Flow and Pressure Reduction of Gas Pipeline: How to prevent freezing
Flow and Pressure Reduction of Gas Pipeline: How to prevent freezing 1. Due to the Joule-Thomson effect; whenever gas pressure is reduced, its temperature is also reduced. This may result in freezing of the pipeline or formation of ice in the pipeline. The potential for freezing can be seen by calculating the temperature drop and subtract from initial temperature. We can use the formula below to calculate the final temperature if we reduce the pressure. From our calculation, if we get a Final temperature below 32˚F, then there is possibility of formation of ice due to moisture within the gas stream, hence we have to stop reducing the pressure of the gas. However, if from our calculation we get a Final temperature above 32˚F, then we can go ahead with reducing the pressure. 2. Preheating the natural gas before pressure reduction, we can decrease the Joule Thomson effect. Natural gas is heated in a heat exchanger and then goes through a JT valve where t