Flare Gas Recovery What is Flare Gas ? The flare gas consists of a mixture of various hydrocarbons and is also known as associated petroleum gas. The Gas is flammable in nature and its composition varies from plant to plant and will also vary with time over the operating life of the plant/Oil-well. In Petroleum refineries, Natural gas processing plants and in Oil and gas Production sites, mixture of natural gases is generated from the below sources: • • •
Extraction of Natural Gas along with oil from oil wells, Gases formed above the liquid level in storage tanks Flashing of high pressure crude to low pressures.
Flares are essential mechanism used as a piece of refineries and petrochemical facilities. They safely burn abundance hydrocarbon gases which can't be recycled or reused. Overabundance hydrocarbon gases are scorched in the flare systems in an ecological-free way, as a differentiating alternative to releasing the vapour straightforwardly into the atmosphere.
Traditional Flare Gas handling systems : Traditionally, in the Oil & Gas industry, waste and surplus gas has been discarded by flaring to atmosphere. Today this process is ending up progressively as the industry improve towards getting rid of the discharge of greenhouse gases into the air while preserving energy. Since the commencement of Oil and Gas Production and advent of petroleum refineries, little importance was given to the generated flare gas mixtures. This gas was termed as waste gas and was collected in large diameter headers. The gas was then burned off and the combustion products were let off to the Atmosphere.
Need for Flare Gas Recovery : •
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Consuming abundance gas by flare is a critical part of that safety administration. Flare stacks are routinely used for expending off ignitable gas released by pressure valves during undecided over-impacting of plant equipment. This frequently happens during start-ups and shutdowns in progress when the volume of gas being evacuated can be unpredictable. Inappropriate burning and partial burning leads to generation of toxic and harmful gaseous pollutants. The produced gases are known to create harmful and deadly effects on human life and the surrounding environment. Utilizing Flare gases causes the plant to eliminate its Energy costs and furthermore make an in-house Fuel source. The Flaring of Flare gas is also a considerable source of carbon di-oxide emissions. Hence utilizing flare gases can help an industry to reduce Energy costs, reduce its Carbon footprint and be responsible to the environment.