DIVERSIFYING LEVEL MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY IN THE LNG INDUSTRY Tai Piazza, Refining Industry Manager, VEGA Americas
Natural gas continues to be a part of the energy puzzle that powers our world, and reliable, accurate level measurement is a part of the solution.
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ryogenic processes and applications place high demands on level measurement instrumentation. Any sensor or transmitter must be robust enough to handle low dielectric fluids and volatile liquid surface conditions, as well as having the ability to withstand the high demands of potential thermal shock. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry experiences these challenges every day. Considered to be a cleaner, more environmentally friendly alternative to oil, natural gas has seen a recent boom thanks to technological developments in production, storage, and transportation. As infrastructure and new innovations have made natural gas a more economically feasible energy source, worldwide demand and production have grown. Fortunately, level measurement technology has grown with it, enabling upstream, midstream, and downstream companies to safely maximise vessel usage and optimise their processes. The LNG industry has traditionally relied on floats, displacer technologies, and differential pressure for level measurements. However, these devices are prone to measurement errors because
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of mechanical wear and tear as well as fluid density changes. As a result, newer facilities are being engineered and built with newer, more modern level measurement technologies and at the same time, older facilities are upgrading and adapting. Since natural gas extraction, processing, and transportation use complex processes involving extreme temperatures, pressures, or both, level measurements are rarely a one-size-fits-all. A single facility may need to employ multiple different technologies for level measurements throughout its operation. This article highlights a few of those technologies, their uses, and advantages: 80 GHz radar, guided wave radar, and vibration point level switches.
Isolated, non-contact level measurements in storage tanks Filling and emptying large LNG storage tanks are lengthy processes, so any downtime is time and money lost. Since mechanical level measurement instrumentation is often associated with high maintenance costs, they reduce the efficiency of any operation.