On Boiling of Crude Oil under Elevated Pressure

TL;DR

This paper develops a thermodynamic model to predict the boiling behavior of multicomponent hydrocarbon mixtures like crude oil under elevated pressure, accounting for composition changes and temperature increase during distillation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel thermodynamic model based on dilute gas solution theory for boiling of hydrocarbons under high pressure, applicable to extreme conditions like lava-heated oil fields.

Findings

Model accurately predicts boiling temperatures at elevated pressures.

Applicable to extreme pressure scenarios where empirical models fail.

Provides insights into composition changes during distillation.

Abstract

We construct a thermodynamic model for theoretical calculation of the boiling process of multicomponent mixtures of hydrocarbons (e.g., crude oil). The model governs kinetics of the mixture composition in the course of the distillation process along with the boiling temperature increase. The model heavily relies on the theory of dilute solutions of gases in liquids. Importantly, our results are applicable for modelling the process under elevated pressure (while the empiric models for oil cracking are not scalable to the case of extreme pressure), such as in an oil field heated by lava intrusions.