Black Powder in Gas Transmission Systems

Abstract

Abstract Despite its common occurrence in the gas industry, black powder is a problem that is not well understood across the industry, in terms of its chemical and physical properties, source, formation, prevention or management of its impacts. In order to prevent or effectively manage the impacts of black powder, it is essential to have knowledge of its chemical and physical properties, formation mechanisms and sources. This paper is divided into two parts. The first part reviews the recent laboratory and field work conducted at Saudi Research and Development Center to determine the compositions, properties, sources and formation mechanisms of black powder in gas transmission systems. Microhardness, nano-indentation, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques, as well as several bacterial analysis methods were used to analyze a large number of black powder samples collected from the field. Our findings showed that black powder is generated inside pipelines due to internal corrosion and that the composition of black powder is dependent on the composition of transported gas. The second part presents a summary and brief discussion of various black powder management methods.