Transportation of hydrogen by main gas pipelines as a methane-hydrogen mixture

Abstract

Due to the emergence of new technologies that make it possible to obtain hydrogen from associated petroleum gas, it has become necessary to store and transport it. As a solution to this problem, the possibility of hydrogen transportation as a methane-hydrogen mixture was considered, i.e. natural gas with a certain hydrogen content. The article considers the issues of methane-hydrogen mixture (MHM) transportation through existing main gas pipelines at various percentages of hydrogen to natural gas. As an example, the Urengoyskoye field was chosen, where it is possible to produce hydrogen from the associated gas of gas condensate fields, and a section of the Novopskovskiy corridor, through which it is possible to transport MHM. In the work, the influence of the hydrogen content in the methane-hydrogen mixture on the gas-dynamic characteristics of the pipeline, mainly on the pressure and throughput capacity of gas in the pipeline, as well as the influence of its content on the operating mode of the compressor station and the power of the gas turbine, when using MHM for the station's own needs, was studied. The obtained results show an insignificant effect of the hydrogen percentage in the mixture on the pressure and throughput of the gas pipeline, which is a weighty argument in favor of the possibility of transporting hydrogen through existing gas pipelines.