PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 19(5&6), 711731 (2001)

THE ACCURACY OF PREDICTING

COMPRESSIBILITY FACTOR FOR SOUR
NATURAL GASES
Adel M. Elsharkawy* and Ali Elkamel
College of Engineering and Petroleum Kuwait
University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait

ABSTRACT
This paper presents the initial stage of an eort aimed at
developing a new correlation to estimate pseudo critical
properties for sour gas when the exact composition is not
known. Several mixing rules and gas gravity correlations
available in the literature are rst evaluated and compared.
The evaluation is performed on a large database consisting of
more than 2106 samples of sour gas compositions collected
worldwide. Several evaluation criteria are used including the
average absolute deviation (AAD), the standard deviation
(SD), the coecient of correlation, R, and cross plots and
error histograms. The mixing rules include: Kays mixing rule
combined with WichertAziz correlation for the presence of
non-hydrocarbons, SSBV mixing rule with Wichert and Aziz,
Corredor et al. mixing rule, and Piper et al. mixing rule. These
methods, in one form or another, use information on gas

*Corresponding author. Fax: (965) 484-9558; E-mail: asharkawy@kuc01.kuniv.

edu.kw
711
Copyright 2001 by Marcel Dekker, Inc.

www.dekker.com

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composition. Three dierent other methods that are based on

gas gravity alone were also analyzed. These are: Standing,
Sutton, and Elsharkawy et al. gas gravity correlations. While
the methods based on knowledge of composition showed
reasonable accuracy, those based on gas gravity alone showed
weak accuracy with low correlation coecients. A new gas
gravity correlation that is based on the fraction of nonhydrocarbons present in the sour gas was proposed. Preliminary results indicate that a good improvement over past
gravity correlations was achieved. The compositional correlations, still show, however, better accuracy. Research is still
going on to come up with more accurate correlations that are
based on only readily available descriptors.

INTRODUCTION
Gas compressibility factor is involved in calculating gas properties
such as formation volume factor, density, compressibility, and viscosity. All
these properties are necessary in the oil and gas industry for evaluating newly
discovered gas reservoirs, calculating initial and gas reserves, predicting
future gas production, and designing production tubing and pipelines.
The industry standard is to measure gas properties, PressureVolume
Temperature (PVT), in laboratory using reservoir samples (Standing, 1981).
The draw back is that these isothermally measured PVT data is applicable at
measured pressures and reservoir temperature. Calculation methods such as
correlations and equations of state are used to predict properties at other
pressures and temperatures. Also, laboratory analyses for PVT behavior are
sometimes expensive and time consuming. Correlations, which are used to
predict gas compressibility factor, are much easier and faster than equations
of state. Sometimes these correlations have comparable accuracy to
equations of state. Predicting compressibility factor for sour gases is much
more dicult than that of sweet gases. Therefore, several attempts have
been made to predict compressibility factor for sweet gases (Kay, 1936;
Stewart et al., 1959; Sutton, 1985). Wichert and Aziz (1972) presented
corrections for the presence of hydrogen sulde and carbon dioxide for
determining compressibility factor of sour gases.
Because there is no exact method for predicting the PVT behavior
of natural gases several approximations have been proposed. The most
common method is to use one of the forms of the principle of corresponding states (Mac Cain, 1990; Ahmed, 1989). In this form, gas
compressibility factor is expressed as a function of pseudo reduced

