It is desired to transfer natural gas (CH4) at a pressure of 200 psia and a flow rate of 1000 scfs through a 1 mi.

long
insulated commercial steel pipeline into a storage tank at 100 psia. Can this be done using a 6 in. ID pipe ?

T= 70 F, mgas = 0.02 cP

Basic information:

Volumetric rate 1000 SCFS

Mass flow desired 42.160737813 lb/sec
pipe length 5280 ft
pipe diameter 0.5 ft
k roughness 0.00015 ft
Upstream P 200 psia
Downstream P 100 psia
Temp 70 F
529.7 R
Gas MWt 16 lb/lbmol
Viscosity 2.00E-02 cP
CSA pipe 0.19635 ft2
G desired 214.72237236

Calculations:

Speed of Sound @ 70 F

G at delta P specified
1283.356 ft/sec

49.718239244 lb /ft2 sec

umax =
√ √p2
ρ2
=
zRT
M
=u S ,T

Nre 1.85E+06 Based on calculated G - assumption of fully developed flow OK

k/D 0.0003
f choked flow 0.003734255 Assume fully devleoped turbulent flow and then check Nre

G Max Calculation based on P1 = 200 psia (Iterative Solution using SOLVER)

Upstream density 0.563015412

Intitial Assume (Gmax)2 3186.876102
(G max )2 3186.8761027 ρ1 p1
G2max =
p ρ
Error

G max based on P1
7.048561E-07

56.452423349
1+
4f L
D
+ln 12
Gm (
P2 at G max based on P1 15.6253 psia

Gmax =√ ρ2 p2
Density of gas at this P2 0.043986 lb / ft3
Gmax =√ ρ2 p2
G max based on this density and speed of sound at 70 F

56.45023 lb / ft2 sec CHECKS

G max based on P2 = 100 psia 361.2887 lb / ft2 sec

Gmax =√ ρ2 p2

So - the specified 200 psia to 100 psia pressure drop will produce a flow rate of only 49.7 lb / ft2
sec - not enough flow. Assuming the upstream (200 psia) pressure is fixed and you could drop
the downstream pressure to a point ( 15.6 psia) where the flow went to a maximum (sonic
velocity = 1283 ft/sec) the maximum G would be 56.4 lb / ft2 sec - still not enough flow. If you
were to fix P2 at 100 psia and increase the P1 pressure to get the desired flow, the system would
work. I'll leave it to you to figure out what P1 would be required.
scfs through a 1 mi. long
g a 6 in. ID pipe ?

=u S ,T

M
( p 2− p 2)
zRT 1 2
G2 =
p2 2
L
4 f −ln
D ( )
p1

ρ1 p1
=
p ρ
1+
4f L
D
+ln 12 1
G max( )
y 49.7 lb / ft2
could drop
(sonic
ow. If you
system would