"It has come to our attention that certain
analyzer vendors serving the natural gas pipeline industry are making
exaggerated performance claims about their instruments' capability. These
claims have been proven unsupportable by independent laboratories around the
world."
Your Pipeline Company sells a service of moving gas from
point A to point B. Your customer has negotiated the purchase of that gas at a
certain quality. They rely on you to prove that their gas didn't get
contaminated along the way, and that they are getting exactly what they paid
for.
Gas Chromatographs (GCs) have been used for decades to
report the heating value of your product and are used for custody transfer
purposes. They have been widely sold, and are effective tools for reporting
BTU, Wobbe Index and other quality related parameters of the gas you
transport.
Since hydrocarbon liquids in the gas can cause damage to
you and your customers’ costly equipment, one additional parameter,
Hydrocarbon Dew Point (HDP) has been included in the gas quality specifications
of many tariffs. More tariffs will likely be including HDP, and your customers
expect accurate and reliable HDP data to verify compliance.
In an attempt to satisfy this requirement, some
manufacturers of GCs have begun to sell software options that calculate HDP
using equations of state. These same vendors admit that your older C6+ units
can't do the job. They are boldly suggesting that you should replace them all
with new C9+ units. Independent laboratory tests show that using C9+ units do
provide more data but they are still not an accurate method for good HDP
reporting. It is still a calculated result.
How much of a problem is it? Look at this brief
comparison of natural gas typically found in North America. A quality HDP
analyzer will measure the real number and it could be even be higher than is
shown below. Are these numbers worth risking tariff violations, penalties,
shut-ins and lost business?
| Extent of
Analysis |
C1-C12 |
C9+ 60/30/10 |
C1-C9+ |
C6+ 60/30/10 |
C6+ |
| HDP °F |
34.4° |
25.7° |
11.0° |
-5.2° |
-25.4° |
If HDP data is this important, shouldn't you use a
quality HDP analyzer to give you a consistently accurate value? They are less
costly to install and use than to replace a C6+ GC with a new C9+.
Our proven HDP analyzer, the Condumax II, provides
hydrocarbon dew point accurate to ±1°F (±0.5°C) 24/7
using the fundamental method of cooling a surface until the dew forms instead
of a calculation based on incomplete information from a GC. Please review the
full specification by
clicking
here
So who says the Condumax II works best? In addition to
our customers, Southwest Research Institute, an independent laboratory,
has recently completed a comparative test on analyzers designed to measure HDP
directly and accurately. If you would like a complete copy of this report,
simply send an email to Jack Herring by clicking on his email address below,
and the report will be sent out to you immediately.
At a time when your competition is fierce, staying
informed on how innovative analyzers are solving this problem around the world
can help your company avoid tariff compliance penalties, secure your sales by
building trust, save operating costs, and protect your capital equipment.
I look forward to assisting you with any questions you
may have regarding this. Please contact me at the numbers below.
For further information, please contact
Jack Herring, Sales and Marketing Manager,
Michell Instruments Inc.
319 Newburyport Turnpike
Suite 207
Rowley, MA 01969
Tel : 978 484 0005
Fax : 978 843 7669
e-mail: jack.herring@michell.com
Web : http://www.michell.com/us |
