Episodes

  • Automating Catalytic Heaters with Catco Control

    Automating Catalytic Heaters with Catco Control
    Mar 2 2022

    Travis Richards talks to Douglas Patton and Julio Soto about Catco’s newest product, Catco Control. Doug is the head of Business Development, while Julio is the Product Specialist at Catco. They dissect the benefits of having an automated monitoring system, how the catalytic heater operates, and how Catco Control will save operating costs in the energy industry. 

    Topics Covered:

    [04:38] Introducing Catco Control

    [05:36] Key differences between manual and automatically controlled catalytic heaters

    [07:18] Understanding automatic mode in Catco Control

    [08:20] Catalytic heaters and how they operate

    [11:10] The temperature sensor and adjustable inputs

    [15:10] Benefits of automation with Catco Control

    [17:40] Operational efficiency and cost reduction with automation

    [20:40] Why people in the gas industry would want Catco Control
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    26 mins
  • Polyethylene Pipes (feat. Nick Torkildsen)

    Polyethylene Pipes (feat. Nick Torkildsen)
    Jan 20 2022

    Travis Richards welcomes back Nick Torkildsen, the Tooling and Distribution Product Manager at Mulcare Pipeline Solutions, Inc. They continue their conversation on gas pipelines, focusing more on polyethylene pipes, why they are the preferred piping option and the risks of using PE pipes.

    Topics Covered:

    • Polyethylene pipes in the natural gas industry
    • The difference between electrofusion and butt fusion methods of pipe welding
    • Safety and credibility of joints in PE pipes
    • How technicians weld PE pipes
    • Technological advancement in the PE piping space
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    22 mins
  • Flow-stopping (feat. Nick Torkildsen)

    Flow-stopping (feat. Nick Torkildsen)
    Jan 6 2022

    Travis Richards sits down with Nick Torkildsen, the Tooling and Distribution Product Manager at Mulcare Pipeline Solutions, Inc. They talk about flow-stopping, repair standards, and how technicians set up bypasses during pipe repair.

     

    Topics Covered:

    • The flow-stopping process
    • How to set up a bypass
    • Frameworks for spacing out dead zones
    • Correct product implementation
    • The demand element when scheduling repair works
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    26 mins
  • Ultrasonic Measurement

    Ultrasonic Measurement
    Dec 24 2021

    Travis Richards’ guest for today’s show is one of the legends of the industry, John Gorham. He is the Gas Measurement Supply and Heat Product Manager for Mulcare Pipeline Solutions. They learn about the superior benefits and evolution of ultrasonic measurement throughout the years.

    Topics discussed include:
    History of ultrasonic meters
    Ultrasonic metering in gas measurement in commercial and residential areas
    Ultrasonic meters VS diaphragm meters
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    30 mins
  • How to Meter Gas

    How to Meter Gas
    Dec 10 2021
    Travis Richards welcomes back Adam Hawley for Part 2 of the podcast. They move on to discussing how to meter and measure gas and the different flow meters he recommends for listeners.  Topics discussed include:  Metering and measuring gasDifferent flow meters for custody transferTradeoffs in the different meters When figuring out what flow meter or size meter to get, Adam advises to consider the required accuracy or uncertainty of measurement when measuring natural gas. It could be a custody transfer meter, which is a meter that’s being used to buy or sell gas between companies that needs a high accuracy and does a good job of measuring to avoid discrepancies that could result in millions of dollars of gas that’s unaccounted for, or just a check meter in a plant that determines whether there’s flow or none.  Some good choices for custody transfer applications include the Coriolis flow meter. This uses the Coriolis force to measure flow and what happens is that the gas flows through vibrating tubes and based on how the gas flows through the tube as well as the geometry of it, it imparts the Coriolis force on these tubes which makes them bend and twist proportional to the flow rate; the higher the flow rate, the more they’ll bend or twist. Through that bending and twisting, they can get a high accuracy of measurement. What’s unique about the Coriolis meter is that it measures mass flow and not volume flow which is advantageous for natural gas flow movement because it cuts out required steps to get back to your volume or standard flow. How the mechanism works is that there are oils on each of the tubes that measure vibrations and the raw signal that goes into the computer is a wave that shows the pulsing of the vibrations. As the bending and the twisting of the tubes happen, it shifts that vibration waves between the tubes and the computer would transmit the difference in timing between the wave it’s measuring and the time it’s proportional to. For an ultrasonic meter, there are multiple paths that send ultrasonic pulses back and forth the gas and each of those paths measure the velocity of the gas in a defined spot in the pipe. The meter integrates those paths and informs you of the velocity of the gas in the pipe. Based on the geometry of the pipe, it can convert it into the standard volume. One great thing about both technologies is that they have diagnostics associated with them to inform you whether they’re healthy or if there’s a need to check on the operation of the meters. Another tried and tested meter is the turbine meter that still also fits in the custody transfer bucket and was heavily used prior to the Coriolis and ultrasonic meters available in the market. An example of how a turbine meter works is if when there are fan blades in the pipes that are on a shaft and as the gas flows over the blades, it causes the rotor to turn, and the meter counts the number of revolutions of the fan, blades, and rotor in the flow proportional to the volume flow. However, since turbine meters are mechanical, there aren’t many diagnostics as much as the Coriolis and ultrasonic to determine the problem. The gas should be clean with little to no contamination because the mechanical components are more susceptible to that versus the other two technologies. Still, turbine meters have great accuracy and the best repeatability out of any flow meter.  Thermal mass meters are more on the side of low-cost flow meters. There is a probe in the flow that maintains the current at a certain temperature and as the gas flows over the probe, it cools the probe, and the meter can determine the flow rate based on how much cooling is happening or how much energy it’s putting in to try to keep the probe at a given temperature. The grandfather of all flow measurement is the orifice meter and is still used in some custody transfer applications because it’s cheap, reliable, and has been used for so long, but are also the most susceptible to issues with cleanliness of the gas. The orifice meter is essentially just a plate with a hole in it and as the gas runs into the plate and through the hole, it exits at a high velocity and causes a differential pressure across the plate. Upstreaming the plate brings higher pressure while down streaming the plate causes low pressure which is the fundamental measurement that an orifice meter would use to measure flow. When it comes to tradeoff, orifice meters are susceptible to the overall geometric tolerance of the meter. There is a gas industry standard called The American Gas Association Report No. 3 that details exactly how an orifice meter should be designed down to the pipe roughness finish and the geometry of where the plate is. If an orifice meter is designed down to the letter of the law, it’s going to perform within its uncertainty. Where things go awry is when the tolerances are so tight and specific on fabricating this meter that when there’s a mistake or ...
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    30 mins
  • Standards of Measurement

