62-01-03
An App..o~itnate P ..actical Co....elation of tlte
Effect of P ..essu..e on tlte Dew Point T etnpe..atu..e
of Pipeline Natu..al Gases
(13th Annual Technical MeeNng, Calgary, May, 1962)
ABSTRACT
The dew point temperatures of
normal pipeline gases are influenced
not only by the hydrocarbon com-
position of the gas but also by the
presence of traces of contaminants
such as hydrate depressants and
compressor oil. For this reason
dew point temperatures calculated
from gas analyses are frequently
lower than observed dew points and
the effect of pressure on dew point
temperature is not the same as for
a pure hydrocarbon gas.
Actual dew point measurements
on 16 gases were compared with cal-
culated dew points and differences
up to 50F were observed. Not
withstanding these serious differ
ences the shape of the actual and
the calculated dew point tempera-
ture-pressure curves were similar.
This similarity has permitted the
development of a practical correla-
tion of the effect of pressure on the
dew point temperature of the gases.
The correlation permits the esti-
mation of the dew point tempera-
ture at any pressure within the
range of 100 to 800 psi from its
knowledge at anyone pressure
within this range. The accuracy is
about -t-5F for pressures in the
range of 400 to 800 psi. The corre-
lation, along with calculations of the
theoretical dew point, may also be
used to estimate the degree of con-
tamination of pipeline gases.
.. Professor of Ohemical Engineer-
ing, Dean of Faculty of Engineer-
ing, University of Alberta, Ed-
monton.
** Assistant Professor of Petroleum
Engineering, University of Al-
berta, Edmonton.
14
By G. W. GOVIER* and K. AZIZ**
INTRODUCTION
The contracts for the pipeline
transportation of natural gas usu-
ally limit the higher hydrocarbon
content of the gas by specifying a
maximum hydrocarbon dew point.
In Alberta contracts specify that
the hydrocarbon dew point be lim-
ited to 15F. up to the max-
imum operating pressure of the
pipeline. In order strictly to comply
with this specification the dew point
temperature must be measured
directly at the maximum operating
pressure. Usually, however, the
gases are available only at pressures
below the maximum pipeline oper-
ating pressure and a direct measure-
ment is not practical. Under these
conditions the engineer must either
(a) calculate the dew point at the
desired higher pressure dir-
ectly from the avaliable gas
analysis, or
(b) estimate the dew point at the
higher pressure from dew
point measurements at somf'
lower pressure.
A companion paper by Aziz and
Govier (1) has presented a semi-
theoretical correlation which facili-
tates the calculation, from gas
analysis, of hydrocarbon dew points
of clean pipeline gases. The mea-
sured dew point temperatures of
(1) K. Aziz and G. W. Govier, "A
Rapid Approximate Method for
the Estimation of Hydrocarbon
Dew Points of Clean Pipeline
Natural Gases," 13th Annual
Technical Meeting, P. & N.G.
Division, C.I.M., Calgary, May
1962.
normal pipeline gases are influenced
not only by the hydrocarbon com-
position of the gas but also by the
presence of traces of contaminants
such as hydrate depressants and
compressor oil. For this reason,
dew point temperatures calculated
from gas analyses are frequently
lower than the observed dew points
and the effect of pressure on the
dew point temperature is not the
same as for a natural gas composed
entirely of hydrocarbons.
It seems desirable then to base
the estimation of the actual dew
point at the maximum operating
pressure on measurement at some
lower pressure and the general
shape of the dew point curves.
The work reported in Reference
(1) was extended to check the semi-
theoretical correlation against the
actual measured dew points of a
number of Alberta pipeline gases,
and to develop a method which
would allow the prediction of actual
clew point temperatures at any
pressure from a measurement at
some other pressure.
FIELD MEASUREMENTS
A standard Bureau of Mines Dew
Point Tester, equipped with a dead
weight tester for pressure measure-
ments, was used for all dew point
measurements.
Dew point data for all gases were
obtained, over a period of approxi-
mately four months during the
summer of 1961, at the Alberta Gas
Trunk Line meter stations. Table 1
is a list of the meter stations where
tests were conducted; their locations
Journal of Canadian Petroleum
 PROVOST

...J
...J
<t
CALGARY t-
(f)
0::
::>
CD

II
10
MEDICINE HAT

FT: MACLEOD LETHBRIDGE

PINCHER
CREEK ~7

NUMBERS IDENTIFY METER STATIONS.

