Drag Reducing Agents for Natural Gas Pipelines

[QApollo]

I need some help to find references (companies) that can provide a DRA (Drag Reducing Agent) on Natural Gas Pipelines (on single phase). I have surfed through the web but the info has not been very useful.

Any feedback is well received

 

[BigInch]

As far as I know there has been some work done on gas drag reduction, but I don't know if it is exactly what you call proven technology. I would contact the same companies that provide DRAs for liquid lines and see what they are willing to claim is possible for gas.

Going the Big Inch!

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.msn.com

 

[zdas04]

My experience with them is that if you want to waste your money give it to a charity you don't like.

David

 

[BigInch]

zdas, Exactly as I figured? I have no experience with them, but I do hear they work with liquids.

Going the Big Inch!

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.msn.com

 

[25362]

I've read (probably on OGJ's Technology section) that, on dense phase -pressures above the cricondenbar- natgas transfer, pipes are coated with an epoxy film to reduce friction.

 

[zdas04]

The can work well with liquids. The DRA must spread fairly evenly within the flow stream which only happens with fairly brisk flow rates (on the order of 6-10 ft/sec which can give you Reynolds numbers in the millions) on fluids that are pretty close to the density of the DRA. A big difference will cause stratification and some really interesting interfacial forces (that actually increase drag slightly).

In gases, the DRA will tend to evantually coalesce and run on the bottom of the pipe. Then the gas will do work to make waves in the surface and the net result is the total pressure drop per unit length can increase substantially.

It is the same with corrosion chemicals, they really don't disperse properly in a gas stream (you can treat piggable lines successfully with paired-pig batches, but not with continious injection) so injecting an aersol is worse than worthless. I suppose you could batch a DRA into a line, but I'm not sure how long it would last.



David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

http://www.muleshoe-eng.com

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