Dr Joey Walker, EffecTech, UK, looks at how to improve and optimise existing sampling systems for LNG inspection.
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NG production and trade has been on a significant growth curve over the past decade. In 2020, global LNG demand reached 360 million tpy and this is expected to double by the year 2040.1 The success of LNG as a key contributor to the energy mix can be attributed to its flexibility and resilience, especially during the 2020 economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. What remains an unknown is how accurately LNG volume and physical properties can be measured, which, when combined, produces a final total energy value for custody transfer agreements. A small error in final energy measurement can translate to significant financial risk on both sides of the contractual agreement. The general practices of measurement adopted by the natural gas industry are difficult to apply to LNG because it is a cryogenic liquid. Industry has responded to this issue by producing equipment and instrumentation suitable for measurement in the cryogenic liquid phase, however the development, calibration, and testing of such apparatus requires many years of research and collaboration. Industrial operators are likely to remain conservative in their approach to new measurement technology, therefore existing sampling system installations are expected to remain unchanged or replaced, unless they are proven to be inadequate. EffecTech, which already offers performance evaluations for natural gas instruments to ensure confidence in measurement, has focused on how to improve and optimise existing sampling
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