Figure 1

Technology, Spring, 1962, Calgary 15

 TABLE 1. VENT
THE ALBERTA GAS TRUNK LINE
__ DEW POINT
COMPANY LIMITED METER STATIONS METER
APPARATUS
1 Provost North
2 Provost South
3 Sedalia North UPSTREAM DOWNSTREAM
4 Sedalia South ISOLATING ISOLATING
5 Oyen VALVE VALVE
6 Sibbald
7 Bindloss North # 2
8 Bindloss North #1 DEAD WEIGHT
9 Bindloss South PRESSURE GAUGE--
10 Medicine Hat South
/
11 Medicine Hat North
12 Atlee Buffalo
13 Princess Denhart Figure 2
14 Princess Iddesleigh
15 Princess
16 Enchant gary. In some cases a gas sample these gases but they were probably
17 Pincher Creek was analyzed by both laboratories. the glycol-hydrocarbon type of dew
18 Cessford Wardlow In the first stage of the field points. In these cases the calcu-
19 Cessford East
20 Cessford West measurements gases from sixteen lated dew points were as much as
21 Cessford Carolside different meter stations (Numbers 140F lower than the measured
22 Cessford Burfield 14, 22, 36, 33, 18, 24, 1, 23, 15, 31, results. These gases were con-
23 Countess Duchess 20, 6, 7, 8, 17 and 10) were investi- sidered to be seriously contaminated
24 Hussar Makepeace gated. For some of these gases by extraneous materials such as
25 Hussar Chancellor
26 Wayne North several analyses were obtained and gycol or compressor oil which are
27 Three Hills Creek used for calculation of the dew not determined in the gas analysis.
28 Innisfail points. The total number of ana- Because of the high degree of con-
29 Prevo lyses considered from the sixteen tamination these four gases were
30 Gilby
31 Rimbey gases were twenty-eight. not used in the development of the
32 Nevis South The second stage of the experi- final correlation.
33 Nevis North
34 Chigwell mental work included gases from The measued dew point tempera-
35 Wood River eleven meter stations (Numbers 26, tures for the remaining twenty-one
36 Carstairs 27, 29, 30, 27, 31, 13, 10, 19, 25 and gases are presented in Figure 3.
37 Burstall 21). Two of the gases investigated, The data points have been omitted
Numbers 10 and 31, were also in- in the interest of clarity. At 800
vestigated in the first stage of the psia the range of dew points for
are shown in Figure 1. The names
operation. One analysis for each these gases is -13F to +26F.
and numbers of the meter stations
gas was obtained. No dew point
are those used by the Alberta Gas
calculations were performed for CALCULATED DEW POINTS
Trunk Line Company Limited. For
these gases. Calculated dew point tempera-
field measurements of dew points a
section of the pipeline containing RESULTS OF DEW POINT tures for a few of the gases were
the orifice meter (meter-run) was MEASUREMENTS determined both by manual calcula-
isolated in each case by two valves. Reference (1) contains thirteen tion and with the aid of an LGP-30
Gas samples were taken from this analyses of the ten gases considered. computer. Typical results appear
isolated meter-run in carefully The measured and calculated dew in Figure 4. Full details are given
purged sample containers. Figure point data for each gas are pre- in the report to the Alberta Gas
2 shows a typical field installation sented in full detail in tabular and Trunk Line Company (2). The con-
for dew point determination. graphical form in a report submit- vergence pressures for the gases
ted to the Alberta Gas Trunk Line considered were calculated to be
Dew point data were obtained for
Company (2). between 2,000 and 3,000 psi. The
the gas in the meter-run at approxi-
No dew points were observed for dew point calculations were per-
mately 100 psi intervals, from line
gases from meter stations 17 and formed for some of these gases for
pressure down to about 100 psig.
21 down to a temperature of -30F. these two convergence pressures
To do this, the gas was vented to
This is to be expected of gases of and also for a convergence pressure
the atmosphere thereby dropping
this type which contain about 95% of 5,000 psi. The results for the
the pressure in the isolated meter-
methane convergence pressure of 5,000 psi
run at the required intervals. This
were usually closer to the measured
procedure for determining hydro- For gases from meter stations 6, data than the other calculated re-
carbon dew points was found to be 7, 8 and 10 the dew points should sults. This does not mean, however,
very satisfactory. Sufficient quan- also be below -30F as these gases that the effective convergence pres-
tities of gas were available to obtain contain about 95% methane. Dew sure of these gases was 5,000 psi.
reliable results which could be points were observed, however, for It might rather be a compensating
duplicated whenever necessary. For
factor for the errors in gas analyses.
some of the gases, data checks were
(2) K. Aziz and G. W. Govier, The calculated dew points from
also made in the University of Al-
"Report on the Effect of Pres- the LGP-30 were not always the
berta laboratory. sure on the Hydrocarbon Dew same as the results manually cal-
All gases were analyzed either at Point Temperature of Alberta culated. This was due to the slight-
the University or by the Alberta Pipeline Gases," Report to Al-
berta Gas Trunk Line Company ly different Kdata in the computer
Gas Trunk Line Laboratory in Cal- Limited, September 1961. program and to the method of

