Mercury model validation

Written by: Behnam Salimi and Antonio Queimada

Mercury, both elemental and in compound form, has been detected and reported in petroleum fluids from a number of locations, particularly the Netherlands and Germany, but also in Canada, USA, Malaysia, Brunei, and latterly in the North Sea and Australia. This can give rise to both toxicological and equipment corrosion problems. Under certain conditions mercury may react with aluminum process equipment, forming an amalgam, which can lead to corrosion. It is therefore important, if the conditions leading to corrosion are likely to be encountered, to be able to predict, for a given gas or gas condensate stream, when liquid mercury will be present and how much liquid mercury will form as it is the presence of sufficient quantities of liquid mercury that causes corrosion.

This whitepaper looks at the development and validation of KBC's mercury model for predicting mercury solubility and its distribution between natural gas, condensate and water phases. The paper covers:

• Mercury in petroleum
• Mercury in liquid hydrocarbons
• Mercury in pure gases
• Solubility of mercury in MEG/TEG/DEG/Methanol
• Solubility of mercury in natural gas
• Thermodynamics, dynamics and kinetics