Validation of Empirical Minimum Miscibility Pressure Correlations Using the Vanishing Interfacial Tension Method: Applications in CO ₂ -Enhanced Oil Recovery and Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage

Accurate determination of the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) is critical for the design and optimization of CO2-enhanced oil recovery processes, which also play a pivotal role in large-scale CO2 capture and utilization strategies. Conventional experimental techniques, such as slim-tube tests and vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) measurements, provide reliable MMP estimates but are often constrained by high cost, long duration, and operational complexity. To address these limitations, numerous empirical correlations have been proposed to predict MMP from crude oil properties and reservoir conditions, although their predictive accuracy remains highly dependent on compositional and thermal effects. In this study, eight widely cited empirical correlations were systematically evaluated under varying crude oil compositions and temperature regimes and benchmarked against 27 experimental MMP values obtained via the VIT method. A series of laboratory experiments was conducted to systematically examine the effects of crude oil composition and reservoir temperature on MMP using the VIT technique, followed by a detailed comparison with empirical correlations to identify models most sensitive to compositional and thermal variations. In addition, VIT-derived MMP values were cross-validated against slim-tube experiments and mixing-cell simulations. The results indicate that VIT consistently underestimates slim-tube MMP by an average absolute deviation of ∼4%, a discrepancy attributable to the differing miscibility criteria inherent to the two methods. Overall, the study demonstrates the effectiveness of empirical correlations in reproducing VIT-derived MMP values and highlights the VIT method as a rapid and robust experimental framework for reliable MMP estimation.