ESTIMATION OF NATURAL GAS PROPERTY FROM EQUATION OF STATE USING PYTHON APPLICATION
Abstract
The estimation of natural gas properties plays a crucial role in the design, optimization, and management of petroleum and natural gas systems. Accurate property estimation facilitates better decision-making in reservoir engineering, pipeline transport, and processing operations. This project focuses on developing a Python-based desktop application to estimate key properties of natural gas using the Van der Waals equation of state (EOS).
The Van der Waals EOS is a foundational thermodynamic model that accounts for molecular interactions and finite molecular volume, providing an approximate but insightful representation of gas behavior under varying conditions.
The software is created using PySide6, which is a Python library for building graphical user interface application. The developed application allows entering of gas composition, pressure and temperature to calculate molar volume, compressibility factor and density. Also, the user interface is designed to enable choosing the necessary gas components and define individual molar fractions that meet flexibility required for different compositions of natural gas.
The application was validated against theoretical calculations proving reasonable performance and small errors. The results also affirmed the applicability of the Van der Waals EOS in yielding fairly accurate predictions of the transport properties of gases under various conditions.
This project therefore emphasizes on the possibility of developing efficient and affordable tools in Python for solving high level engineering problems. The software can be used as a work instrument for practicing engineers, as well as for research-to-practice purposes in the energy sector. Future development might include incorporating higher order EOS models, extending the gas databases and providing additional thermodynamic property calculations to broaden the software’s applicability.
This project demonstrates the use of computation and engineering as coexisting branches and illustrates how Python applications reduce complexities while giving accurate results.
Full-Text Access Notice
In accordance with the NERD Policy on promoting peer-reviewed publication, public access to the full text of a project, thesis or dissertation is restricted for three years, allowing the author and supervisors sufficient time to pursue peer-reviewed publication.
During this period, researchers with legitimate academic or research purposes may request authorisation directly from the author to enable NERD to release the indexed full texts of the work using the form below.