A Comparison between MMFH and Solid Model Performance in Predicting the Effect of Sour Gas on Asphaltene in Petroleum Reservoirs

In this work, the MMFH model and Solid model performance in predicting sour gas injection effects on the asphaltene formation and precipitation in crude oils is investigated. The asphaltene is the heaviest and the most polar parts of the crude oil. The changes in pressure, temperature, and/or composition can cause instability of the asphaltene in petroleum system and finally lead to asphaltene precipitation and deposition. Herein, two models, i.e. MMFH and Solid models, are investigated to predict asphaltene instability in three real oil samples. The stability of the models and their compatibility with the experimental and field observation are assumed as the model application comparison basis. First, the model parameters are tuned via the experimental data and then the adjusted models are used for predicting the sour gas injection and pressure effects on the asphaltene precipitation. As it can be seen, the MMFH models is better than the solid model (this model is used in the commercial software for reservoir simulation) in both comparison criteria, namely the model stability and compatibility with the other results.