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Correction Factor

This document presents simple equations to approximate how the density and heat capacity of crude oil change with temperature. Equation 1 models how crude oil specific gravity changes with temperature based on data from Figure 1A, with results validated against additional data sources. Equation 3 similarly models how heat capacity varies with temperature and API gravity based on Figure 2A data. While not a perfect match, the equations provide sufficiently accurate approximations for most engineering calculations.

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John Paul Pasicaran
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115 views8 pages

Correction Factor

This document presents simple equations to approximate how the density and heat capacity of crude oil change with temperature. Equation 1 models how crude oil specific gravity changes with temperature based on data from Figure 1A, with results validated against additional data sources. Equation 3 similarly models how heat capacity varies with temperature and API gravity based on Figure 2A data. While not a perfect match, the equations provide sufficiently accurate approximations for most engineering calculations.

Uploaded by

John Paul Pasicaran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Simple Equations to Approximate Changes to the Properties of Crude Oil with

Changing Temperature

Crude Oil Density

Figure 1A (1) depicts the change in specific gravity with temperature for crude oils of
varying API gravity.

Figure 1A Crude Oil Specific Gravity vs Temperature (1)


This graph was compared with density-temperature data from Table D-1, API Publication 421, “Monographs on Refinery Environmental Control – Management of
Water Discharges” (2). The colored lines in Figure 1B show the API data superimposed on the original graph. The two show good agreement.

Figure 1B Data from API Publication 421 superimposed on Figure 1A (data from (2))
Curve fitting data from Figure 1A resulted in Equation 1 for FPS units. Equation 2 provides the SI
equivalent.

Figure 1C displays the output from Equation 1 superimposed as colored lines on the
original graph (Figure 1A). Although the simple equation does not align perfectly, results
are sufficiently accurate for most engineering calculations. Compared to the data from
API Publication 421, Equation 1 produces a maximum errors of +0.25% and -0.3%
Figure 1C Simple Equation 1 superimposed on Figure 1A
Heat Capacity

A similar approach was used to develop a simple equation for the variation of the Heat Capacity or Specific Heat of crude oil as a function of API gravity and
Temperature. Data, extracted from Figure 2A (1), was regressed to obtain the algorithm presented as Equation 3 for FPS units: Equation 4 for SI units. Note that
the algorithm was developed for a crude oil with a UOP index of 11.8 (indicating intermediate, paraffinic-naphthenic crude). If the UOP index is known, the
correction factor illustrated on the graph could be applied to the output from Equation 3 or 4.

Figure 2A Heat capacity of crude oil vs Temperature (1)


The resulting equation is presented as Equation 3 for FPS units, and Equation 4 for SI units

Figure 2B Simple Equation 3 superimposed on Figure 2A


Summary

The simple equations provide approximations for the variation of density and specific heat of crude oils of
varying API gravity. Neither algorithm provides a perfect match with the underlying data. However; data
from varying sources do not always correlate. Figure 3A (1) depicts an alternate source of density correction
for crude oils for varying API gravity and temperature. Figure 3B shows data from API Publication 421
(colored lines) superimposed on a portion of Figure 3A. Unfortunately, overlap of the data is limited, but
clearly there is a very poor correlation – even the trend as API gravity increases is reversed between the API
data and the data presented in Figure 3A. Note that the trend represented in Figure 1A is supported by data
from API 421 Appendix D. These data (from the API Publication 421) are taken here as being most reliable.
Overall, Figure 1A shows quite good agreement with the API data, so the algorithm (Equations 1 and 2) was
developed using data from Figure 1A as the source.

Figure 3A Crude Oil Density Correction Factor (Hankinson et al, 1979) (1)
Figure 3B Portion of Figure 3 A with data from API 421 superimposed

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