Reliable Thermal Flow Meter for Reporting Biogas Emissions

Kurz Instruments, Inc. (USA), have introduced the 454FTB-WGF single-point insertion flow meter designed to successfully operate and report realtime biogas flow production with an accuracy that has never been available in wet gas environments found in digesters and landfills.

Thermal flow meters are sensitive to liquid droplets in the gas stream. Condensation levels in biogas fluctuate due to daily and seasonal temperature changes, resulting in highly unreliable readings as ever increasing or decreasing liquid droplets contact and pull heat away from the sensing elements. As a result of this deficiency, wet gas measurements with conventional thermal meters are largely ignored due to the lack of confidence in the resulting data.

Kurz tested the WGF for more than 15 months at a wastewater facility that treats 11 million gallons of effluent per day. During this time, the WGF was compared against the standard Kurz 454FTB and several competing devices. The impact of condensing water on the WFG sensor was negligible, providing 20% more accuracy than the standard Kurz meter and an astounding 100% to 250% improvement over all other devices in reading the true flow.

Accurate flow rate data collection allows wastewater facilities to precisely manage digester production levels, enabling tighter controls on methane levels and emissions flaring. This can make facilities more efficient in meeting varying flow and load conditions. It is also important to monitor the gas coming out of the digester to ensure the digester health levels are optimally maintained, and that greenhouse gas emissions can be accurately reported for environmental compliance or for the carbon credit trading market.