94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Hydrogen Storage and Production
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2025.1339598
A Theoretical Assessment of the On-Site Monitoring of Hydrogen-Enriched Natural Gas by its Thermodynamic Properties
Provisionally accepted- Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems, Dresden, Germany
A real-time, on-site monitoring of the concentration of hydrogen and the heating value of a blend of hydrogen and natural gas is of key importance for its safe distribution in existing pipelines, as proposed by the 'Power-to-Gas' concept. Although current gas chromatography (PGC) methods deliver this information accurately, they are unsuitable for a quick and pipeline-integrated measurement. We analyse the possibility to monitor this blend with a combination of sensors of thermodynamic properties-thermal conductivity, speed of sound and density-as a potential substitute for PCG. We propose a numerical method for this multi-sensor detection based on the assumption of ideal gas (i.e. low-pressure) behaviour, treating natural gas as a 'mixture of mixtures', depending on how many geographical sources are drawn upon for its distribution. By performing a Monte-Carlo simulation with known concentrations of natural gas proceeding from different European sources, we conclude that the combined measurement of thermal conductivity together with either speed of sound or density can yield a good estimation of both variables of interest (hydrogen concentration and heating value), even under variability in the composition of natural gas.
Keywords: Hydrogen, NATURAL GAS, Power-to-gas, speed of sound, Thermal Conductivity, density
Received: 16 Nov 2023; Accepted: 25 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Monsalve Guaracao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jorge Mario Monsalve Guaracao, Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems, Dresden, Germany
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.