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Advantica's test centre, the Spadeadam Test Site in Cumbria, U.K. is using a Coriolis mass flowmeter in critical tests to evaluate new pipematerial for transporting gas from offshore fields to refineries.
Natural gas is a complex mixture of gases which can vary in composition fromfield to field. To ensure pipes will withstand the conditions in which they will operate, trials of new pipe materials are carried out withprecisely the same combination of gases that the pipe will carry.
Krohne's Optimass mass flowmeter is being used in complex tests ona 300 metre length of pipe constructed from the new material. It is being used to replicate precisely the gas conditions found at the placeof installation to test the pipe's toughness and resistance to fracture. These are required to meet stringent regulations and standards.
During an eighteen stage process to test the pipe material, different gases, including propane, ethane, carbon dioxide and butane, arepumped through the Optimass and into the pipe at rates of between 550and 1,500 kg/hr and temperatures from - 30 ºC to 15 ºC. The gases range in density from 584 to 460 kg/cubic metre and viscosities from 0.081to 0.16 cp.
The Optimass measures precisely the amount of eachgas passed into the pipe and enables scientists at Spadeadam to reproduce exactly the natural gas and conditions found at the field where the pipe is planned to be installed.
Measurement data from the Optimass is output to a data logger which records the amount of gas introduced during each step in the experiment. Sensors in the pipe itselfare linked to a gas chromatograph that analyses the gas composition.
Testing the new pipe materials is an expensive and lengthy process.Trials can take a year to complete and the different gasses used cancost in excess of €130,000. Because of this there is often only one chance to carry out 'live' tests.
"We chose to use the Optimass because it is the best instrument on the market," said
Dr JohnEvans at Advantica said his company chose to use the Optimass becausethey considered it to be “the best instrument on the market.” He saidthat engineers at Advantica had evaluated several other Coriolis meters, “but because of the critical nature of our experiment and the costsinvolved we needed to be totally confident in the measurement accuracy of the flowmeter we used."
Wellingborough-based Krohne's Optimass Coriolis mass flowmeter was the first of its kind to incorporatea single straight tube design, which requires more sensitive electronics to produce accurate results than the typical bent-tube flowmeter. It is available in a range of sizes and can be used for low and high flow rate applications. Wetted parts of the instrument can be manufactured from titanium, stainless steel or Hastelloy and each unit is made in accordance with European Pressure Equipment Directives (PED). The instrument incorporates Krohne's patented AST (Adaptive Sensor Technology) which tunes each meter independently of external forces and fluid density.
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