PRODUCTION • PROCESSING • HANDLING
Launching ceremony of the LNG cruise ship built in Northern Europe
GAS MEASUREMENT ADVANCES
Correlative measurement systems master uncertain times, says Florian Krischker
T
o reach the goals resolved at the climate conference in Pairs in 2015, energy effi ciency must be increased, and energy production must become sustainable. Green alternatives for seasonal energy storage such as biogas from natural or synthetic sources and hydrogen will not be available in suffi cient quantities to replace traditional natural gas for years to come. In the interconnected natural gas networks, there will therefore be more and more gas mixtures of all diff erent sources. As a result, the gas quality can fl uctuate strongly from point to point within a short time. Mems has been producing correlative measuring devices for determining gas parameters since 2014. T ese devices are used in all three sectors: the production (biogas and methanation); storage (gas grid monitoring); and consumption (burners, motors, and fuel cells) of fl ammable gas. T e company is currently working on two innovative projects on land and on water.
MONITORING FLUCTUATIONS T e largest gas network operator in France, decided to monitor the gas
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network more closely due to increasing fl uctuations (see Fig. 1) in the gas composition. T e challenge was to develop a measuring system that was energy self-suffi cient, low-maintenance and very compact (installation volume less than 10 litres). For grid monitoring, the measurement data must be made available on a server every half hour. T e solution chosen was a 100Wp solar cell with 40Ah battery buff ering to power the intrinsically safe gasQS fl onic and a 4G modem. T e photo (right, inset) shows the measuring device in the middle of the lower half of the picture and the solar cell behind the control cabinet. A very interesting point about the correlative gasQS technology is that no carrier nor calibration gases are needed. And it can therefore be used in deserted locations with the smallest installation volume.
LNG CASE STUDY Stringent legislation on air pollution and greenhouse gas emission and confl icts in countries with oil reserves all drive the shipping industry to focus on alternatives to heavy fuel oil. Small ferries can be powered purely by electricity, but large
Self-suffi cient installation for measuring the gas quality
cruise and transport ships usually rely on LNG. Boil-off gas from an LNG tank can be very diff erent from the gas that is pumped from the bottom of the tank and vaporised, e.g. to supply a ship’s engine. In addition, the composition varies depending on where the LNG was bunkered. Additionally, there is a lack of skilled workers in the sector who can operate the complex and very sensitive process gas chromatographs. T erefore, operators must resort to alternative measurement techniques. A gasQS static had to prove itself in two sea trials at the beginning of 2022. T e challenge here was to be able to
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