Abstract

The reliable evaluation of thermal diffusion factors is important to understand the composition variation of the mixture components in hydrocarbon reservoirs. A thermodynamic model of thermal diffusion factors of hydrocarbon mixtures is presented. The model is based on the statistical theory of linear transport of intermolecular forces and accounts for the explicit effects of molecular mass, energy and size parameters. The accuracy of the model is first evaluated by comparing calculated results with the available non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation results. The theoretical model is then applied to explain thermal diffusion factors in some selected binary hydrocarbon mixtures over a range of temperature, pressure and molecular composition conditions.

Keywords: hydrocarbon mixtures, thermodynamics, thermal diffusion, molecular interaction, reservoirs
