − znvhc is violated with
the result that the calculated compositions become –ve so that this residual is –ve as well, i.e. Tmin is a pole of this residual.

Figures 9 and 10 plot the VLE residuals for this state, equations (23) and (24). The solution is T = 962 R and V = 0.31 as
can be seen in the Figures. Other than a minimum temperature for this state, T2 which provides a starting guess, only
standard damped Newton updates are required.

Conclusions
Formulations and computational techniques have been described for constructing a phase envelope and subsequent
isenthalpic/isothermal flash. They have been tested thoroughly over several years in a new reservoir simulator. In particular,
they have demonstrated robustness in (i) handling of narrow boiling situations, (ii) ability to account for non-volatile and
non-condensable components, (iii) overall quick convergence of envelope and VLE calculations. Examples were presented
that illustrate many aspects of the methods.

Acknowledgements
These algorithms were derived during work on the Intersect HOT Project, a consortium including Schlumberger, Chevron
Energy Technology Company and TOTAL E&P.

References
1. Aziz, K., Ramesh, A. B., Woo, P. T., “Fourth SPE Comparative Solution Project: Comparison of Steam Injection
Simulators”, JPT, Dec 1987, 1576-1584.
2. Brantferger, K.M., Pope, G.A., Sepehrnoori, K., “Development of a Thermodynamically Consistent, Fully Implicit,
Equation-of-State, Compositional Steamflood Simulator”, SPE 21253 presented at the 11th Symposium on Reservoir
Simulation, Anaheim, California, February 17-20, 1991.
3. Agarwal, R.K., Li, Y.-K., Nghiem, L. X., Coombe, D.A., “Multi-Phase Multi-Component Isenthalpic Flash Calculations”,
Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, Vol 30, No 3, May-June 1991, 69-75.
4. DeBaun, D., Byer, T., Childs, P., Chen, J., Saaf, F., Wells, M., Liu, J., Cao, H., Pianelo, L., Tilakraj, V., Crumpton, P.,
Walsh, D., Yardumian, H., Zorzynski, R., Lim, K.-T., Schrader, M., Zapata, V., Nolen, J., Tchelepi, H., “An Extensible
Architecture for Next Generation Scalable Parallel Reservoir Simulation”, SPE 93274 presented at the 2005 SPE Reservoir
Simulation Symposium, Houston, Texas, Jan 2005.
5. ECLIPSE Technical Reference Manual, Copyright 1982-2005, Schlumberger.
6. Naccache, P. F., “A Fully-Implicit Thermal Reservoir Simulator”, SPE 37985 presented at the 14th SPE Symposium on
Reservoir Simulation, Dallas, Texas, USA, 8-11 June 1997.
7. Crookston, R. B., Culham, W. E., Chen, W. M., “A Numerical Simulation Model for Thermal Recovery Processes”, SPE
6724 presented at the SPE-AIME 52nd Annual Fall Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, Oct 9-12, 1977.

Nomenclature
anvhc = approximately non-volatile hydrocarbon
hgas = gas phase enthalpy, hgas (P, T , yi )
hoil = oil phase enthalpy, hoil (P, T , xi )
SPE 118893 9

hsteam = steam enthalpy, hsteam (P, T ) , determined from steam tables

H t , gas = transition enthalpy at which a gas phase first appears
H t , oil = transition enthalpy at which the oil or liquid phase leaves the system
H t , wat = transition enthalpy at which the water phase leaves the system
htot = total fluid enthalpy, e.g. Btu/total moles
hwat = water phase enthalpy, hwat (P, T ) , determined from steam tables
Ki = component i K-value, i ∈ all components
K io = component i K-value, i ∈ hydrocarbons
Kw = water component K-value
L = liquid or oil phase split, moles oil phase/total moles
nchc = all non-condensable hydrocarbon components
nvhc = all non-volatile hydrocarbon components
P = system pressure
Psat , w = saturation pressure of water
T = system temperature
V = vapor phase split, moles gas phase/total moles
vhc = volatile hydrocarbon
W = water phase split, moles water phase/total moles
xi = oil (liquid) phase composition, moles component i /moles of oil phase
yi = gas phase composition, moles component i /moles of gas phase
zi = sample feed, moles component i /total moles
zanvhc = sum of all feed that has a K-value less than a threshold at the current temperature
znchc = sum of feed that is non-condensable
znvhc = sum of feed that has a zero K-value, i.e. non-volatile
zw = water feed, moles water/total moles
10 SPE 118893

Tables

Example 1 Data
Input:
P = 145 psia
Z[0] = 0.0000004 (light)
Z[1] = 0.0000092 (heavy)
Z[W] = 0.9999904 (water)
H = 402 Btu/lb-mole – Example 1a
H = 8000 Btu/lb-mole – Example 1b

K-Values – modelled with Crookston correlation

−D
⎛ ⎞
K ( P, T ) = ⎜ A + + C ⋅ P ⎟ ⋅ e T − E
B
⎝ P ⎠
Component A B C D E
Light 0 1368 0 481 0
Heavy 0 10 0 1616 13

