In The Name of God

Reservoir Fluid Properties

Phase Behavior

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 1

Phase Behavior
Phase: any homogeneous and physically distinct part of a system
which is separated from other parts of the system by definite
bounding surfaces.

For example: ice, liquid water, and water vapor are three phases.
Each is physically distinct and homogeneous, and there are definite
boundaries between ice and water, between ice and water vapor,
and between liquid water and water vapor.
Thus, we say that we have a three-phase system: solid, liquid, and
gas.

The words vapor and gas can use interchangeably.

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 2

Physical Properties
Physical properties are termed either intensive or extensive.

Intensive properties: are independent of the quantity of material

present, like density and compressibility factor.

Extensive properties: their values are determined by the total

quantity of matter present such as volume and mass.

Temperature: is simply a physical measure of the average kinetic

energy of the molecules of the material.

Pressure: is a reflection of the number of times the molecules of a

gas strike the walls of its container.
If the molecules are forced closer together, the pressure increases.

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 3

 Phase Behavior
Phase behavior: the conditions of temperature and pressure for
which different phases can exist.

Phase Diagram for a Pure Substance:

Phase diagram is a graph of pressure plotted against temperature showing
the conditions under which the various phases of a substance will be present.
Phase diagrams are often called pressure-temperature diagrams.

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 4

 Phase diagram of Pure Substance
 The upper limit of the vapor-pressure line is the critical point,
indicated by point C.
 The temperature and pressure represented by this point are called the
critical temperature, Tc and the critical pressure, Pc
 For a pure substance:
Critical Temperature: may be defined as the temperature above which the
gas cannot be liquefied, regardless of the pressure applied.
Critical Pressure of a pure substance is defined as the pressure above
which liquid and gas cannot coexist, regardless of the temperature.

Point T on the vapor-pressure

line is called the triple point.
This point represents the pressure
and temperature at which solid,
liquid, and gas coexist under
equilibrium conditions.

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 5

 Phase diagram of Pure Substance
consider a cylinder in which temperature can be controlled(isoterm) and
volume varied by injection or removal of mercury.

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 6

 Phase diagram of Pure Substance
Figure A: shows that a pure substance has been trapped in the cylinder at
pressure P1 and at some temperature below the critical temperature of the
substance.
Figures B, C: The process will follow the path of line 123. As mercury
is removed, the pressure decreases rapidly until it reaches a value of Pv
,the vapor pressure of the substance. At this point gas begins to form as
molecules leave the liquid. Pressure, which has forced the molecules
together, has been reduced so that those molecules with the highest
kinetic energy can escape the liquid and form gas.
As mercury removal continues, the volume of gas increases and the
volume of liquid decreases; however, pressure remains constant at a
value of Pv See point 2.
Figure D: Once the liquid disappears, further mercury removal causes a
decrease in pressure as the gas expands. Eventually, the pressure
reaches point P3

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 7

Phase diagram of Pure Substance

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 8

Cox Chart for Pure Substance(P-T Curve)
Vapor pressures of normal paraffins

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 9

Phase Diagrams of Two-Component Mixtures
Instead of a single line representing the vapor-pressure curve of pure
component, there is a broad region in which two phases coexist. This region
is called the saturation envelope, phase envelope, or two-phase region.

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 10

 Bubble Point – Dew Point
Pure substance
Bubble point: The point at which the first few molecules leave the liquid
and form a small bubble of gas.
Dew point: The point at which only a small drop of liquid remains.
For a pure substance, the pressure at the bubble point and dew point is
equal to the vapor pressure of the substance at the temperature of interest.

Two component mixture

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 11

Critical Properties of Two-Component Mixtures
 The definition of the critical point as applied to a pure
substance does not apply to a two-component mixture.

 Critical point is simply the point at which the bubble-point line

and the dew-point line join.

 More rigorous definition of the critical point: is that it is the

point at which all properties of the liquid and the gas become
identical.

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 12

 Phase diagram of Two-Component Mixtures

 The highest temperature

on the saturation
envelope is called the
cricondentherm.

 The highest pressure on

the saturation envelope is
called the cricondenbar.

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 13

Phase diagram of Multi-Component Mixtures

Reservoir Fluid Properties © Ali Rafieefar 14