Performance of five equations of state for the prediction of vle and densities of natural gas mixtures in the dense phase region

Abstract

This paper examines the degree of uncertainty of five Equations of State (EOS) for the prediction of densities in the dense phase region which is beyond the ranges of pressure and temperature originally specified for these equations. Predicted densities were compared with measured values for different hydrocarbon mixtures including a rich mixture. The results show that the GERG equation of state, originally specified for the range of P -8 C, outperforms all other equations in the region up to P=30 MPa and T > -8 C. In this range, its mean deviation from measured values of densities was found to be less than -0.015% and standard deviation ( ) also less than 0.015%. The AGA-8 equation, which identified several regions of pressures and temperatures with different uncertainties, also performed quite well with a mean deviation of -0.2% and less than 0.4% in the region up to P=30 MPa. The other equations showed relatively high deviation: ∼2.7% for BWRS,-5.1% for PR and 2.5% for RKS. Unlike GERG and AGA-8, however, these three equations can also be used to predict the vapour-liquid-equilibrium (VLE). VLE predictions were compared with measured values for eight binary mixtures of methane (C1) and ethane (C2). It is recommended to use PR for VLE prediction, as quite good agreement between measured data and prediction by PR was demonstrated.