Natural gas production in the United States has been steadily increasing for almost a decade – made possible by oil and gas companies that extract valuable hydrocarbons trapped deep underground.
In natural gas production, a well is sunk and made ready for production, and companies like Blue Racer Midstream process the unfiltered natural gas flowing from the well into products for refineries.
The VEGAPLUS 64 supports this process, delivering reliable and accurate measurement data despite the poor reflective properties of liquid gas.
VEGAPULS 64 is used in numerous places throughout refineries
Oil and gas companies are strictly regulated, with redundant measurements required by law for many processes and applications to minimise the risks of tank leakage.
Blue Racer Midstream operates a number of natural gas treatment and processing facilities in eastern Ohio and West Virginia, and supplies a wide range of products that meet the specifications for pipelines.
Non-contact measurement made possible
Before purified products make their way through the pipeline, they are stored in large underground tanks. These tanks have access pipes protruding about 30-60cm out of the ground, and at the top of these narrow pipes VEGAPULS 64 radar sensors are installed.
VEGAPULS 64 is a radar level sensor that measures contactlessly with a very high signal frequency: 80 GHz, which allows for a more focused signal. The sensor can also measure through very narrow openings, as is the case with the access pipes.
Since the majority of the radar beam’s energy is focused on a smaller area, the antenna receives a stronger reflected signal from the product surface. The 80-GHz radar sensors are repeatedly setting new standards in detecting small, weak signals, due to their dynamic range – especially when measuring hydrocarbons.
VEGAPULS 64 can detect all media in the petrochemical industry, from crude oil to liquid gas, with high reliability.
An easy solution to a difficult task
Blue Racer Midstream used guided wave radar technology for all level measurements in the two underground storage tanks, two sensors were mounted on each tank – one for continuous level measurement and one for a max. alarm, which shuts down the process to avoid overfilling.
The guided wave radar sensors used in the storage tanks delivered correct level values despite high mounting sockets and bad reflective properties of natural gases. When the time came to replace the max. alarm sensors on each tank, VEGA suggested using contactless measurement with VEGAPULS 64.
The strong focusing and exceptional sensitivity of the sensor ensures an accurate and reliable level measurement.
80-GHz has a positive effect when measuring liquids with small dielectric constants at the bottom of a vessel. The result is that even the lowest filling levels can still be measured reliably and accurately.
More dependable results
Blue Racer Midstream chose the new VEGAPULS 64 sensors and was impressed with the results. As each tank requires two sensors for the same measurement, operators were able to directly compare the performance of the new non-contact radar sensors with that of the original sensors.
In this comparison, the accuracy of VEGA technology was totally convincing, and as a result, Blue Racer Midstream began replacing the guided wave radar instruments with new VEGAPULS 64 radar sensors in all locations.
This sponsored editorial was brought to you by VEGA, for more information go to www.vega.com
