A project has been undertaken to compare methods to measure the hydrocarbon dew point of natural gas. These measurements are essential at all points of entry to the UK's natural gas network as they determine whether gases meet legislative requirements in place to prevent the formulation of hazardous liquid hydrocarbon condensate in pipelines. A range of direct and indirect analytical methods for determining the hydrocarbon dew point of a wide range of real and synthetic natural gases were studied. The results from these methods are presented in the project report, where the comparative results are compared in detail.

Introduction

The project: 'Measurement of natural gas hydrocarbon dewpoint: chilled mirror and gas chomatography (GC) methods' was carried out in partnership with EffecTech Ltd, Michell Instruments Ltd, National Grid and Orbital.

Project report

Download the project report ( PDF 1.3 MB)

The experimental data described in this report are presented in more detail below.

Energy & Fuels paper

A peer-reviewed paper describing the work ('Measurement of the hydrocarbon dew point of real and synthetic natural gas mixtures by direct and indirect methods') has been published in Energy & Fuels, 23, 2009, 1640-1650.

Note that this paper uses different codes to identify the gases and analytical systems to those used in the project report. Details of these differences are available here.

Phase One - Analysis of five synthetic natural gas Primary Reference Gas Mixtures

[Note: the identifying codes used here are those from the project report. Details of the different codes used in the Energy & Fuels paper are available here.]

• Supporting information ( PDF 36 KB)
• Gravimetric composition data ( XLS 22 KB)
• Analytical data: lab GC (one method) ( XLS 23 KB)
• Analytical data: Automatic chilled mirror ( XLS 74 KB)
• Comparison plots ( PDF 43 KB)

Phase Two - Analysis of seven real natural gas samples

[Note: the identifying codes used here are those from the project report. Details of the different codes used in the Energy & Fuels paper are available here.]

• Supporting information ( PDF 53 KB)
• Analytical data: lab GC (two methods) ( XLS 34 KB)
• Analytical data: process GC (two methods) ( XLS 34 KB)
• Analytical data: Automatic chilled mirror ( XLS 110 KB)
• Analytical data: Manual chilled mirror ( PDF 570 KB)
• Comparison plots ( PDF 190 KB)

Further information

For further information regarding the project or the above data, please contact Andrew Brown

Please visit other NPL webpages for further details on natural gas standards, natural gas odorant standards and other calibration gas standards.