AGA Report No. 11 Expands Market For Proven Metering Concept

摘要

Micro Motion Coriolis flow meters have demonstrated high reliability, high accuracy and reduced maintenance in gas metering applications in chemical processing industry (CPI) and refinery plants for many years. Typical applications include monitoring natural gas feed-lines, combustion control systems, critical phase ethylene, and refinery fuel gas measurement. Next to the CPI and refinery plants, more than 15000 Coriolis meters are installed for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) measurement (natural gas at 200+ bar for vehicle fueling). The Australian gas distribution company 'GPU GasNet' installed more than 80 Micro Motion Coriolis flow meters in small to medium size metering installations (e.g. city gates) and even uses portable Micro Motion meters as a reference to proof turbine and Coriolis flow meters in the field. Recognition of the meter suitability is the result of a successful series of flow tests on actual low and high-pressure natural gas flows at different test facilities (Pigsar/Ruhrgas in Germany and Gasunie in the Netherlands amongst others). These experiences encouraged both the American Gas Association (AGA) as well as the European Gas Research Group (GERG) to consider Coriolis technology for use as a natural gas custody transfer meter. The recent publication of the AGA Report No. 11 was developed to assist designers and users in operating, calibrating, installing, maintaining and verifying Coriolis flow meters used for natural gas flow measurement. This report applies to Coriolis meters used in medium to high-pressure natural gas applications. This paper presents an overview of the advantages Coriolis flow meter technology brings on natural gas measurement against the more traditional flow measurements such as orifice (dP) or turbine flow meters. Furthermore, it makes a proposal for a new generation of metering stations (e.g. city gates and pressure & reducing stations) incorporating the advantages and philosophy of Coriolis technology. Data will be presented to illustrate the experiences Micro Motion has with custody transfer natural gas applications, as well as third party (Pigsar/Ruhrgas and Gasunie laboratories) test data.