Phase Transition Temperatures

T3 = 492 R = appearance of gas
T2 = 813.5 R = oil disappearance
T1 = 815.35 R = water disappearance

Transition Enthalpies
H t , gas = 15 Btu/lb-mole
H t , oil = 5873 Btu/lb-mole
H t , water = 21509 Btu/lb-mole

Table 1: Example 1 Data

SPE 118893 11

Example 2 Data
Input:
P = 145 psia
Z[0] = 0.01 (light)
Z[1] = 0.1 (intermediate volatile)
Z[2] = 0.6 (non-volatile)
Z[W] = 0.29 (water)
H = 8000 Btu/lb-mole

K-Values – modelled with Crookston correlation

−D
⎛ ⎞
K ( P, T ) = ⎜ A + + C ⋅ P ⎟ ⋅ e T − E
B
⎝ P ⎠
Component A B C D E
light 1.23e6 833.4e6 0.001 10000 30
intermediate 212 155.4e3 0 4000 480
heavy 0 0 0 0 0

Phase Transition Temperatures

T3 = 797 R = appearance of gas
T2 = 813 R = water disappearance
T1 = ∞ = non-volatile oil phase never disappears

Transition Enthalpies
H t , gas = 1697 Btu/lb-mole
H t , oil = ∞
H t , water = 6432 Btu/lb-mole

Table 2: Example 2 Data

12 SPE 118893

Figures

gas
T1 Final liquid disappears

heat 1 liquid phase and gas

T2 First liquid disappears

heat Liquid water and oil

and gas
T3 Gas appears

heat Liquid water and oil

Figure 1: Phase transition temperatures in an Oil/Gas/Water system

Example 1: Component K-Values

1.6

1.4

1.2
Component K-values

1
Light Component K-Value/100
0.8 Heavy Component K-value
Water K-value
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Temperature (R)

Figure 2: Example 1 Component K-Values

SPE 118893 13

Example 1: Envelope Residuals vs Temperature

1.5

0.5
Envelope Residuals

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 T3 Residual
-0.5 T1Tw Residual
ll
-1 T1To Residual
T2OF Residual/5000
-1.5

-2

-2.5

-3
Temperature (R)

Figure 3: Example 1 Envelope Residuals vs Temperature

14 SPE 118893

Example 1a: VLE Residuals vs Vapor Split: OWG Flash

45

40
Rachford-Rice and Heat Balance

35

30

25
Residuals

Rachford-Rice Residual
20
Heat Balance Residual
15

10

0
0 2E-06 4E-06 6E-06 8E-06 0.00001
-5
Vapor Split

Figure 4: Example 1a Oil-Water-Gas VLE Residuals vs Vapor Split. Solution is V = 3.1e-8 as seen at the left.
SPE 118893 15

Example 1a: VLE Residuals vs Temperature: OWG Flash

1
Rachford-Rice and Heat Balance

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
-1
Residuals

-2
Rachford-Rice Residual
Heat Balance Residual/1000
-3

-4

-5

-6
Temperature (R)

Figure 5: Example 1a Oil-Water-Gas VLE Residuals vs Temperature. Solution is T = 513.5 R .

Example 1b: VLE Residual vs Temperature: GW Flash

60

40
Gas-Water VLE Residual

20

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 Gas-Water VLE Residual
-20

-40

-60

-80
(T-Tref)*100 (R), Tref = 815.33

Figure 6: Example 1b Gas-Water VLE Residual vs Temperature. Solution is T = 815.341 (0.87 on above axis), pole at
T2 =815.346 (1.35 on above axis).
16 SPE 118893

Example 2: Component K-Values

1.60E+00

1.40E+00

1.20E+00
Component K-Values

Light Component K-Value/100

1.00E+00
Intermediate Component K-
Value
8.00E-01
Heavy Component K-value (non-
volatile)
6.00E-01
Water K-Value

4.00E-01

2.00E-01

0.00E+00
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Temperature (R)

Figure 7: Example 2 K-Values vs Temperature

SPE 118893 17

Example 2: Envelope Residuals vs Temperature

3
Envelope Residuals

1
T3 Residual
0 T1Tw Residual
0 200 400 600 800 1000 T2WF Residual
-1

-2

-3

-4

-5
Temperature (R)

Figure 8: Example 2 Envelope Residuals vs Temperature. A pole of the T2WF residual occurs at 736 R.
18 SPE 118893

Example 2: VLE Residuals vs Temperature: OG Flash

1.5
OG VLE Residuals

Rachford-Rice Residual
0.5
Heat Balance Residual/1000

0
0 500 1000 1500
-0.5

-1
Temperature (R)

Figure 9: Example 2 VLE Residuals vs Temperature: Oil-Gas Flash, Solution is T = 962 R.

SPE 118893 19

Example 2: VLE Residuals vs Vapor Split: OG Flash

35

30

25

20
Oil-Gas VLE Residuals

15

10 Rachford-Rice Residual
5 Heat Balance Residual/1000

0
0 0.5 1 1.5
-5

-10

-15

-20
Vapor Split

Figure 10: Example 2 VLE Residuals vs Vapor Split: OG Flash. Solution is V = 0.31.