A review on the potentials of flare gas recovery applications in Iran

Abstract

Due to safety and control considerations, gas flaring is inevitable in chemical processes. In 2018, 17.3 billion cubic meters of flare gas had burned in Iran, which implies a significant economic loss and the emission of almost 150 million metric tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. This significant amount of flaring has made Iran the third largest flaring country in the world. Various methods exist for transforming the flare and associated gases into value-added products. In the current study, to investigate the potentials of flare gas recovery in Iran, these technologies and the decision drivers for choosing between them are reviewed. Then, to evaluate Iran’s flaring situation, the amounts of flaring in the different segments within the recent years are provided. Investigation of the flaring data in different segments and the condition of the planned and operational flare gas recovery processes indicates that there is considerable capacity for implementing the flare recovery processes in Iran, especially for the downstream flaring. Approximately 64% and 32% of the nominal capacities of NGL plants and reinjection units, respectively, were not in operation in 2016. Studying the existing flare recovery technologies and the decision drivers shows that power generation seems to be an appropriate option for application in flare gas recovery; hence it should be considered in the scheduled plans for flare gas recovery in Iran. There is a potential of saving nearly 5 billion dollars annually by generating power from the amount of flare gas currently burning in Iran. The primary challenges in the way of the application of flare gas recovery technologies in Iran include economic limitations and structural and institutional problems. Overcoming these challenges and implementing flare recovery technologies, Iran can significantly reduce its environmental emissions and gain considerable economic profit.