Przegląd czynników wpływających na skuteczność nawaniania gazu

Due to rapid advancement in technology, the odorization process in Poland seems to be increasingly stabilized in practice and conducted at a sufficiently high level. International standards are adopted in this regard. One of the most important requirements for the natural gases quality delivered to customers from a distribution network, guaranteeing their safe use is ensuring an appropriate odorization level, allowing to detect the uncontrolled gas leakages from the distribution network, installation and gas appliances. The odorant concentration in its dosing point should ensure the intensity of the gas odor at the “clearly perceptible” level at the network end point. The odorant concentration variability in the gas network is a dynamic value, constantly accompanying the odorizing process. In consequence constant metrological supervision over the process is needed (what might be done by measuring the odorant concentration and gas odor intensity). Also, verification of undergoing periodic changes in the value of the minimum concentration of odorant in the gas for the respective groups of natural gases and various gas pipelines based on operational experience and field measurements is required. Such verification allows to determine the optimal concentration of odorant for each group of natural gases and furthermore allows to optimize the cost of gas odorization process while ensuring its legally required quality described as odor intensity. This article presents the problem of the dependence of the network gas odorization effectiveness on various factors, especially network parameters or even the gas composition itself. Their identification allows to better plan the process and ensure its effective implementation, which ultimately ensures safety for gas users.