SOCAR Turkey: Reliable and safe operation of CNG stations thanks to FLOWSIC500

2019-11-19

Since 2008, the SOCAR Company has set up an extended network of CNG stations spaced around 200 250 km apart in an attempt to link up different locations in Turkey such as Izmir, Istanbul, Ankara and Mersin. This corridor is integrated in the pan-European network of CNG stations and makes the cheaper and cleaner fuel more easily accessible for fleets and public transport companies.

Among municipal and public service providers all around the world, compressed natural gas(CNG) is enjoying growing popularity. CNG is seen as a commercially viable and more eco-friendly solution, offering lower costs, reduced emissions and a reduction in noise pollution by up to 30 percent. Particularly in countries and regions in which the expansion of renewable energies and storage technologies such as Power-to-X is not becoming economically viable in mid term on account of the high levels of investment required, the use of CNG in communal sectors is a fast and inexpensive solution for reducing emissions.

 

In cooperation with local energy providers, a number of CNG projects have been successfully implemented in recent years in Turkey. In order to produce, transport and store CNG, natural gas needs to be compressed to very high pressures. For this reason, very high demands are often placed in terms of the purity of the natural gas and the safety and quality of all technical systems in relation to CNG.

 

 

Custody transfer measurement in natural gas distribution

FLOWSIC500 gas meters meet these stringent requirements, which is why they are used in SOCAR’s transfer and measurement stations. They offer the required safety and reliability for continuous and blockage-free gas supply and have thus been able to see off the competition of conventional rotary turbine meters. Other factors that helped sway the decision in favor of the FLOWSIC500 were its robustness, low maintenance requirements and compact space requirements, since no inflow or outflow zones are required. 3-inch/DN80 devices are used, which deliver reliable and safe measurements even under dynamic flow conditions.
Expansion of the CNG infrastructure is pressing ahead in Turkey – with flow measurement technology from SICK.
 

Jörg Wenzel

Head of Product Marketing Services Flow Measurement

Jörg Wenzel joined SICK in 2011. He has been working in various positions in the area of solutions for flow measurement. Since 2016 he is in charge for the Marketing of this section.