MODELLING OF THE HYDRATES FORMATION IN NATURAL GAS PIPELINES

The hydrates formation represents very serious problem when transporting in pipelines. The most dangerous sectors are those leading from wells to a drying plant. The most critical are times of start-up. As a precaution the injection of hydrates formation inhibitors is applied. For a determination of optimized amounts of injected inhibitors is necessary to calculate heat losses of gas when transporting in pipelines. With the help of the presented developed model it is possible to predict the probability of hydrates formation and calculate subsequently the necessary amount of inhibitor. The determination of heat loss of above and underground insulated and uninsulated pipes are involved into the modelling. The applicability of the method is demonstrated in the example of transporting pipelines net when the natural gas is drawn from wells of the underground gas storage till the inlet separator of a drying plant.