Read part one
Pipelines currently are the most common method for transporting large quantities of natural gas over long distances. There are currently over 1,500,000 miles of dedicated pipelines used to transport natural gas in the United States for transmission and distribution. Minimizing the water content in the pipelines is critical to prevent pipeline corrosion.
If water is present it will react with the CO2 to from carbonic acid, or H2S to form sulfuric acid. Both of these acids can corrode pipe, potentially leading to safety risks, lost product, or environmental pollution incidents.
Historically, electrochemical detectors have been used to monitor the water level in the samples. This type of sensor degrades over time as it is exposed to low level organic components. With AMETEK’s 5100 TDLAS system, the detector element does not physically interact with the pipeline gas and, therefore, there is no change in the system response relative to the sensor contamination.
In part three we’ll discuss the importance of continually evaluating the percentage of methane in landfill gas.
Learn more about AMETEK’s TDLAS solutions.