Who doesn’t like science experiments? I remember getting so excited about lab days back in grade school. Making ice cream, creating fires, making foam and more! It was always a nice break from schoolwork, too. So I decided to kick it old school and relive a lab day! Before I jump into my science experiment, I want to explain a little bit about what my main component is that I used for this project…enviroDRI.
EnviroDRI
What is it? EnviroDRI is an earthen, non-flammable, non-hazardous product that effectively absorbs water from the gas stream while slowly dissolving into a safe disposable brine solution. It is Croft’s proprietary blend of non-toxic desiccant pellets that is used as a drying agent in our Passive Dehydration Systems.
Why? EnviroDRI is used to reduce the water content of natural gas to below pipeline specifications. It is important to reduce the water content because water can cause hydrate formations, corrosion of equipment, and over-saturation of natural gas. Also, natural gas pipelines do not accept more that 7lbs/MMcfd of water in the gas stream. The outlet water content from a properly sized Passive Dehydration System, PDS, utilizing this product is generally 2-3 lbs. /MMcfd. Well under pipeline specification.
CROFT has tested multiple forms of desiccants and determined enviroDRI is the most effective with minimal complications. It is dependable, readily available, and has been used in the industry for over 70 years. And, unlike glycol, enviroDRI’s by-product is a non-hazardous material that can be retrieved by any vacuum truck and safely disposed of.
The Experiment
Okay so now that you know what enviroDRI is, my experiment will make a lot more sense to you. EnviroDRI removes water from the gas, correct? Well, living in Texas, it is no secret that there is also water (humidity) in the air. So how good is this desiccant? Can it pull water from the air too? I wanted to know so I decided to grab a couple of pellets of desiccant and put them to the test!
I put one pellet inside and put one pellet outside. My hypothesis was that the one outside will surely capture the moisture in the air. However, probably not too much because it wasn’t really a humid day. The one inside, I figured would be a total bust. It is always cold on my side of the office and never humid. The pictures with the time of the pictures are below. The red bottom is outside and the blue is inside.
The desiccant was taken out of the bucket and placed outside/inside. (If you look closely, you can already see a gloss that has formed over the desiccant.)
12:45 PM:
Three hours and you can already see liquid. Even on the inside!
3:45 PM:
5 hours total. I believe my hypothesis was definitely wrong.
The next day at 7:15 AM
My last picture was taken the next day in the morning. The outside desiccant is nearly completely gone and the whole plate is filled with brine! The inside desiccant still slowly but surely kept capturing water.
I had fun with this experiment. The enviroDRI captured way more water than I thought was possible. Just imagine how much water it can capture from gas streams that are associated with water.
