Enviro-economic investigation of various flare gas recovery and utilization technologies in upstream and downstream of oil and gas industries

Abstract

The flaring network is an inseparable part of the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries to provide safe and reliable operating conditions. Since flaring results in significant greenhouse gas emissions and economic loss, over the last decade, different processes have been developed to recover and utilize flare gas in upstream and downstream of oil and gas industries. According to the wide range of flare and associated gas specifications, all flare gas recovery and utilization technologies are not always feasible and economically justified. Since performing a detailed analysis on all available recovery processes is time-consuming, a guideline for an initial screening and crossing out unattractive economic options for a specific flare gas would be beneficial. In the current research, for seven flare gas recovery and utilization technologies (compression and reinjection to well, natural gas liquids, gas to liquids, methanol and dimethyl ether production, liquefied natural gas, and power generation using reciprocating internal combustion engine cycle) and sixteen flare and associated gas samples economic analysis has been carried out. The results indicate that power generation using the reciprocating internal combustion engines is economically justifiable for an extensive range of flare gas specifications. The calculation of CO2 emissions shows that by using flare gas recovery and utilization technologies, the CO2 emission can be reduced by 50–90% compared to the flare stack. According to the results obtained in this study, some guidelines are provided for an initial screening on the flare gas recovery and utilization technologies.