Page 37 - Characterization and Properties of Petroleum Fractions - M.R. Riazi

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1. INTRODUCTION 17
processing, and transportation. It can also be used as a
an example, the amount of sulfur or aromatic contents of a
textbook for educational purposes. Some of the applica- organizations that set the standards for such materials. As
tions of the materials covered in the book were discussed in fuel can be estimated through minimum laboratory data to
Sections 1.2 and 1.3. The applications and uses of the book check if they meet the market demand or government regu-
may be summarized as follows. lations for environmental protection. This book can be used
to determine properties of crude oil, its products, and natural
1.6.1 Applications in Petroleum Processing gases that are needed for transportation and storage. Exam-
(Downstream) ples of such properties are density, boiling point, flash and
pour points, sulfur content, vapor pressure, and viscosity.
Engineers, scientists, and operators working in various sec- The book can also be used to determine the properties of
tors of petroleum processing and refining or related industries oils for clean-up operations where there is an oil spill on sea-
can use the entire material discussed in the book. It helps water. To simulate the fate of an oil spill and the rate of its
laboratory people in refineries to measure useful properties disappearance at least the following properties are needed in
and to test the reliability of their measurements. The book order to use appropriate simulators [44, 83–85]:
should be useful for engineers and researchers to analyze ex- • Characterization of petroleum fractions (Chapter 3)
perimental data and develop their own predictive methods. • Pour point (Chapter 3)
It is also intended to help people who are involved with de- • Characterization of crude oil (Chapter 4)
velopment of computer softwares and process simulators for • Solubility parameter (Chapters 4, 6, and 9)
design and operation of units and equipments in petroleum • Density (Chapters 5 and 7)
refineries. Another objective was to help users of such simu- • Vapor pressure (Chapter 7)
lators to be able to select an appropriate predictive method • Viscosity, diffusion coefficient, and surface tension
for a particular application based on available data on the (Chapter 8)
fraction.
Accurate prediction of the fate of a crude oil spill depends on --`,```,`,``````,`,````,```,,-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
the characterization technique used to estimate the physical
1.6.2 Applications in Petroleum Production
(Upstream) properties. For example, to estimate how much of the ini-
tial oil would be vaporized after a certain time, accurate val-
Reservoir, chemical, and mechanical engineers may use the ues of the diffusion coefficient, vapor pressure, and molecular
book in reservoir simulators, design and operation of surface weight are needed in addition to an appropriate characteriza-
separators in production fields, and feasibility studies for en- tion method to split the crude into several pseudocomponents
hanced oil recovery projects, such as gas injection projects. [83].
Another application of the book by reservoir engineers is to
simulate laboratory data on PVT experiments for the reser-
voir fluids, determination of the nature and type of reservoir 1.7 DEFINITION OF UNITS AND
fluids, and calculation of the initial amounts of oil and gas in THE CONVERSION FACTORS
the reservoir. Reservoir engineers may also use Chapter 9 to
determine the conditions that a solid may form, amount of An estimated physical property is valuable only if it is ex-
solid formation, and method of its prevention during produc- pressed in an appropriate unit. The most advanced process
tion. Practically all chapters of the book should be useful for simulators and the most sophisticated design approaches
reservoir engineers. fail to perform properly if appropriate units are not used.
This is particularly important for the case of estimation
of physical properties through various correlations or re-
1.6.3 Applications in Academia
porting the experimental data. Much of the confusion with
Although the original goal and aim in writing this book was reported experimental data arises from ambiguity in their
to prepare a reference manual for the industry, laboratories, units. If a density is reported without indicating the tem-
and research institutions in the area of petroleum, it has been perature at which the density has been measured, this value
written in a way such that it can also be used as a textbook has no use. In this part basic units for properties used in
for educational purposes. It can be used as a text for an elec- the book are defined and conversion factors between the
tive course for either undergraduate (senior level) or graduate most commonly used units are given for each property.
level. Students from chemical, petroleum, and mechanical en- Finally some units specifically used in the petroleum indus-
gineering fields as well as from chemistry and physics can take try are introduced. Interested readers may also find other
the course and understand the contents of the book. However, information on units from online sources (for example,
it should not be hard for students from other fields of engi- http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/contents/index.html).
neering and science to use this book. The book may also be
used to conduct short courses in the petroleum industry.
1.7.1 Importance and Types of Units
1.6.4 Other Applications The petroleum industry and its research began and grew
mainly in the United States during the last century. The rela-
There are several other areas in which the book can be used. tions developed in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were mainly
One may use this book to determine the quality of crude oils, graphical. The best example of such methods is the Winn
petroleum fuels, and products for marketing and government nomogram developed in the late 1950s [86]. However, with the

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