Literature review on the effects of renewable gases on flow meters

Biogas, biomethane, hydrogen and syngas are renewable gases. Biogas and biomethane are produced from the methanisation of organic waste. It has a wide spectrum of sources such as municipal waste, landfill, sewage treatment plants, agricultural residues or manure. Hydrogen and syngas are produced after the conversion of electricity through a “power to gas” process for hydrogen production and in combination with gasified coal for syngas production. These new gases are used in many local or broader applications, which means that the metrology metering system in the gas supply chain needs to be reconsidered. However, an overview of studies on the global performance of existing gas meters with renewable gases is not yet available.

These renewable gases could provide a solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or they could be injected into existing natural gas networks. For this purpose, European Directive 2009/73/EC allows the injection of these gases into the natural gas network when it is technically possible and when it is safe.

The aim of WP1 is to analyse the effects of renewable gases on the accuracy and durability of metrology gas flow meters.

Task 1.1 will gather all of the studies on this topic from gas R&D institutes (European Gas Research Group (GERG), Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI), etc.), TSOs and DSOs, and from laboratories and/or manufacturers, whilst taking into account existing and available standards, experience and reports from standardisation committees.

Task 1.2 will define an acceptable range of gas compositions for each renewable gas family that matches current production capabilities, available technical capabilities and actual needs.

Task 1.3 will use the literature survey from Task 1.1 to define a mapping for each meter technology and each renewable gas family, for the gas compositions that have been tested and their impact on accuracy, time drift, life-time and robustness. This mapping may in turn help to define, for each gas meter technology, which gas compositions (belonging to the gas composition ranges listed in Task 1.2) have never been sufficiently tested and which need to be tested (and the impact will be analysed).