Solid Particles in Natural Gas from a Transportation Network: A Chemical Composition Study

This paper aims to provide the elemental composition of particles found in natural gas. Particle sampling is performed on cellulose filters obtained from an industrial gas storage facility, and the qualitative particle composition is determined by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Maxime Cachia, Hervé Carrier, Brice Bouyssiere, Philippe Le Coustumer, Pierre Chiquet, Guilhem Caumette, Isabelle Le Hécho
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2019-10-01
Series:Energies
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/20/3866
Description
Summary:This paper aims to provide the elemental composition of particles found in natural gas. Particle sampling is performed on cellulose filters obtained from an industrial gas storage facility, and the qualitative particle composition is determined by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Our results establish that natural gas may contain solid particles, with sizes ranging from less than 1 μm to more than 50 μm. The observed particles are composed of numerous elements, such as aluminum (Al), silica (Si), sulphur (S), chloride (Cl), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), sodium (Na), manganese (Mg), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), titanium (Ti), nickel (Ni), vanadium (V), potassium (K), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), silver (Ag), cobalt (Co), iodine (I), and barium (Ba), with relative occurrences ranging from 1 to 85%. Moreover, metallic elements enable the formation of larger particles as a result of the agglomeration of smaller particles.
ISSN:1996-1073