16 Journal of Canadian Petroleum

 900
800
700
600
500
q
en 400
ci
.. 300
w /
0:: /
::) /
/
(J) /

~ 200
/
/
/
0:: /
/
Cl. /
/ CD INDICATES GAS N2 I
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
100
-40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30
DEW POINT TEMPERATURE, OF
Figure 3
the same gas resulted in differences
900 72 8 2 24 3 7j 8 1 18 1 24 2 31 1 18 2 in calculated dew points of up to
800
jj ;" r \ i .\ ./ i 43F. The combination of differ-
700
il I i Ences in analyses and calculation
600
500
11/
iii .I.i 1.1 I
/?/JVI/
[\
I. procedure produced deviations in
calculations of up to 50F. This
shows the unreliability of dew point

.g
400
300
// / i/ /
j .. .



calculations for normal pipeline
gases based on commercial gas ana-
lyses and conventional K-charts.

~ IJ/ / j / / COMPARISONS OF FIELD MEASURE-

MENTS AND CALCULATED
200
DEW POINTS

~ loo~!lf!
~~-!
-80 -60
handling the C n + component. For
the computer calculations the pro-
perties of the next higher hydro-
carbon, C n + 1, were usp.d for the
Cn + component. The manual cal-
culations were performed using the
properties of Cn for C n + component.
The maximum difference in calcu-
-40 -20 0 20
DEW POINT TEMPERA TURE. OF
Figure 4
lated results by different methods
was 24F brought about mainly
because of the manner in which
C n -c component was handled and to
a lesser degree because of the effect
of different convergence pressures.
The difference in the analyses
obtained from different sources for
Comparison of the calculated with
the measured dew points revealed
deviations ranging from -50F to
+27F for the twenty-one gases
considered. Deviations from the
40 measured values are believed to be
due largely to the presence of con-
taminants such as glycol and com
pressor oil, Some quick method of
detecting and determining the ex
tent of these contaminants, and
finding the true hydrocarbon dew
points in the presence of these con-
taminants, would be very desirable.
No special methods were used in
this investigation to detect the
effect of the contaminants.

Technology, Spring, 1962, Calgary 17

 9
7
6
~
5
0::: 4 PRESSURE, p.s.i.a.
W
I- 3
w
~
<t: 2
0:::
~
en 1.0
en 0.8
w
z 0.6 LEGEND
I- 0.5 EXPERIMENTAL DATA
W PRE?SURE SYMBOL
3= 0.4 (p.S.I,O,)
100 - - - ...
0.3 200 - - -
w 300 - - - ,
> 500
600
-
-
-
-
- ....
- ..
l- 0.2 800 - "- - ..
t) W* = W AT 600 p.s.i.a. a ACTUAL DEW
W
1.L POINT TEMPERATURE.
1.L 0.1 '---J..._--'--_..l.....-----'-_---'-_.....L.---JC----l....._-'--_"'------'-_--'--_..L.-------l_-.J
W
-60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
DEW POINT TEMPERATURE, of
Figure 5

