Why do natural gas wells flare?
Why do natural gas wells flare?
Flaring is undertaken as a way to remove dangerous gasses with lower harm to the environment. It is used in safely regulating pressure in chemical plants, as well as handling natural gas release in wells. Alternatives, such as piping the gas to a plant or on-site capture and use, are of great interest.
How do you stop gas flaring?
Build local gas-fired power plants to supply power for hydrocarbon operations, local industrial uses, residential electrification, or injection into the grid. Pipe gas to local industrial enterprises for heat and/or power generation. Build compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations for vehicles or other uses.
What is gas well flaring?
Flaring is the controlled burning of natural gas and a common practice in oil/gas exploration, production and processing operations. A flare system consists of a flare stack and pipes that feed gas to the stack. A flare is an important safety device, particularly at gas processing plants.
Why do gas wells have flames?
The most commonly stated reasons why natural gas is flared are: Pressure relief to prevent the risk of explosions from simply venting large amounts of reactive gases. Waste product removal from chemical production processes. Safe combustion of volatile organic compounds.
Why do gas companies flare?
The flare stack’s main purpose is to combust vent gas—a large portion of which is methane. When methane (which you might remember from chemistry class as CH4) is burned, it produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O).
How bad is flaring?
At the same time, gas flaring contributes approximately 1% of man-made atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions globally. That is when flares combust hydrocarbons efficiently, converting them to carbon dioxide. In contrast, when flares burn poorly or go out, they pollute the air with more harmful gases.
Why do gas companies flare gas?
