Design and Simulation Using Pseudo Components

o Composition of streams is given by the content of real components with known

molecular structure and other properties, the so-called conventional components.
o However, in industry, often the exact composition of streams is not known
especially in case of petroleum refining industry.
o Crude oil and other petroleum fractions are mixtures of thousands of components
varying from light hydrocarbons, such as methane, ethane, and so on to very high
molecular weight components.
o Moreover, the composition of crude oil also depends on the location of exploitation.

So, to handle it,

o In petroleum refining, the boiling point range is used instead of the mass or mole
fractions.
o Properties of a petroleum stream are not specified in terms of composition. Instead,
properties such as 5% point, 95% point, final boiling point, flashpoint, and octane
number are used.

Pseudo Components:
A set of pseudo components is generated by dividing the distillation curve of a crude oil or
petroleum fraction into subintervals.

Petroleum Assays and Blends:

Assay:
Complex characterization of crude oil or petroleum fractions by bulk and fractional
properties is known as assay.
Specific gravity, distillation curve, content of light components, flash point, freeze point,
sulfur, paraffin, naphthenes and aromatics content, smoke point, aniline point, octane
number, and cetane index are the most often used assay characteristics.

Distillation Curves:
There are different methods for the determination of distillation curves, whereas
True boiling point (TBP), ASTM D86, ASTM D1160, ASTM D86-D1160, and ASTM-D2887
are the usual types of the distillation curves.
A distillation curve can be used to define pseudocomponents. Each pseudocomponent
represents a cut of the distillation curve, whereas its boiling point is determined as the
average TBP of the fraction distilled (see Figure 13.1).

Modeling With Aspen Plus Or HYSYS:

Both Aspen Plus (2) and Aspen HYSYS (3) enable the generation of pseudo components.
Which requires at least the distillation curve and the bulk specific gravity; however, more
information entered means more exact determination of the properties of pseudo
components.
When the set of pseudo components is generated, the simulator calculates different
properties of pseudo components required for process simulation.
The most important properties of pseudo components are molecular weight, vapor, and
liquid heat capacity, vapor pressure, latent heat of vaporization, critical properties, liquid
density, ideal heat capacity, and so on.