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713

pressure and temperature (Ppr, Tpr). Standing and Katz (1942) presented
a chart for determining gas compressibility factor based on the principle
of corresponding states. Standing and Katz will be referred to as (SK).
The SK chart was prepared for binary mixtures of low molecular weight
sweet gases. Several mathematical expressions tting the SK chart, have
been proposed to calculate the gas compressibility factor (Papy, 1968;
Hall and Yarborough, 1973; Yarborough and Hall, 1974; Dranchuk and
Abou Kassem, 1975; Dranchk et al., 1974; Hankinson et al., 1969; Brill
and Beggs, 1974). Evaluation of these methods by Takacs (1976) and
Elsharkawy et al. (2000) concluded that DranchukAbou-Kassem (DK)
correlation is the most accurate representation of SK chart. When
dealing with gas mixtures, the mixture critical pressure (Ppc) and
temperature (Tpc) are required. Critical properties of natural gas are
calculated from either gas composition or gas gravity. Several mixing
rules have been proposed to calculate mixture critical properties of
natural gases. Among these methods, Kays (1936) mixing rule and
StewartBurkhardtVoo (1959) are the most widely used. Kays mixing
rule is simple and provides an accurate determination of gas
compressibility factor for sweet gases of low molecular weight. Satter
and Campbell (1963) evaluated several mixing rules for calculating
properties of natural gases. They concluded that StewartBurkhardtVoo
rule known as SBV provided the most satisfactory results, especially for
gases of high molecular weight. Sutton (1985) studied the performance of
several mixing rule for calculating compressibility factor for gas
condensates that contain a large amount of heptane plus fraction. He
modied SBV mixing rule to account for the presence of heptane plus in
the natural gases.
Standard laboratory analysis gives composition of natural gases
through hexane and lump components heavier than hexane in a heptane
plus fraction known as C7+. Critical properties of pure components are
well documents, Table 1. The critical properties of the C7+ fraction are,
however, calculated from correlations using molecular weight and specic
gravity of the heptane plus (Win, 1957; Keseler and Lee, 1976; Sim et al.,
1980; Lin and Chao, 1984; Watansiri et al., 1985; Pedersen et al., 1989).
Whitson (1983) and Elsharkawy et al. (2000) reviewed several methods
for calculating pseudo critical properties of the heptane plus fraction.
Whitson (1983) recommended that KeslerLee (1976) correlation to be
used to estimate critical properties of C7+. However, Elsharkawy et al.
(2000) found that LinChoa (1984) and Kesler Lee (1976), respectively,
with SSBV mixing rule and DK correlation are the best combination to
determine gas compressibility factor for gas condensate reservoirs.

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Table 1.

Physical Properties of Dened Components

Critical Pressure

Component
H2 S
CO2
N2
C1
C2
C3
i-C4
n-C4
i-C5
n-C5
C6

Molecular Weight

psi

34.08
44.01
28.01
16.04
30.07
44.01
58.12
58.12
72.15
72.15
86.18

1300.00
1071.00
493.00
667.80
707.80
616.30
529.10
550.70
490.40
488.60
436.90

Critical Temperature


672.45
547.45
227.27
343.04
549.76
665.68
734.65
765.32
828.77
845.37
913.37

Composition of natural gases, from which pseudo critical properties

are computed, is not always available. Therefore, correlations relating
pseudo critical pressure and temperature to gas gravity are used. Standing
(1981) presented correlation of pseudo critical properties to gas gravity
based on low molecular weight California natural gases. His correlation has
the following form:
Ppc 706  51:7 gg  11:1 g2g

T pc 187 330 gg  71:5 g2g

Standing indicated that his correlation works only when there is no

non-hydrocarbon gases present in the natural gas. Sutton (1985), working
with PVT reports of high molecular weight gases which are rich in heptane
plus, developed the following correlation:
Ppc 756:8  131:0 gg  3:6 g2g

T pc 169:2 349:5 gg  74:0 g2g

The gases that were used to develop Suttons gas gravity correlation
are mostly sweet gases. These gases have minor amount of carbon dioxide
and nitrogen, and no hydrogen sulde. Using a large data bank of
retrograde gases, Elsharkawy et al. (2000) presented another correlation for
gas condensates. The latter correlation covers heavier gases than that used in

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Suttons and have a minor amount of hydrogen sulde. Elsharkawy et al.,

gas gravity correlation has the following form:
Ppc 787:06  147:34 gg  7:916 g2g

T pc 149:18 358:14gg  66:976g2g

Thus there is a need for correlation relating gas gravity to pseudo

critical properties for sour gases.
This study has two objectives. The rst objective is to evaluate the
previously published methods of calculating gas compressibility factor for
sour gases. The second objective is to develop a correlation to estimate
pseudo critical properties from gas gravity for sour gas when detailed
composition is not available.

GAS DATA BANK

One of the main objectives of the current work is to evaluate the
previously published methods of calculating gas compressibility factors of
sour gases using either gas composition or gas gravity. The best test to
evaluate such methods is the accuracy with which these methods
approximate reliable experimental data. The data bank used in this
study comprises measurements of two thousand and one hundred and sixgas compressibility factor for sour gases. Some of these data have been
collected from the literature (Whitson, 1985; Simon et al., 1964; Robinson
et al., 1965; Buxton and Campbell, 1967; McLeod, 1968; Wichert and
Aziz, 1970; Elsharkawy and Foda, 1988). These measurements cover a
pressure range from 90 psi to 12,000 psi, a temperature range from 40 to
327 F, and a wide range of molecular weights from 16.4 to 55 (gas gravity
from 0.566 to 1.895). A complete description of the data bank is reported
in Table 2.