The general similarity of the for the theoretical correlation as a lines at the higher pressures.
curves of Figures 3 and 4 suggested guide, a family of straight lines was
the possibility of a practical correla- drawn through the field data points, The final practical correlation, a
tion of the effect of pressure on the one line for each pressure. Serious cross plot of Figure 5, is presented
actual dew point temperature of the scattering of the data occurs at pres. as Figure 6. Here, practical dew
pipeline gases - notwithstanding sures of 100 and 200 psia but the point pressure-temperature curves
their contamination. In the com- data are well represented by the are given for each of several values
panion paper (1) theoretical dew
point temperature-pressure curves
were developed for various values
of a "wetness parameter," W, de EFFECTIVE WETNESS PARAMETER, W
fined by
800
0.25 0.30 0.40
, 0.50 O 1.00 0 ;(
O'E rID
700 w' T
y 600
A
500 ...... ", , ", ' . ,
!J
, 1
"',
where y=mole fraction hydrocar- 0 400
f .1 1< ," ".j j,,"" "
bon vi '.'

A = K value for the hydrocar-

c:i.
300
., I
re,} I
.,,1
I ,.',.', / '.,

"""

,,'
bon at 600 psia, OaF J J
I .' J
I. '.
w
The effective wetness parameter, c:: J J

W*, for each of the 11 gases con- :::> 200

Vt~
(f)
sidered in the first stage of the field (f)
I "

measurements was determined at

W
r ] J
c::
600 psia and at the measured dew a.. fl "',' 'I",

point temperature from Figure 1

of Reference 1. The actual dew
"I if- ., .. '_.'

point temperatures, at each of sev- 100

-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
eral pressures, were then plotted
versus W* as in Figure 5. Using DEW POINT TEMPERATURE OF
the corresponding figure developed Figure 6

18 Journal of Canadian Petroleum

of the effective wetness parameter.
The correlation may be used to esti-
mate the hydrocarbon dew point
temperature of a pipeline gas at one
pressure from its known value at
another pressure. The procedure
merely involves entering Figure 6
at the known dew point pressure
and temperature and following the
effective wetness parameter lines to
the desired pressure.
The reliability of Figure 6 was
tested by comparing the dew point
temperature estimated at 800 psia
from measured values at lower pres-
sures, with the measured dew point
temperature at 800 psia for each of
the 21 gases (the 11 on which the
correlation was based and 10
others). The results of the check
appear in Figures 7, 8 and 9. Figure
7 relates the 800 psia dew point
calculated from a 200 psia measure-
ment with the actual 800 psia mea-
surement. A scattering of some
lOaF is observed. Figures 8 and 9,
showing the reliability of 800 psia
dew point estimates based upon 500
and 600 psia measurements indicate
scattering of 4 to 6F.
CONCLUSION
A practical correlation, based
upon actual field dew point measure-
ments of 11 pipeline gases, has been
developed for estimating the effect
of pressure on the hydrocarbon dew
point. For normal pipeline gases
the effect of pressure on the actual
dew point temperature is very
small in the range of 600 - 800 psia.
Below 600 psia the effect varies
from less than 5 to nearly 20 aF
per 100 psi change in pressure.
The correlation has been tested
with the original 11 and 10 other
pipeline gases and is found to be
reliable to within about 5F for
pressures changes up to 300 psi and
to within about 10F for pressure
changes up to 500 psi.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The research reported here was
undertaken at the request of and
under the financial support of Al-
berta Gas Trunk Line Company
Limited.
The authors wish to acknowledge
the enthusiastic co-operation of Mr.
E. V. Hunt, Mr. C. T. McCall and
Mr. J. Bulley, all of the Alberta Gas
Trunk Line Company.
(3) Katz, D. L. and Associates,
"Handbook of Natural Gas En-
gineering," McGraw-Hill, 1959.

~
.9

0
0
:&
<Xl

Ii
40

30
i"
~: j1i" fYl/
~ ~~
20
'"l'!
~

r ~ r~
,0 o

-10 "
~ -10
/0 "
fi3 -10
/ ,
//-

i
'---:-2:"-O--~IO'---~O--'~O-2~O-~30--4~O-5~O--'~ -20 10 0 10 20 30 40 50
~
E;
//
-20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50
MEASURED DEW POINT TEMPERATURE AT 800 p.,.i.a. OF ~ MEASURED DEW POINT TEMPERATURE AT 800 psio.. OF W MEASURED DEW POINT TEMPERATURE AT BOOps;o. OF

Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9

Technology, Spring, 1962, Calgary 19