The retrograde condensation problem in natural gas pipeline transportation system

Abstract

Natural gas prepared for pipeline transportation must have appropriate parameters described in norms and standards. This entails a restrictive approach to acceptable changes in the composition of the natural gas in pipeline transmission system. The greater number of entry points to the pipeline transmission system causes a greater probability of natural gas diversity in terms of the content of its individual components. It particularly concerns the natural gas sources in which treatment methods are not sufficiently accurate and also imported gas. In specific cases where natural gas with a higher content of heavier hydrocarbons such as propane and butane will enter the transportation system, it is possible for the phenomenon of retrograde (reverse) condensation to occur. The occurrence of the two-phase system significantly worsens the pipeline transport conditions, causing significant pressure drops of transported natural gas. The article examines cases where the phenomenon of retrograde (reverse) condensation occurred in the pipeline transportation of natural gas.