Dr. Mohammed H. S.

Zangana

Department of Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of

Engineering, Koya University

REAL GASES

Several assumptions were made in formulating the equation of state for

ideal gases. Since these assumptions are not correct for gases at
pressures and temperatures that deviate from ideal or standard
conditions, corrections must be made to account for the deviation from
ideal behavior.
The most widely used correction method in the petroleum industry is the
gas compressibility factor, more commonly called the Z factor.

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 REAL GASES

The Gas Compressibility Factor (The Z Factor):

It is defined as the ratio of the actual volume occupied by a mass of gas

at some pressure and temperature to the volume the gas would occupy
if it behaved ideally.

REAL GASES

The equation of state is:

Therefore, the equation of state for any gas becomes:

where, for an ideal gas, Z=1

The compressibility factor varies with changes in gas composition,

temperature, and pressure. It must be determined experimentally.

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 REAL GASES

The results of experimental determinations of compressibility

factors are normally given graphically and usually take the form
shown below:

Typical plot of the compressibility factor as a function of pressure at

constant temperature.

REAL GASES

Compressibility factors for methane

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 REAL GASES

Compressibility factors for ethane

REAL GASES

Compressibility factors for propane

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 REAL GAS MIXTURES

Compressibility factor charts are available for most of the single

component light hydrocarbon gases, but in practice a single component
gas is rarely encountered.
In order to get Z factors for natural gas mixtures, the law of
corresponding states is used. This law states that all pure gases have
the same compressibility factor at the same values of reduced pressure
and reduced temperature.

Where; Tc , and Pc , are the critical temperature and pressure

for the gas, respectively

REAL GAS MIXTURES

Critical P and T

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 REAL GAS MIXTURES

Compressibility factors for pure hydrocarbon gases as a

function of reduced pressure and temperature

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REAL GAS MIXTURES

The law of corresponding states has been extended to cover mixtures of

gases that are closely related chemically. Since it is somewhat difficult to
obtain the critical point for multi-component mixtures, the quantities of
pseudo-critical temperature and pseudo-critical pressure have been
conceived.

These pseudo-critical quantities are used for mixtures of gases in exactly the
same manner as the actual critical temperatures and critical pressures are
used for pure gases.

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 REAL GAS MIXTURES

Compressibility factors for natural gases

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REAL GAS MIXTURES

Generalized plot of compressibility factors at low reduced

pressures
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 REAL GAS MIXTURES

Compressibility factors for gases near atmospheric

pressure
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REAL GAS MIXTURES

If only the gas gravity will be known and/ or the composition is unknown, the
pseudo-critical properties of the gas can be estimated from the following figure:

Pseudo-critical properties of natural gases

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 REAL GAS MIXTURES
Or using the following equations:

For condensate fluids:

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Thank You

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