Multiflash Overview

Release Note

About Multiflash 7.4

Following the release of version 7.3, Multiflash 7.4 aims to consolidate and refine the functionalities introduced earlier while adding new tools to streamline workflows for production and flow assurance engineers. Catering to the diverse needs of flow assurance specialists, PVT lab engineers, reservoir engineers, and process engineers across energy, process, and petrochemical industries, this version focused significantly on modelling accuracy. Our efforts centered particularly on enhancing the predictive accuracy of models for CO2-dominated systems, achieved through an R&D collaboration with Heriot Watt University. This significant endeavor aims to align Multiflash models with the industry's next green revolution, emphasizing decarbonization, CCUS, and hydrogen production and transport. In the 7.4 release, we expanded our modelling capabilities, including the extension and validation of our PC-SAFT model for polymer modelling. We've also introduced a new high-accuracy model, AGA-8, for calculating gas densities, alongside GERG-2008, a recognized standard for gas volumetric properties. Additionally, version 7.4 brings extensions to streamline engineering workflows. It allows automatic export of fluid and PVT information to the PRODML file format, compatible with various packages. For subsurface and reservoir engineering, Multiflash 7.4 includes automatic export capabilities to CMG’s conventional and black oil versions of reservoir simulators (GEM,IMEX) as well as Winprop. Among the new features, ThermoBuilder, initially launched with Multiflash 7.3, expands the software's tuning and data regression capabilities. It now offers engineers a common, accurate, and customizable PVT engine for process and production optimization, supporting the industry's transition to net zero. In 7.4, we've further enhanced ThermoBuilder's capabilities, improved usability, and ensured stability, aligning with the industry's deepening integration of digital solutions. Overall, Multiflash 7.4 technology serves as a highly reliable common platform for PVT modelling, aiming to meet the evolving needs of an industry embracing deeper automation and integrated digital solutions.

Summary of main themes

  • Model Real Fluids - With its unique range of accurate and consistent thermodynamic and physical properties models, Multiflash allows predicting with great accuracy, the phase behaviour and transport properties of complex and highly non-ideal fluid mixtures, exhibiting the coexistence of several liquid, solid and gas phases for applications in upstream oil and gas production and transport (reservoir fluids, oils, condensates, natural gases, CO2, steam, high water cuts, alcohols, glycols etc.), petrochemicals (polymer and co-polymer blends), chemicals (acids, refrigerants) etc.
  • Maximise Production - With its highly reliable and advanced models for gas hydrates and hydrates inhibition, wax, asphaltene, solid scales and mercury, Multiflash is the standard PVT and physical properties package in flow assurance. Multiflash allows modelling truly multi-phase systems, exhibiting the coexistence of several fluid and solid phases, providing an integrated and reliable solution for production optimisation and to forecast and handle potential flow assurance or equipment availability issues.
  • Optimise Work Processes - Already embedded in leading flow assurance, production and process engineering software tools and with its advanced connectivity, Multiflash allows drastic increases of the effectiveness and efficiency of the engineering process, eliminating potential sources or errors due to the use of inconsistent fluid properties throughout the various steps of design and project execution. Multiflash provides engineers with a fully integrated workflow to accurately evaluate the physical and transport properties of reservoir fluids, perform point checks to avoid potential issues, rapidly assess options and compare the effect of design strategies and engineering solutions.

Specific highlights for this release

  • Architectural changes and interfaces
    • Extensions of the Restful API available for cloud applications of Multiflash
    • Export to CMG’s conventional and black oil versions of reservoir simulators (GEM,IMEX) as well as Winprop
    • Transport properties of both pure CO2 and pure Water (IAPWS-95) have been made thread-safe, which means these models can be used in more recent versions of the C++ API.
    • Import of PVT data files in the ProdML standard by Energistics
    • Nearly all models in the activity models tab have been converted to be thread-safe. Notable exceptions are the Hayden-O’Connel virial EoS and mixing rules transport properties. Consequently, models that depend on activity models have also been made thread-safe, such as PSRK.
    • Add missing PC-SAFT parameters to most of the components in the Infodata databanks
    • The COBIA middleware has been made more stable on the Multiflash side.
  • Modelling improvements and extensions
    • Further expansion and development of our new tool ThermoBuilder to regress phase behaviour and physical properties lab data to tune single components parameters of equations of state and transport properties models, and BIPs.
    • Introduction of a new high-accuracy model, AGA-8, for calculating gas densities, alongside GERG-2008, a recognized standard for gas volumetric properties
    • For GERG-2008 and EoS-CG models, improved stability of calculations, in particular around the critical point and when tracing phase envelopes.
    • New Hydrogen GERG BDFs (binary departure functions) with Methane, Nitrogen, CO and CO2
    • Retuning of the BIPs for several pairs for CPA-Infochem, CPA-DTU, PRA, RKSA, EoS-CG and CSMA
    • Improve solubility of CO2 and O2 in solutions of NaCl, KCl and CaCl2
    • Support of combined solid models with RKSA and PRA, as well as CPA-Infochem
  • User experience and usability improvements
    • ThermoBuilder: Parameters for several pure component temperature dependent correlations can now be adjusted. These include Saturation pressure, Liquid density at saturation, among others.
    • ThermoBuilder: Format of the ThermoBuilder project has changes slightly. Old projects need to add the independent variables again. All other stored information is preserved.
    • ThermoBuilder: In the results plot, the y-axis can be set to log scale to help with visualisation of quantities such as vapour pressure.
    • PRODML files can created with the PVT analysis information to be used by other software packages.
    • New PTxy plot that allows users to iterate on the composition of a component to see the effect on bubble and dew points. It does not yet support Liquid-Liquid equilibria.