Calculating Gas Compressibility Factor When Composition

Is Known
When gas composition is available, pseudo critical properties are
calculated using a given mixing rule. In order to calculate the pseudo-critical
properties of natural gas mixtures, critical properties of the heptane plus
fraction must be computed. In this study, KeslerLee (1976) method,
Eqs. (7) and (8), are used to calculate critical properties of the C7+.

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Table 2.

Properties of Sour Gas Data Used in the Study

Min.

Pressure, psi
Reservoir temperature, F

90
40

Ave.
2900
190

Max.
12,000
327

Composition mole %
Methane
Ethane
Propane
Iso-Butane
N-Butane
Iso-Pentane
n-Pentane
Hexane
Heptane plus
Mw C7+
g C7+
Z-factor
Gas gravity (air 1)
Hydrogen sulfide
Carbon dioxide
Nitrogen

17.27
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
98.0
0.72
0.402
0.566
0
0
0

74.14
6.00
2.56
0.50
0.84
0.35
0.32
0.44
1.64
127.0
0.77
0.900
0.811
7.45
4.04
1.72

97.40
28.67
13.16
2.61
5.20
2.85
2.09
5.30
17.20
253.0
0.85
1.775
1.895
73.85
67.16
25.15

Pc exp 8:3634  0:0566=g  0:24244 2:2898=g0:11857=g2  103 Tb
1:4685 3:648=g0:47227=g2  107 T 2b

0:42019 1:6977=g2  1010 T 3b
T c 341:7 811:g 0:4244 0:1174:g  T b
0:4669  3:2623:g  105 =T b

The KL method correlates critical properties as a function of boiling

point and specic gravity. However, laboratory reports normally provide
only the specic gravity and molecular weight of the heptane plus fraction.
Whitson (1983) has presented an equation for estimating boiling point
(Tb) from molecular weight (M ) and specic gravity (g) of the heptane
plus fraction.

3
T b 4:5579 M 0:15178 g0:15427
9

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In this study, Kays mixing rule, Stewart-Burkhardt-Voo (SBV)

mixing rule as modied by Sutton (SSBV) are considered.
Kays (1936) mixing rule, based on molar weighted average critical
properties, has the following form:
X
Ppc
yi Pci
10
T pc

yi T ci

11

StewartBurkhardtVoo (1959) (SBV) proposed the following mixing

rule for high molecular weight gases.
i 2 hX
i2
1 hX
yi T c =Pc i
yi T c =Pc 0:5
J
12
i
3
3
X


K
yi T c =P0:5
13
c i
T pc K 2 =J

14

Ppc T pc =J

15

If the natural gas contains heptane plus fraction, Sutton (1985)

modication of SBV (SSBV) is used.
Fj


2
1

2

yTc =Pc C7
yi Tc =Pc 0:5
i
C7
3
3

16

E j 0:6081F j 1:1325F 2j  14:004F j yC7 64:434F j y2C7

17

h
i
2
3
E k T c =P0:5
c C7 0:3129yC7  4:8156yC7 27:3751yC7

18

J 0 J  Ej

19

K 0 K  Ek

20

T pc K 0 =J 0

21

Ppc T pc =J 0

22

Eqs. (10) and (11) or (12) through (22) provide critical properties for
sweet natural gas systems. For sour gases, these equations must be corrected
for the presence of non-hydrocarbon components. The method proposed by

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Wichert and Aziz (1972) is used to correct the pseudo critical properties of
natural gases to the presence of these non-hydrocarbon components. The
correction factor is given below:
 120A0:9  A1:6 1:5B0:5  B4

23

Where the coecient A is the sum of the mole fraction of H2S and CO2
and B is the mole fraction of H2S in the gas mixture. The corrected pseudo
0
critical properties P0pc and Tpc
are:
T 0pc T pc  

24

P0pc Ppc T 0pc =T pc B1  B

25

Reduced pressure (Ppr) and reduced temperature (Tpr) are calculate

from pressure (P) and temperature (T ) of interest and critical properties of
0
the natural gas (P0pc , Tpc
) by the following relationship:
Ppr P=P0pc

