Computational Approach for Studying Physicochemical Properties of Heavy Petroleum Fractions

摘要

Processing and upgrading of heavy crude oils, containing a great number of componentsrnof different groups (paraffins, olefins, naphthenes, aromates), require an in-depthrnevaluation. In order to characterize them, thermodynamic and thermophysical propertiesrnof the whole petroleum fractions have been determined.rnThis work presents a computational approach which can be used for evaluating andrnestimating properties from petroleum fractions. It was used the breakdown of thernpetroleum fraction into an arbitrary number of pseudo-components. The procedurernrequires as input bulk properties: the Boiling Point distillation curve and whole-fractionrndensity. Methods proposed by available correlations in the literature and industryrnstandard methods, are mainly used for estimating properties including the basicrnproperties (normal boiling point, density and Watson factor characterization), thernthermodynamic properties (molar mass, density and critical properties) andrnthermophysical properties (viscosity, thermal conductivity, heat capacity and enthalpyrnof evaporation). Most of the correlations are based on molecular theory orrnthermodynamics, together with empirical or semi-empirical corrections.rnThe developed methodology is a useful tool for calculating the properties of petroleumrnfractions with good accuracy when bulk properties are available. The propertiesrnprediction show a very good performance and agreement with the experimental resultsrncarried out at the research laboratories LDPS/LOPCA/ UNICAMP.