A Numerical Study of Diphasic Multicomponent Flow

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Abstract
This paper describes a general multicomponent two-phase flow model, taking into account convection, diffusion and thermodynamic exchange between phases. The main assumptions are: isothermal one-dimensional flow; two-phase flow (gas and liquid); each phase may be represented by a mixture of three components or groups of components. Actually, a great many recovery problems cannot be pictured by usual models because the oil and, in many cases, the injected fluid are not simple fluids and may bring about exchanges of components that considerably modify their characteristics. This is why efforts are now being made to develop "compositional" or "multicomponent" models capable of solving such situations. Generalization of the model to more complex systems can be considered. Cases treated may be any type of single- and two-phase flow, in particular any miscible process (e. g., high-pressure gas drive, condensing gas drive, slug displacement) and any diphasic processes with high mass exchange (e.g., displacement by carbon dioxide or flue gas). This model is working and has been successfully checked by experiments. Introduction: Many investigations, broth experimental and theoretical, have been made on the recovery of oil from reservoirs. With regard to mathematical models, most of those conceived up to now have dealt with oil recovery by the injection of a fluid that is miscible or immiscible with the oil. For miscible drives, single-phase flow with a binary mixture and miscibility in all proportions is involved. In such an ideal situation oil recovery is theoretically total. For immiscible displacements flow is diphasic. Capillary pressure and relative permeability play a preponderant role. Since irreducible oil saturation preponderant role. Since irreducible oil saturation is inevitable, oil recovery can never be total. Actually, a great many recovery problems cannot be pictured by such models because the oil and, in many cases, the injected fluid are not simple fluids and may bring about exchanges of components that considerably modify their characteristics. This is why efforts are now being made to develop "compositional" or "multicomponent" models capable of solving such situations. Such a model is described here. It is designed to handle the most general case of the displacement of one fluid by another. This model offers the following possibilities.

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