26

T pr T=T 0pc

27

Recently, Corredor et al. (1992), and Piper et al. (1993) proposed a

mixing rule similar to SBV rule, Eqs. (12) and (13). However, they treated
the non-hydrocarbons and the C7+ plus fraction dierently. Their mixing
rule has the following form:
J a0

ai yi T c =Pc i a4

yj T c =Pc j a5

hX

yi T c =Pc i

i2
28

a6 yC7 M C7 a7 yC7 M C7 2
K b0

hX 
X 



 i2
0:5
0:5
y
y
bi yi T c =P0:5

b
T
=P

b
T
=P
c
c
4
5
j
j
c i
c j
c j

b6 yC7 M C7 b7 yC7 M C7 2

29

Where yi [ f yH2 S ; yCO2 ; yN2 g and yj [ f yC1 ; yC2 ; . . . ; yC6 g and a and b
are constants. The dierence between Corredor et al. method and Piper
et al., method is that each method has dierent values for a and b. To
calculate the pseudo critical properties of the gas condensate, Corredor et al.
and Piper et al., used the weight fraction of the C7+ rather than the critical
properties. Thus, they eliminate the need to characterize the heptane plus
fraction. They also eliminated the corrections needed for presence of acid
gases, Eq. (23) through (25).

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The gas compressibility factor (Z) is computed from DK correlation

using reduced pressure (Pr) and reduced temperature (Tr) as follows:


Z 1 A1 A2 =Tr A3 =Tr3 A4 =Tr4 A5 =Tr5 rr




A6 A7 =Tr Ag =Tr2 r2r  A9 A7 =Tr Ag =Tr2 r5r

 



A10 1 A11 r2r  r2r =Tr3 exp A11 r2r

30

Where
rr 0:27 Pr =ZTr

31

The constants A1 through A11 in Eq. (30) are as follows:

A1 0.3265
A5 0.05165
A9 0.1056

A2 1.0700
A6 0.5475
A10 0.6134

A3 0.5339
A7 0.7361
A11 0.7210

A4 0.01569
A8 0.1844

Because the gas compressibility factor appears on both sides of DKs

correlation, Eq. (30), an iteration solution is necessary. NewtonRaphson
method is used which has the following iteration formula:
Z n1 Z n  f z =fz0

32

Where Zn+1 and Zn are the new and old values of gas compressibility
factors, fz is the function described in Eq. (30), and fz0 is its derivative.

Calculating Gas Compressibility Factor When Composition

Is Unknown
When gas composition is not available, the compressibility factor is
computed via estimating the critical properties from gravity correlations. In
this section, the accuracy with which gas gravity correlations, Eq. (1) through
(6), reproduced the pseudo critical properties is evaluated. Although
Standings gas gravity correlations, Eqs. (1) and (2) were prepared to
estimate critical properties of sweet low molecular gases, it is important to
know the magnitude of the error that results from using that correlation. The
accuracy of the gas gravity correlations developed by Sutton, Eqs. (3) and
(4), and Elsharkawy et al. given in Eqs. (5) and (6) is also studied in this
section.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The accuracy of four dierent methods for the calculation of gas
compressibility factor for sour gases is discussed in this section. The rst
method is Kays mixing rule with WichertAziz correction for the presence
of non-hydrocarbons. The second is SSBV-Wichert and Aziz. The third is
Corredor et al. method. The last method is Piper et al. Table 3 shows the
accuracy of these methods. Piper et al. and Corridor et al. have the best
accuracy. Both of these methods account for the presence of heptane plus
and non-hydrocarbons. Piper et al. methods has average absolute deviation
(AAD) of 1.21% and standard deviation (SD) of 1.92% and coecient of
correlation (R) of 99.10%. SSBV-Whichert and Aziz shows the highest
errors and the lowest correlation coecient.
Figure 1 through 4 show the error distribution for the four methods
considered in this study. KayWichert and Aziz method, Figure 1,

Table 3.
Data

Accuracy of Calculating Z-factor for Sour Gases Using Compositional

Method

ARE

AAD

SD

Kay-Wichert and Aziz

SSVB-Wichert and Aziz
Corredor et al.
Piper et al.

0.69
0.65
0.25
0.31

1.38
2.14
1.36
1.21

2.13
2.85
2.51
1.92

98.57
97.65
98.8
99.10

Figure 1.

Histogram of Er% with normal curve (Kay-WA).

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Figure 2.

Figure 3.

721

Histogram of Er% with normal curve (SBV-KA).

Histogram of Er% with normal curve (Piper).

