Coriolis flowmeter for precise and accurate flow measurement
Technology you can trust in hazardous areas, critical applications and highly regulated industries The process control industries are characterized by […]
We are privileged to celebrate Earth Day this year with Long Ridge Energy –the Appalachian Basin’s leading multimodal energy terminal focused on the energy transition. This 485MW combined cycle power plant will be the first utility scale demonstration of hydrogen co-fire in North America.
Our Endress+Hauser flow and analyzer technologies were center stage as important compliments to the hydrogen ready fuel system, so we had the opportunity to join.
Coriolis flowmeters for gas fuel flows
Coriolis flowmeters are capable of multivariable measurement, for gas flow including mass flow, temperature, and corrected volumetric flow. This principle offers unmatched reliability and highly accurate measurement, typically 0.25% of rate in gas flow, with no installation restrictions on upstream or downstream pipe requirements.
Endress+Hauser’s award-winning Proline Promass Q Coriolis flowmeter was selected for the Hydrogen Injection skid that dopes the hydrogen into the fuel system upstream of the main gas fuel flowmeter shown below.
Downstream of this Hydrogen Injection is our Promass F Coriolis for the main Gas Fuel Flow.
Gas fuel flowmeters are critical totalizers for calculating emissions. Our ISO 17025 gravimetric calibrations are compliant with ASME MFC-9M, so no environmental petition is required for 40 CFR Part 75 compliance. In this case, both the H2 flowmeter and the Gas Fuel Flowmeter will be used for this EPA reporting metric.
Significant increases of hydrogen in natural gas (+30% blends) will result in much higher flow velocities which can cause choked flow on valves or very high pressure drops across flowmeters. Endress+Hauser’s Proline Promass F Coriolis flowmeter and larger capacity Proline Promass X Coriolis flowmeter are effectively interchangeable and can help future proof the design of this power plant. With limited space, the equivalent flange to flange dimensions would be useful in high H2 Injection scenarios.
Future Proof for Higher H2 Blends in Natural Gas
Raman spectroscopy for hydrogen blending validation
Flow is used to dope or inject the correct rate of hydrogen into the natural gas fuel system but monitoring the %mol of hydrogen helps validate the blend to ensure safety and performance optimization. Endress+Hauser’s Raman Rxn5 process analyzer operates on fundamental principles which allow fast (15-30 second update time), online measurement with no emissions.
For a deeper dive on compositional measurements and the technologies available for these types of applications, please see the recently published white paper on “Getting a Hydrogen Signal in Natural Gas”.
Entering an energy transition paradigm
Power plants like Long Ridge Energy represent a collective feat of engineering across multiple companies and disciplines over a long period of time. The analyzer shown above has been tested on gas turbines for Hydrogen and other Fuel Blending Applications over the last 10 years. The research and development effort beyond Endress+Hauser’s scope of work was extensive, and the insight offered into what the world’s brightest minds are capable of is inspiring.
As we enter a world where solar and wind will continue to be deployed, excess energy, often converted to hydrogen through electrolysis, will need productive end users like Gas Turbines. The repurposing of existing gas power plants for clean burning hydrogen represents real progress in the Energy Transition.
