Cryogenic fluid custody transfer

Coriolis flowmeters have European, Asian, Australian and U.S. approvals for cryogenic fluids in custody transfer applications

Accurate mass-flow measurement
for Cryostar LNG fuel dispensers

Micro Motion® Coriolis flowmeters from Emerson Process Management are being used by Cryostar in its fuel dispensers for liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered vehicles. This company is a leading provider of advanced technologies for LNG applications and they chose the Micro Motion flowmeters not only for their inherent accuracy, but also because regulatory organisations in Europe, Asia, Australia and the U.S. have approved the meters for measuring cryogenic fluids in custody transfer applications.

“When we were designing our fuel dispensers, we looked at various measurement technologies and several potential suppliers,” said Philippe Fauvel of Cryostar. “Emerson’s Micro Motion Coriolis flowmeters have all the approvals we need for our growing markets, as well as providing the accurate and reliable data that this fiscal application demands.”
The Cryostar dispenser, which has a 99.5 per cent accuracy, has been approved by the relevant Weights and Measures departments in many world areas to the appropriate standard. These include MID (Europe) and Nederlands Meet Instituut (NMI) for Australia and Asia. Cryostar is also seeking National Type Evaluation Program (NTEP) approval for North America.

“This project has been very much a joint development with Emerson,” continued Fauvel. “Emerson helped with obtaining MID approval, and we used their valuable LNG knowledge and experience to achieve the best possible design – making our dispensers among the most accurate and reliable on the market.”

MID certification means that when Emerson’s compact flowmeters are used as a component of a complete measuring system, such as the Cryostar fuel dispenser, it is not necessary for the dispenser manufacturer to type test and certify the devices – saving both time and money.

The Cryostar dispenser uses a Micro Motion ELITE® CMF100 flowmeter to determine mass flow, eliminating the separate fluid density compensation required by traditional volumetric technologies. This reduces costs and measurement uncertainty while simplifying installation. Additionally, Micro Motion meters do not require straight pipe runs or flow conditioning devices, enabling compact and efficient skid-based metering designs.

Micro Motion meters are ideally suited to cryogenic applications for dispensing LNG fuel to motor vehicles. They have no moving parts, enabling the meters to deliver improved system reliability and increased plant availability. Using Micro Motion Coriolis meters for LNG dispensing provides operators with accurate, real-time, in-line measurement data, while meeting the ATEX safety limitations.

“Emerson’s full range of Coriolis measuring instruments has MID approval for LNG applications,” said Denis Henrot, Vice President for Emerson’s Micro Motion line in Europe. “This makes our highly accurate Coriolis flowmeters ideally suited to low flow applications such as in fuelling dispensers, in addition to established high flow applications in pipelines, tankers and storage systems.”