Customer Challenges
- The operator required independent verification of gas flow measurement on a 48-inch flare line, as the readings from the permanently installed thermal meter were not considered sufficiently reliable
- Accurate flare gas measurement was essential for operational monitoring, flare reporting, emissions estimation, and measurement assurance
- The flare system experienced low, unstable and highly transient flow conditions, with gas entering the flare header from multiple upstream sources including separator outlets and relief systems
- Due to the large pipe size and the requirement to avoid shutdown or piping modifications, Gas Tracing was selected as the most suitable temporary verification technique
Expro Excellence
- Expro deployed its Gas Tracing solution using existing injection and sampling ports, eliminating the need for any permanent modifications to the pipeline
- A known quantity of tracer gas was injected into the flare line and sampled approximately 25 metres downstream after complete mixing
- The total gas flow rate was calculated using the tracer dilution (mass balance) principle, providing a representative measurement of the entire pipeline flow
- The measured flow rates were independently compared with the permanently installed thermal meter throughout two monitoring campaigns
Value to Client
- Provided an independent reference measurement to assess the performance of the installed thermal meter
- Demonstrated that the installed thermal meter was considerably over-reading as compared with the Gas Tracing measurements under the observed operating conditions
- Enabled evidence-based assessment of flare measurement performance without interrupting production
- Eliminated the need for costly pipeline modifications or installation of an inline flow meter
- Improved confidence in flare gas reporting, emissions estimation and operational decision-making
- Delivered a temporary, portable and minimal intrusive verification solution using existing pipeline connections
Contact
For further information, please contact flow.surveillance@expro.com.
