Hydrogen Blending in Australian Gas Network: A Simulation Study of Riverland Pipeline System

Hydrogen blending with natural gas (H₂-NG blending) is a practical way to reduce and address the carbon impact of using natural gas while offering a cost-effective way to transport huge amounts of H₂. This study aims to evaluate the Riverland pipeline system located in Australia. The study provides information on how different H₂ concentrations in the gas mixture affect the pipeline's erosional velocity ratio (EVR), corrosion rates, and pressure performance. The Riverland Transmission Pipeline was built to convey the gas travel though Angaston gate and compressor station to Berri gate station and later distribute the gas in Berri region. The Riverland Pipeline has a number of farm taps and the lateral pipeline joining the Riverland Pipeline at Sedan and the township of Murray Bridge. The pipeline is 314km long and have diameter of 114mm with an MAOP of 10,000kPa and capacity of 5.6 TJ/day. We took a novel technique and created a simulation model in PIPESIM-Net software that incorporates a GIS map to compute pressure drops, precisely record topographical profiles, and accurately imitate steady state gaseous flow. In addition to specifying nodes (sink/source) with suitable boundary conditions, it also considers aspects like pipeline specifications, elevation, and the gas composition. The results indicate that the corrosion rate increases slightly with increasing H₂ concentration, reaching its highest at 80% H₂ followed by decrease in corrosion rate at every 10% decrease in H₂ composition and the reported corrosion rates stay within the safe limits of less than 0.4 mm/a as advised by the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE). Higher H₂ levels led it to raise pressure along the pipeline. On the other hand, the erosional velocity ratio shows a different pattern, with a slight reduction in EVR as the H₂ content increased. Erosion risk did not occur in any of the scenarios since the values of EVR measured at the check points along the pipeline route was within the acceptable range of 1. The safety and suitability of the system, in general, to blend H₂-NG are verified with the rates of corrosion and EVR which are good because they fall within the acceptable range of values in the industry. The current research is a breakthrough to evaluate comprehensively the impact of corrosion rate, EVR, and pressure profile of the pipeline system under H₂-NG Blending that affect Riverland pipeline system. We offer new perspective using an innovative simulation model that incorporates accurate terrain profiles and elevation data. Our results address major research gaps by providing insights on the corrosion, erosion, and pressure profile peculiar to this pipeline system while demonstrating the system's safety and usefulness.