How does the composition of natural gas/hydrogen mixture fluctuates during exploitation of a gas cavern

Abstract

Underground gas stores are built in depleted gas reservoirs or in salt domes or salt caverns. In the case of salt caverns, the store space for gas is created by leaching the salt using water. Gas stores in salt caverns are capable to provide the distribution network with large volumes of gas in a short time and cover the peak demand for gas. The salt caverns are also capable to store large volumes of gas in case when there is too much gas on a market. Generally, the salt caverns are used to mitigate the fluctuation of gas demand, specifically during winter. The gas provided to the distribution network must satisfy the requirements regarding its heating value, calorific value, volumetric content of hydrogen and the Wobbe number. Large hydrogen content reduces the calorific value as well as the heating value of gas and thus its content must be regulated to keep these values at the acceptable level. One should also remember that every portion of gas which was used to create the gas/hydrogen mixture may have different parameters (heating value and calorific value) because it may come from different sources. The conclusion is that the hydrogen content and the heating value must be known at every moment of gas store exploitation. The paper presents an algorithm and a computer program which may be used to calculate the hydrogen content (volumetric percentage), heating value and calorific value (plus the Wobbe number) of gas collected from the salt cavern at every moment of cavern exploitation. The possibility of the presence of non-flammable components in the mixture and their effect on the heat of combustion / calorific value were considered. An exemplary calculation is provided.