Project/Technology Description:
The project provides a "Practical Pipeline Operator Guide" to manage odor fade issues associated with typical gas system operating conditions and materials of construction. This required identification, prioritization, and quantification of the variables that lead to odor fade.
The project developed and validated a predictive model that can be used to counter odor fade. The model incorporated a methodology to enable the validation of additional combinations of gas, system, and material variables/scenarios. Based on a gap analysis, the chemical and physical phenomena responsible for odorant fade were defined and ranked based on thermodynamic prescreening and prior testing and experience.
The model consisted of simulation software packages that were validated through physical tests in the field. Software was used to simulate combinations of variables to determine how they affect odorant levels with respect to time, pressure, temperature and other conditions. Fluid flow simulation software was used to evaluate gas system piping scenarios.