Corredor et al. method, Figure 2, and Piper et al. methods, Figure 4 have
comparable error distribution. However, Piper et al. method has the
smallest error range and the highest frequency of zero error. SSBV-Wichert
and Aziz method, Figure 2 has a wider error range and smaller frequency of
error distribution around zero error line comparing to the other methods.
The accuracy of calculating gas compressibility factor for sour gases
using gas gravity when gas composition is unknown is shown in Table 4.
Standing gas gravity correlation, Eqs. (1) and (2) has an average absolute
deviation (AAD) of 3.50% and standard deviation (SD) of 6.78%. Sutton
gas gravity correlation, Eqs. (3) and (4), has AAD of 3.47% and SD of
7.14. Elsharkawy et al. gas gravity correlation, Eqs. (5) and (6) shows AAD

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Figure 4.

Histogram of error with normal curve (corredore).

Table 4. Accuracy of Calculating Z-Factor for Sour Gases Using Gas Gravity
Equation
Method

ARE

AAD

SD

Standing
Sutton
Elsharkawy et al.
Current study

0.81
1.72
2.25
0.26

3.50
3.47
3.48
1.69

6.79
7.14
7.30
3.12

92.08
91.43
91.23
97.66

ARE: Average relative error %.

AAD: Average absolute deviation %.
SD: Standard deviation %.
R: Coecient of correlation.

of 3.48% and SD of 7.30%. All of these gas gravity correlations have similar
correlation coecients. The reason for the low accuracy of these
correlations is that Standings gas gravity correlation was prepared for
sweet gases. Sutton gas gravity correlation was prepared for heavy gases rich
in C7+with minor amounts of hydrocarbons. The latter gas gravity
correlation is applicable for gases that have no hydrogen sulde and with
a nitrogen content less than 12% and a CO2 content less than 3% (Lee and
Wattenberger, 1996). Elsharkawy et al. gas gravity correlation was prepared
from data on gas condensate that has a signicant portion of hydrogen
sulde and carbon dioxide, however, the concentration of the acid gases is
not comparable with the sour gases used in this paper.

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New Gas Gravity Correlation

One of the objectives of this study is to start the development of a new
correlation to estimate pseudo critical properties from gas gravity for sour
gas when composition is not available. Using large data bank of sour gas
system, inferred pseudo critical pressures and temperatures are calculated
from experimentally measured gas compressibility factors using DK
equations. The rst attempt was to correlate these inferred pseudo critical
values to gas gravity for sour gases. Figure 5 shows that pseudo-critical
pressures of sour gases are not strongly correlated to total gas gravity.
In order to improve the correlations it was attempt to study the eect of
non-hydrocarbon component on pseudo-critical properties. Figure 6 shows
that pseudo-critical pressures are highly correlated to the percentage of
non-hydrocarbon gases. The percentage of non-hydrocarbon component is
expressed as molecular weight of non-hydrocarbon components divided
by the total molecular weight of the gas. This percentage can also be
related to non-hydrocarbon gas gravity (g2) divided by total gas gravity
(gg). Pseudo critical temperature, however, is strongly dependent on total
gas gravity, Figure 7. Therefore, it was found that best correlation
of pseudo-critical properties to gas gravity can be achieved by considering
both the hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon portions of gas gravity
as follows:
Pc 193:941  131:347 gg 217:144 g1 =gg 1060:349 g2 =gg
344:573 g1 =gg 2  60:591 g2 =gg 2

Figure 5.

33

Pseudo-critical pressure as a function of total gas gravity for sour gases.

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Figure 6. Pseudo-critical pressure as a function of non-hydrocarbon to total gas

gravity for sour gases.

Figure 7.

Pseudo-critical temperature as a function of total sour gas gravity.

Tc 195:958 206:121 gg 25:855 g1 =gg  6:421 g2 =gg 9:022 g1 =gg 2

163:247 g2 =gg 2

34

The new gas gravity correlation presented in this study has smaller
error range than the other correlations. Correlating critical properties to the
amount of hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon gases, Eqs. (33) and (34),
improves the accuracy of the proposed correlation. Among the gas gravity
correlations considered in this study, the new correlation shows the smallest

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AAD (1.69%), the least SD (3.22%), and the highest correlation coecient
(97.66%). However, the standard deviation is still high.
Figures 810 show the absolute error percentage in estimating gas
compressibility factor from gas gravity correlations is highly dependent on
the amount of CO2 and H2S present in the sour gas. An error as high as
50% in gas compressibility factor occurs if these gas gravity correlations are
used to estimate the gas compressibility for sour gases. Figure 11 shows rst
smaller error level in calculating gas compressibility factor using the new gas
gravity correlation than the other correlations. Second, the error is not
dependent on the amount of CO2 and H2S present in the sour gas. Figure 12
shows a crossplot of measured and calculated gas compressibility factor

Figure 8.