    Standards of Measurement
    Nov 26 2021

    Travis Richards welcomes Adam Hawley, Principal Engineer of the Flow Measurement Department of Southwest Research Institute. In the first part of this two-part series, they discuss the difficulties and standards of measuring natural gas.

    Topics discussed include: 

    • The Flow Measurement Department
    • The difficulty and standard of measuring gas
    • Heating value
    • Challenges in measuring natural gas

    The Flow Measurement Department is composed of the Metering Research Facility which is a facility with the goal to increase the state-of-the-art of natural gas flow measurement as well as the capability to research filters, regulators, and test anything connected to a natural gas pipeline.

    Regarding the difficulty of measuring gas, a gallon of natural gas at low-pressure and a certain temperature is going to have a lot less mass than a gallon of natural gas at high pressure. Since gallons or cubic feet of natural gas at higher pressure contain more mass and energy, it is much more valuable than a gallon or cubic feet of natural gas at atmospheric pressure or temperature. To buy and sell it, they have standardized it to the volume of gas at 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 1 atmospheric pressure or 14.696 psi.

    Natural gas is made up of multiple gases—predominantly methane but also other gases like propane and ethane that change the heating value of the gas. Ultimately, gas is bought and sold on heating value or the amount of heat or energy that the gas can produce if you burn it. 

    The challenges in measuring natural gas include fill conditions. Natural gas travels through pipelines, compressing stations, and miles of runs before it’s measured and sold to a power plant. Cleanliness is also a challenge—if there’s black gunk or liquids from compressors, it could pose a problem from getting good measurement from flow meters. The right meter, size of the meter, proper installation, flow conditioner, and upstream piping are key things to getting good measurements in the long run.

    You can find out more about flow measurement through their website and you can reach Adam through the Flow Measurement Research Department or at +1 210 522 3427.

    Expand your knowledge about natural gas by visiting www.naturalgasschool.org.
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    19 mins
  • The Control Valve Guy - Part 2

    The Control Valve Guy - Part 2
    Nov 12 2021

    Travis Richards welcomes back Antonio Alvarado of VRG Controls LLC, also known as “The Control Valve Guy”. In this episode, they discuss regulations in stations, how to mitigate noise, and how ball valves became the leader in the industry.

    Topics discussed include: 

    • Why there are stations adjacent to neighborhoods and what to do
    • Is noise a problem or a symptom?
    • How to attenuate noise
    • Globe valves VS Ball valves
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    27 mins
  • The Control Valve Guy - Part 1

    The Control Valve Guy - Part 1
    Oct 29 2021

    Travis Richards welcomes Antonio Alvarado of VRG Controls LLC, also known as “The Control Valve Guy”. They discuss everything control valves and how important it is to size according to your requirements.

    Topics discussed include: 

    • Sizing control valves
    • Common mistakes to avoid in sizing control valves
    • The result of under-sizing and oversizing control valves
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    28 mins