Solubilities of long-chain hydrocarbons in carbon dioxide

Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1996 · International Journal of Thermophysics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01448206· OSTI ID:376905

Smith, V S; Campbell, P O; Vandana, V; Teja, A S ^[1]

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1. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Heavy hydrocarbons are becoming an increasingly important problem for the natural gas industry as it develops more costly gas reserves, such as those in the deep Gulf of Mexico. The waxy substances precipitate during natural gas processing, causing blockage of transmission pipelines. Knowledge of the solubility behavior of these hydrocarbon solids is therefore necessary to develop solutions to the solid deposition problem. This work reports solid-supercritical fluid equilibrium data for long-chain n-alkanes in carbon dioxide, a component of natural gas, over a range of temperatures and pressures that are typical of natural gas processing. A flow apparatus was used to measure the solubility, and the data were correlated by the Patel-Teja equation of state. Satisfactory agreement was obtained between calculated and experimental values, so the equation of state may be used to estimate the conditions for solid deposition and the amounts of solids formed at typical processing conditions.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 376905
• Report Number(s): CONF-940633--
• Journal Information: International Journal of Thermophysics, Journal Name: International Journal of Thermophysics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 17; ISSN 0195-928X; ISSN IJTHDY
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
ALKANES
CARBON DIOXIDE
NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS
SOLUBILITY
WAXES