Influence of Temperature, Pressure and Molecular Weight of Hydrocarbon Components on the Multi-Phase Equilibria of Hydrocarbon/Water systems

Abstract We have performed three-phase separation experiments for different multi-component hydrocarbon/water systems for hydrocarbon component varying from C1 to C20. Experiments were done on two different experimental setups. PVT-VLLE apparatus can provide on-line compositional analysis and phase volumes of all phases for temperatures up to 350 °F and Isochoric Steam Distillation Cell (ISDC) can provide only vapor phase compositions, but it can be used up to 500 °F. The experimental results from these cells were compared with results from an equation of state simulator (VLLESIM) and are found to be in excellent agreement. VLLESIM is then used to study the effect of temperature, pressure and molecular weight of hydrocarbon components on multiphase equilibria of different hydrocarbon/water systems.