KHAN ABDUL HAFEEZ

Example problem: line sizing using ASPEN HYSYS (*)

Natural gas with following composition

C1   : 95%
C2   : 2.5%
C3   : 0.3%
N2   : 1.6%
CO2 : 0.6%
Mass flow rate : 95000 kg/h ; Operating Pressure : 900 kPag ; Operating
Temperature : 45 Co

The Oil and Gas Design criteria for vapor piping service is as follow:
𝞓P / L  = 1.5 bar/km
𝞺v2        = 15000 Pa
Calculate the minimum required piping diameter for this service.

Solution:

The natural gas steam properties could be checked using Peng-Robinson fluid package in
ASPEN HYSYS.
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Then, click on the MATERIAL STEAM → go to ATTACHMENT tab → ANALYSIS → create PIPE

SIZING Analysis → choose PRESSURE DROP calculation type

Here, we have to specify the Inside Diameter (ID) of the piping system. As mention above, ID
could be calculated based on the pipe NPS and pipe schedule. Selected schedule will depend
on the pipe class specification defined by EPC company as agreed with the Oil and Gas
company.

For now, let's assume that we use Standard (STD) schedule for the pipe. 
We will check if the pipe with 12, 14, and 16 NPS will adequate for this natural gas service.

Inside diameter calculation (please browse for pipe NPS table, this could be easily found in
any search engine)

Pipe NPS (inch) 12 14 16

DN (mm) 300 350 400
OD (mm) 323.9 355.9 406.4
wall thickness (mm) 9.53 9.53 9.53
ID (mm) (**) 304.84 336.84 387.34

**) ID = OD - 2*wall thickness

Enter calculated ID at the Pipe Sizing window and check the result in PERFORMANCE tab
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Figure 4 - Pipe Sizing analysis in ASPEN HYSYS

V10

Figure 5 - Performance Tab of  Pipe Sizing

Analysis

Result recapitulation shown in the table below

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Discussions:

● For NPS 12 pipe, segment pressure drop is above the criteria 1.5 bar/km and
momentum ( 𝞺v2 ) criteria is > 15000 Pa. Hence, a 12 NPS pipe will be undersized for
this Natural Gas service 
● For NPS 14 pipe, the momentum ( 𝞺v2 )  is below 15000 Pa but the segment pressure
drop is above 1.5 bar/km. Therefore 14 NPS pipe will not adequate for this service.
● For NPS 16 pipe, both momentum ( 𝞺v2 ) and pressure drop criteria is below the limit.
Hence, we could choose 16 NPS as our pipe size for this natural gas service.
Furthermore, to confirm this diameter