Odorization
biomethane I SOCLEMA

Biomethane, a methane-rich gas, comes from the purification of biogas, which itself comes from the fermentation of organic matter. Purification makes it possible to rid the biogas of its impurities and bring it back to the physico-chemical characteristics of natural gas. As the composition and characteristics of biomethane are similar to those of natural gas, they can be mixed without difficulty.

Like natural gasBiomethane is therefore odourless and combustible. To detect possible leaks and avoid any risk of explosion, the biomethane is odorized before being injected into the transmission system. This is the VHV (tetrahydrothiophene), a colourless and flammable liquid, with a characteristic sulphur odour, which serves as an odourant for biomethane.

OdoZEN is a patented natural gas odorization system. It is particularly designed for renewable gas such as bio-methane. This high precision system is reactive to sudden variations in pressure and flow rate and allows a wide range of injection.

The OdoZEN odorization system allows the injection of very small amount of odorous product, Continuous and adapted to different flow rates and pressures (almost immediate response). It is adapted to the injection of odorous products at very low flow rates (from 5Nm³/h) in the gas line, which is not the case for other known systems. These systems are mainly used for odorization of fossil natural gas with high flow rates (above 500 Nm³/h for the low pressure network and above 40,000 Nm³/h for the high-pressure network), while the biomethane flow rates are much lower (below 100 Nm³/h for the low pressure network and less than 800 Nm³/h for the high pressure network).

This system avoids a insufficient, excessive or inappropriate odorizationand thus prevents frequent production stoppages. The system responds reliably and efficiently to the operating conditions of the natural gas supply veins and specifically of renewable gas.

This odorization system avoids production stops and the availability rate of the injection is significantly improved.

In addition, OdoZEN is a system turnkey and autonomous because of its automatic regulation via a dedicated controller. It does not require any particular intervention. Compact and transportable, it can easily be used on different sites for backward odorization corrections or in storage or for the start-up phases of a new installation ora network extension.

SOCLEMA offers a integrated solution for the odorisation of biomethane. This solution consists of an injection tube equipped with a sprayer and a box mounted directly on the tube which allows the injection of THT to be controlled.

The proposed system, developed in partnership with GRTgaz, allows to measure the THT continuously and accurately thanks to the mass flow controller, and on the other hand to spray the THT homogeneously to prevent the remaining liquid tht in the gas lines.

The enclosure can be mounted one GENIE 760 Injection probe or GENIE 702 probe. The interest of the GENIE 702 probe is that it is available in large lengths (up to 3 meters) and that this system can therefore be installed on buried pipes without the use of a pit.