A Review of Leak Detection Systems for Natural Gas Pipelines and Facilities

Abstract

Pipelines facilities, used for the transportation of natural gas in large quantities to homes and industries, remain the best economic, most reliable and safest mode of transport of energy. Despite these numerous advantages, gas pipelines have been enmeshed in various accidents and thefts, nonetheless this could be reduced if properly maintained and pipelines can last indefinitely without leaks. Pipelines are susceptible to leakages and rupture accidents as a result of age, corrosion, material defects, operational errors or other reasons. Pipeline failures may be caused intentionally (e.g. vandalism) or unintentionally (e.g. device/material failure and corrosion), which may result into irreversible damages such as financial losses, human casualties, ecological disaster and extreme environmental pollution. Leakages in natural gas facilities and installations require three vital aspects, namely: Gas Leakage Prevention, Gas Leakage Detection and Gas Leakage Mitigation. Many Gas Leak Detection methods are used for pipeline integrity management and especially for minimizing gas leakage. The performance of these methods depends on the approaches, operational conditions and pipeline networks. Also, there are some essential requirements and guidelines which must be met before we can consider any leak detection system suitable for production solutions, including sensitivity, reliability, accuracy and robustness. The attempt of this study is to carry out a critical review of these models, to ascertain the best model(s) applicable to natural gas leak detection. Keywords: Gas Leak Detection System, Leak Location, Leak Size DOI: 10.7176/JETP/13-2-02 Publication date: April 30 th 2023