Measurement and modelling of high pressure density and interfacial tension of (gas + n -alkane) binary mixtures

The deployment of more efficient and economical extraction methods and processing facilities of oil and gas requires the accurate knowledge of the interfacial tension (IFT) of fluid phases in contact. In this work, the capillary constant a of binary mixtures containing n-decane and common gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen was measured. Experimental measurements were carried at four temperatures (313, 343, 393 and 442 K) and pressures up to 69 MPa, or near the complete vaporisation of the organic phase into the gas-rich phase. To determine accurate IFT values, the capillary constants were combined with saturated phase density data measured with an Anton Paar densitometer and correlated with a model based on the Peng–Robinson 1978 equation of state (PR78 EoS). Correlated density showed an overall percentage absolute deviation (%AAD) to measured data of (0.2 to 0.5)% for the liquid phase and (1.5 to 2.5)% for the vapour phase of the studied systems and P–T conditions. The predictive capability of models to accurately describe both the temperature and pressure dependence of the saturated phase density and IFT of 16 (gas + n-alkane) binary mixtures was assessed in this work by comparison with data gathered from the literature and measured in this work. The IFT models considered include the Parachor, the Linear Gradient Theory (LGT) and the Density Gradient Theory (DGT) approaches combined with the Volume-Translated Predictive Peng–Robinson 1978 EoS (VT-PPR78 EoS). With no adjustable parameters, the VT-PPR78 EoS allowed a good description of both solubility and volumetric properties of the mixtures measured in this work, with deviations to measured density data only slightly higher than those of correlated data. The best IFT predictions were obtained with the DGT method with an overall %AAD between (4.9 and 8.3)% for all systems considered and IFT data no lower than 1.5 mN · m−1. Furthermore, the impact of the relative adsorption of gas molecules in the interfacial region on the IFT was further investigated with the DGT.