Figure 9.

Error % in z-factor using Standing gas gravity equation.

Error % in z-factor using Sutton gas gravity equation.

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Figure 10. Error % in z-factor using Elsharkawy et al. gas gravity equation.

Figure 11. Error % in z-factor using new gas gravity equation.

using the new gas gravity correlation for the sour gases used in this study.
The gure illustrates that most of the data fall on the 45 parity line.
Therefore, calculating the gas compressibility factor for sour gases from
pseudo-critical pressure and temperature estimated from total gas gravity
correlations has some limitations. The major limitation is in the process of
correlating gas gravity to pseudo critical properties. For any gas, there could
be an innite number of hydrocarbon and other non-hydrocarbon
combination. Each hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon component has a
unique pseudo critical property. However, dierent mixtures can have
dierent pseudo-critical properties and the same gas gravity. This is the
reason why calculating gas compressibility factor using gas gravity is not as

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727

Figure 12. Crossplot of measured and calculated z-factor using new gas gravity
equation.

much accurate as calculating gas compressibility factor from composition.

Correlating pseudo critical properties to hydrocarbon portion of gas gravity
and non-hydrocarbon portion have resulted in little improvement of gas
compressibility calculations.

CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, several methods of calculating sour gas compressibility
factors were compared. Two classes of methods were considered: methods
that are based on composition and those that are based on gas gravity alone.
From the methods based on composition, Piper et al. (1992) and Corridor
et al. (1993) showed the best accuracy and correlation coecient. These
methods account for the presence of heptane plus and non-hydrocarbons.
Of the methods based on gas gravity Sutton and Elsharkawy et al., methods
were the most accurate. The accuracy of these methods was, however,
poorer than those methods based on composition. It was decided therefore
to study the eect of the presence of non-hydrocarbons on accuracy. A plot
of pseudo-critical pressure with both gas gravity and non-hydrocarbon gas
gravity was evaluated. It was found that while the correlation with gas
gravity is weak, that with the non-hydrocarbon gas gravity is strong with a
correlation coecient more that 0.84. The correlation of pseudo-critical
temperature was rather indierent to the presence of non-hydrocarbons.
A new correlation was then proposed to account for the presence of

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non-hydrocarbons without knowing the compositional details. This

correlation is based on two descriptors: gravity of the gas and gravity of
the non-hydrocarbon portion in the gas. The new correlation provided a
good improvement over past gas gravity methods. Research is still going on
to develop more improvement strategies.
NOMENCLATURE
rr

gg
g1
g2
A
B
AAPD
EJ
EK
ARE
FJ
J
J0
Jinf
K
K0
Kinf
M
MC7
P
pc
Ppc
Ppr
R
SD
T
Tb
Tc
Tpc
Tpr
yC7
yi

Reduced density
Wichert and Aziz pseudo-critical
gas specic gravity, (air 1)
Hydrocarbon gas specic gravity, (air 1)
Non-hydrocarbon gas specic gravity, (air 1)
mole fraction (CO2 + H2S)
mole fraction H2S
Average absolute error
Sutton SBV parameter,  R/psia
Sutton SBV parameter,  R/psia0.5
Average relative error
Sutton adjustment parameter temperature
adjustment parameter,  R
SBV parameter,  R/psia
Sutton parameter,  R/psia
Inferred value of J parameter,  R/psia
SBV parameter,  R/psia0.5
Sutton parameter,  R/psia0.5
Inferred value of K parameter,  R/psia0.5
Molecular weight, lb-mole
molar mass of heptane plus fraction, lb-mole
pressure, psia
critical pressure, psia
pseudo-critical pressure, psia
pseudo-reduced pressure
correlation coecient
standard deviation
temperature,  R
normal boiling point temperature,  R
critical temperature,  R
pseudo-critical temperature,  R
pseudo-reduced temperature
mole fraction of heptane plus fraction
mole fraction of component, i

ORDER

REPRINTS

PREDICTING COMPRESSIBILITY FACTOR

yi
Z

729

mole fraction of the ith component

gas compressibility factor

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The rst author thanks the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement
of Science (KFAS) for providing nancial support for this study, research
grant No. 99-9-09.

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Received October 25, 2000
Accepted January 25, 2001

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